Network Speeds

[Zion800]

The Company i work for uses a Switch system for the Network. Our internet and network speeds are very slow even though our ethernet cards are 1Gbs. I decided to see if i could speed up the networks. I found a website that gives helpful tips. You go into your ethernet Settings and then click on "Configure". After that you go to the "Advanced" tab. From there you look through the list till you find either "Media Type" or "Link Half Duplex Full Duplex Speed". The name varies. but the settings are set to default of "Auto-Detect". Now. I changed the settings to 1000Mbs Full Duplex Speed.
Will this Setting enhance the Network speed alot? Or will it only increase speeds by a small amount?
I changed this setting on all the computers on the Network. Some computers cn only reach 100MB Full Duplex. Now i know computers on a network run at the speed of the slowest computer but will transfer increase if 2 computers exchange information(both are 1GBs)?

Thanx

 

[kmote]

Check the speed of your switches, if they are 100Mb/s having gigabit Ethernet cards will not make a difference.

 

[Zion800]

the Switch can handle the 1Gbs Speed(it says on the box). Is there a way to check it?(Program perhaps)

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Actually, even if you have a 100Mbps computer plugged into the gigabit switch along with all the other gigabit PC's it shouldn't impact the performance.
Any transfers between the 100Mbps pc and other pc's will of course only run at 100Mbps speeds, but transfers between gigabit PCs on the same switch will still run at gigabit speeds.

 

[Zion800]

thanx. thats what i was looking for.

 

[RangerIke]

What OS are you using? I have a similar issue running XP, and I don't see the configuration options your talking about?

 

[Alvin.C]

Hi,

Doesn't your company have IT personnel proficient in networking, like a network administrator or analyst? Networking and networking optimisation does require some specific, in depth knowledge in the field .

Anywhooo, here's some important info. Firstly, it is unwise (and not recommended) to force a duplex mode on a node. All nodes (whether it be switches or NICs on client machines) should be set to automatically detect (i.e. autonegotiate) the correct duplex mode. Failing to do this may result in incorrect or 'mismatched' duplex modes being set on network devices, which can impact network performance (a condition known as Duplex mismatch).

Furthermore, it's not as simple as enabling full-duplex mode in the NICs on all clients in an effort to improve network performance. While a full-duplex Ethernet network can provide better network performance than an Ethernet network operating in half-duplex mode (as a node can send and receive data simultaneously), there are other important factors which much be considered. The switches themselves and their ports need to have support for full-duplex mode. Most modern switches do, however. Monitor your switch(es) to determine which duplex mode is in operation.

What we're talking about here, and what we're comparing, are a CSMA/CD Ethernet network (a half-duplex Ethernet using carrier sense multiple access with collision detection) and a fully switched Ethernet network (which can operate in full-duplex mode). 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX Ethernet standards support full-duplex mode. Nowadays, fully switched Ethernet networks operating in full-duplex mode are most common within organisations, for the obvious performance benefits they provide (e.g. lack of collisions and reduced contention).

On a more general note (and linking back to what I first said at the beginning), identifying and resolving network performance issues requires an understanding and consideration of many factors, such as the network topology, topography, number of users, demand, services used etcetera, all of which are specific to the organisation. So, we can only help you so far.