I watched a video where Wendel was talking about NICs so I had to have them. I purchase 2 40GB NIC Cards (Mellanox ConnectX-3 CX314A 40GB Dual Port QSFP+ PCI-E Network Card MCX314A-BCCT) from eBay and ordered a 98ft fiber optic cable for $130 from FS.com (30m (98ft) FS for Mellanox MC2206310-030 Compatible 40G QSFP+ Active Optical Cable).
I was following this video to guide the installation-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ8ZS1CwbPI&t=402s
I installed both cards on two separate pcs here in the same office in hopes of getting them to share data at 40GB speed. One pc is running windows 11 Pro for Workstations, and the other is running Windows 11 Pro. I was able to get the cards installed and recognized by both PC with the Driver Version 5.50.14740.0. I set up static IP addresses for both cards. However, when I connected the fiber optic cable, I was not able to get them to recognize the connection and I have no idea why. I also do not know what to do to remedy this. And questions or advice would be appreciated.
I am new to the forum, and completely green when it comes to doing this kind of stuff. However I love learning and building PCs, and I am taking that passion to servers. It is extremely hard to find info on these topics without a base level of understanding that I do not have.
Are you using a switch?
Are the ip address in the same octet? 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 for instance. Give auto ip negotiate a try as well.
My concern / hunch is unless you created a crossover cable it’s not going to work.
A standard cable will route the transmit data line of pc a to the transmit data line of pc b and the same for the receive line as well.
A crossover cable will route the transmit data line of pc a to the receive data line of pc b and the same for the receive line as well.
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I appreciate your response!
No switch, I ran the fiber cable 40 feet across the office from 1 PC NIC to the other. I set the IP address to be the same on both 192.168.1.2. What you said about the cable makes sense, I did not know that needed to be a different cable. Did I get the wrong Cable? If so will a switch and another cable work? The switch was going to be the next purchase in this adventure anyway.
You cant do that. Both need their own IP and it has to be a separate subnet from the normal network.
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I changed the IP address of one to 192.168.1.4. They are both Ethernet 5 and both pcs say unidentified network. Even if I were to get them connected, I am not even sure what to be looking for. Will it show up in a network folder?
Using a switch to transfer packets will make your life easier than direct transfer between two computers.
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As @Shadowbane said a switch will make transferring data between the computers a heck of a lot easier!
It also has the advantage to easily expand your network down the line. I.e. more computers / access points for wireless devices / a nas for data storage or media sharing.
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open command prompt and type “ping 192.168.1.4” from the PC that doesnt have that IP address. It should be able to get a response from the other computer now as long as your other main network connections arent also 192.168.1.x
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The only problem I foresee @CoachOG2U having is finding an affordable switch capable of 40 Gigabit. I don’t know of any switch manufacturers that manufacture affordable 40 gigabits. The only ones I know of are the usual manufacturers, Cisco and Jupiter. Yes, @CoachOG2U could purchase a used Cisco or Juiputer on Ebay, but those are usually lockdown to 10 gigabits unless you buy some support contract from the manufacturer. I will ask @wendell how he got his 50-gigabit switch working at total capacity.
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Mellanox SX1024 is around $600 on Ebay and works great. It has twelve 40gb ports and a bunch of 10gb. That is the switch I have used for the last 6 or so years.
Not needed though for only 2 PCs. A direct point to pint works just fine and you almost have it working but your configuration is wrong.
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10/40 is old tech
Mellanox can let you do channel bonding lower in hardware so you can do 50gb nics
100gb is 4 25g channels on one phy, same idea
Iwrp and rdma are also fun protcols onntop of thst when you gotta go fast
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Don’t listen to these people trying to upsell you on a switch.
Just connect the two PCs together directly and Windows should sort it out for the most part.
Once you have it configured correctly it will be a separate network from your network that connects to the internet but you won’t really need to know that/pay attention to that, it will just work (if you ping the local IP, Windows will route through the correct NIC). You can share any folder/drive on either computer with the other and access them through explorer.
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You have no idea how happy I am you commented on my post. I just finished watching your show this AM and got to read it! I love the channel and appreciate how much work you have put into your content. Lets just say I have a p4800x and a 905p on the way. My pc evolution from LTT, to Gamers Nexus, and reached the pinnacle with L1.
I need some advice. I really want to learn how to build and maintain a server, but I know so little and need a better foundation to even ask the questions I need to ask. I am at the point where I don’t know what I don’t know. Is there a course or anything out there that starts at ground zero that you recommend?
Thanks again for commenting.
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If I am getting a switch, I want it to be 100GB or bigger. The plan is to build and run a small office server to replace Dropbox. I do not have a problem with the cost if I know it will work and work well. We spend 5k a year on Dropbox, I thought at the least we would put that amount into a server, switch, and networking. I got the 40GB cards as a test run to see if I could figure out how to set them up, and they were $15/unit on ebay.
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I will look up how to Ping the local IP. I am still a little confused on the file sharing part. Do you put a folder on the desktop and set the properties to file share?
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This PC/My Computer → Map Network drive → \192.168.1.x\SharedFolderFromOtherComputer
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Well, that just opened a big can of worms. I appreciate your response. I am researching about network sharing for windows 11. When I mapped a network drive, the folder was saying it had 250gb of data but there was nothing in it. So I figured out too \localhost and the Users folder popped up and freaked me out. I thought I was sharing all my stuff.
There are quite a lot of rabbit holes when it comes to IT!!!
The community here makes exploring them delightful. Even when there are heated “discussions” over how thing are done, it still gives the rest of us the sides of the story that we may not have had before that!
What about this one Mellanox SB7890 36x 100Gb/s QSFP28 EDR Infiniband Externally Managed Switch? On eBay for $800.
Or found this one for under $400 CELESTICA DX010 1U 32-PORT 100GB QSFP28 ONIE Managed Switch Dual Power.