Re: Inexpensive, good gigabit ethernet NIC?

From: Tom Roggeveen (Tom.Roggeveen_at_hccnet.nl)
Date: 09/28/05 

Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:54:37 +0200

Dohhhh wrote:
> Nathan wrote:
>
>> 1) no idea
>>
>> 2) I assume this is a single p655 node with a RIO drawer? I thought
>> the p655's only took Federation SP switch adapters, not SP2 (Colony),
>> but I could be wrong.
>>
>> Installing cards can be a pain with the blind swap cassets (You will
>> need to find cassets also if your system is missing them). It works if
>> you have enough patience. Also, there are several different styles of
>> cards, the type that have screws are the most difficult to assemble,
>> the "screw-less" are easier to work with. If you've never done it
>> before give yourself 2-3 hours to get the card in the bind swap
>> adapter and into the machine (That's no exageration). More if you
>> aren't mechanicly inclined.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dan Stromberg wrote:
>>
>>> We're looking for the following information about a (probably) 3rd
>>> party,
>>> gigabit ethernet NIC for a P655 running AIX 5.1 (5.2 is possible but
>>> unlikely, last I heard 5.3 was not possible in this case).
>>>
>>> 1) What vendors have good deals on GigE NIC for a P655
>>> (price/performance
>>> would hopefully be low). We'd even consider a refurb, if they're
>>> available.
>>>
>>> 2) What precisely would be involved in installing that NIC? The machine
>>> has 5 NIC's right now, all from IBM. They are 2 * 100BaseT, 2 *
>>> 1000BaseT, and 1 * an SP2 interface. I understand the SP2 wiring is
>>> pretty sensitive to being giggled.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>
>
> Also, if you look on one of the cassettes, there is (usually) a URL to a
> document which describes (pictures and everything <G>) how to extract
> the adapter and reassemble things...not sure how "mechanically inclined"
> I am (let's put it this way, I once put a faloojin pin in a felacme rod
> - didn't do too well <G>) but I can now swap out an adapter (regardless
> of the casette type) and reassemble and reinserted in the drawer in
> under 15 minutes.
>
> BTW, you *are* aware that the cassette/adapter can just be pulled out of
> the drawer as long as it's NOT assigned to a LPAR, yes? (took me forever
> looking for a "hot swap" utility in the managed system - dohhh) :-O
>
> Paul

I think that an adapter/slot not assigned to a partition cannot be
removed. You have to assign the adapter to a partition to be able to
'power-off' the slot to place/remove the adapter without damage.

Regards, Tom.