6 ms·

You probably don't need 16 40Gbps channels at home, either.

by gonzo 12y ago

ericd 12y ago
Heh maybe not need, but want? I definitely want. Looks like a 40 GbE NIC is just $500: http://www.amazon.com/MELLANOX-CONNECTX-3-56GBE-1PORT-MCX313A-BCCT/dp/B00L50BAVW/ http://www.amazon.com/MELLANOX-CONNECTX-3-56GBE-1PORT-MCX313... Just need an SSD RAID to feed it...
- virtuallynathan 12y ago
  Less than $500 actually, you can get them for about $350.
- e12e 12y ago
  While I wasn't aware you could get them that cheap, I think I'd still look into second hand infiniband for home use. Allows the use of copper for short (pc-to-pc, point-to-point) distances. While optic is absolutely cool, as far as I can tell a single 1m patch cable will cost ~80 USD -- quite a lot considering the cost of the NIC... And even in IBM's sales brochure for their optical switch, infiband comes out a little ahead: http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=QCW03034USEN&appname=STGE_QC_AA_USEN_WH#loaded http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=S...
  - wmf 12y ago
    40GbE uses approximately the same copper cables as Infiniband. There's probably more used IB equipment floating around than used 40GbE, but otherwise I'd go with Ethernet.
    - e12e 12y ago
      Ah, of course. I was misled by wikipedia[1], but it should've been obvious that the same connection could be used for both inifinband and ethernet. So, indeed, there are copper interconnects: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mellanox-3-3ft-QSFP-QSFP-Passive-Copper/dp/B00CA2A7XQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1423702311&sr=8-2&keywords=qsfp++40gb+copper+cable http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mellanox-3-3ft-QSFP-QSFP-Passive-Cop... Actually seems the price is finally coming down a bit (compared to what I remember these used to cost, years ago -- but maybe I've just upped my budget ;-). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSFP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSFP "The Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable transceiver used for data communications applications. It interfaces networking hardware to a fiber optic cable." But it also interfaces hardware to copper cables, as I gather.
      - DiabloD3 12y ago
        The cable you're looking for is called a direct connect cable. "Fake" optical modules on both sides, plugs it together with a permanently wired copper cable.
        kijiki 12y ago
        DAC is a common term for this. Direct Attached Copper. It is a SFP+ plug on each end (but without all the optical magic), connected with twin-ax cable, which is like coax but with 2 signal paths, one for each direction.

You probably don't need 16 40Gbps channels at home, either.

by gonzo 12y ago

You probably don't need 16 40Gbps channels at home, either.

ericd 12y ago

Heh maybe not need, but want? I definitely want. Looks like a 40 GbE NIC is just $500: http://www.amazon.com/MELLANOX-CONNECTX-3-56GBE-1PORT-MCX313A-BCCT/dp/B00L50BAVW/ http://www.amazon.com/MELLANOX-CONNECTX-3-56GBE-1PORT-MCX313... Just need an SSD RAID to feed it...

virtuallynathan 12y ago
Less than $500 actually, you can get them for about $350.
e12e 12y ago
While I wasn't aware you could get them that cheap, I think I'd still look into second hand infiniband for home use. Allows the use of copper for short (pc-to-pc, point-to-point) distances. While optic is absolutely cool, as far as I can tell a single 1m patch cable will cost ~80 USD -- quite a lot considering the cost of the NIC... And even in IBM's sales brochure for their optical switch, infiband comes out a little ahead: http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=QCW03034USEN&appname=STGE_QC_AA_USEN_WH#loaded http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=S...
- wmf 12y ago
  40GbE uses approximately the same copper cables as Infiniband. There's probably more used IB equipment floating around than used 40GbE, but otherwise I'd go with Ethernet.
  - e12e 12y ago
    Ah, of course. I was misled by wikipedia[1], but it should've been obvious that the same connection could be used for both inifinband and ethernet. So, indeed, there are copper interconnects: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mellanox-3-3ft-QSFP-QSFP-Passive-Copper/dp/B00CA2A7XQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1423702311&sr=8-2&keywords=qsfp++40gb+copper+cable http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mellanox-3-3ft-QSFP-QSFP-Passive-Cop... Actually seems the price is finally coming down a bit (compared to what I remember these used to cost, years ago -- but maybe I've just upped my budget ;-). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSFP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSFP "The Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable transceiver used for data communications applications. It interfaces networking hardware to a fiber optic cable." But it also interfaces hardware to copper cables, as I gather.
    - DiabloD3 12y ago
      The cable you're looking for is called a direct connect cable. "Fake" optical modules on both sides, plugs it together with a permanently wired copper cable.
      - kijiki 12y ago
        DAC is a common term for this. Direct Attached Copper. It is a SFP+ plug on each end (but without all the optical magic), connected with twin-ax cable, which is like coax but with 2 signal paths, one for each direction.