Compaq 307560-001 PCI Bus Balancing and Optimization on Compaq ProLiant Server - Page 8

WHITE PAPER (cont.) NOTE: A controller pair is defined as two Compaq NICs that are configured so that network connectivity is maintained, even if a connection is lost or a controller fails. For more information, refer to the white paper "The Compaq Advanced Network Error Correction Support in a Microsoft Windows NT Server Environment." ... Configuration 3 When the configuration consists of an additional stand-alone device, for example, a network controller pair plus a single network controller, the active NIC should be on separate bus. If, on the other hand, the customer has an array controller pair plus a single array controller, the active array controllers should be on the same bus for best performance. Placing the stand-alone array controller in a hot-plug slot provides similar performance to placing it in the non-hot-plug slot. Since the performance is similar, using a hot-plug slot provides additional availability. Table 5 displays a configuration using an additional stand-alone NIC. Placing the stand-alone NIC in a non-hot-plug slot provides the best performance, as this configuration splits the active NICs between buses. If availability is of greater concern than performance, place the stand-alone NIC in a hot-plug slot. TABLE 5 : HIGH AVAILABILITY FOR ADDITIONAL STAND-ALONE DEVICES # Device Type PCI Hot Plug Slot 1 SMART 2/P Drive Array (Active) XXXXXX 2 SMART 2/P Drive Array (Standby) 3 NetFlex-3/P Controller (Active) XXXXXX 4 NetFlex-3/P Controller (Standby) 5 NetFlex-3/P Controller (Stand-alone) Non-PCI Hot Plug Slot XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX Configuration 4 For multiple pairs of network controllers, the same general guidelines apply. The customer must evaluate the importance of availability and weigh that against any potential non-optimal performance configurations. Configuration 4 offers better availability than Configuration 3. Performance is optimal and a higher level of availability is achieved. In the third configuration, if the standby network controller failed, no network users would have access to any resources on that server while the system administrator shuts down the system to replace the failed controller. ECG073/0398 8