Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!clarkson!grape.ecs.clarkson.edu!nelson From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco Subject: Re: TCP/IP on XENIX 386 && 3c501 Message-ID: Date: 21 Nov 90 14:24:10 GMT References: <1990Nov21.030502.18951@simasd.uucp> Sender: @grape.ecs.clarkson.edu Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu (aka NELSON@CLUTX.BITNET) Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam NY Lines: 38 In-Reply-To: jcurtis@simasd.uucp's message of 21 Nov 90 03:05:02 GMT In article <1990Nov21.030502.18951@simasd.uucp> jcurtis@simasd.uucp (Jay Curtis) writes: In article nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu (aka NELSON@CLUTX.BITNET) writes: >Be sure to use the UNDOCUMENTED onepacket switch on ifconfig if you're >using a 3c501. The symptoms of failing to do this are that bulk >transfers to systems running SunOS proceed exponentially slower. >The most I could ever transfer before onepacket'ing was 50K. > >I cannot emphasize this strongly enough, so I won't bother. Just >remember this if you ever put a 3c501 in a SCO Xenix box, and maybe >Unix as well... Okay, I'll bite. What is this "UNDOCUMENTED onepacket switch" ? Would you care to enlighten those of of who are cursed with no alternative to using the 3c501? Don't use the 3c501 if you can possibly help it. Beg, borrow, steal, whine, do whatever it takes the avoid it. Any of the 3c503, ni5210, or wd8003e would be much, much better. You see, the 3c501 has only *one* packet buffer, so you cannot send it back-to-back packets, *plus* it uses that buffer for sending packets, so while you're preparing to send a packet, you're deaf to the network. But if you really, really have to use one, then do a: ifconfig 3comA0 onepacket in addition to the other uses of ifconfig. It doesn't hurt to run ifconfig several times, so you could add the above line verbatim to /etc/tcp. I'm guessing that it closes the TCP window so that only one packet can be sent at a time. You can imagine what that does to your throughput. Of course, NOT setting onepacket is even worse, because it means guaranteed dropped packets. -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) FAX 315-268-7600 It's better to get mugged than to live a life of fear -- Freeman Dyson I joined the League for Programming Freedom, and I hope you'll join too.