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I understand that more is better in some sense, but why the emphasis on having two (2) 10GbE instead of one for a single device that isn't a router? What's the

I understand that more is better in some sense, but why the emphasis on having two (2) 10GbE instead of one for a single device that isn't a router? What's the second link for? Just more bandwidth, or is there some crucial use case I'm missing?

gorkish 3y ago
In my experience, a second nic is important to build anything with resilience; it's not just for routing. I see it as the most important hardware to "double up" on. If you are building a small cluster, for instance, you generally want to have one interface for the backend interconnect and one interface for client traffic. Or maybe you want to be able to upgrade or change your networking without taking traffic offline -- you'll need two physical connections for that, too. Of course you can still build routers and everything with a single interface (which is why I noted the single port hardware in the first place), but if you are going to design something specific to the mini-server market, the cost difference between a single port and dual port controller is negligible enough that there's no reason not to include 2 or even 4 ports. The GoWin machines simply toss in an OCP nic slot and call it a day. That would be a fantastic solution to see adopted by other vendors.
jmbwell 3y ago
If a home lab is for tinkering, it’s something to play with first of all, but it also helps facilitate re-patching things or moving things around, which in many cases you can do one port/cable at a time without interrupting services. I once moved a server from one room to another by moving its redundant power cables one at a time to a UPS on a cart, then swapping its short network cables for longer ones one a time, wheeling the thing to the other room, then “reversing” the procedure in the new location. Zero downtime! Zero point really, but fun in the way I reckon a home lab is meant to be.

gorkish 3y ago

In my experience, a second nic is important to build anything with resilience; it's not just for routing. I see it as the most important hardware to "double up" on. If you are building a small cluster, for instance, you generally want to have one interface for the backend interconnect and one interface for client traffic. Or maybe you want to be able to upgrade or change your networking without taking traffic offline -- you'll need two physical connections for that, too. Of course you can still build routers and everything with a single interface (which is why I noted the single port hardware in the first place), but if you are going to design something specific to the mini-server market, the cost difference between a single port and dual port controller is negligible enough that there's no reason not to include 2 or even 4 ports. The GoWin machines simply toss in an OCP nic slot and call it a day. That would be a fantastic solution to see adopted by other vendors.

jmbwell 3y ago

If a home lab is for tinkering, it’s something to play with first of all, but it also helps facilitate re-patching things or moving things around, which in many cases you can do one port/cable at a time without interrupting services. I once moved a server from one room to another by moving its redundant power cables one at a time to a UPS on a cart, then swapping its short network cables for longer ones one a time, wheeling the thing to the other room, then “reversing” the procedure in the new location. Zero downtime! Zero point really, but fun in the way I reckon a home lab is meant to be.