two NICs - channel bonding - tradeoff

[John Hearns]

> Of course, an alternative to using a dedicated network would be to modify
> the networking code in the kernel to provide priority access to your special
> traffic - of course getting switches to do that would be much more difficult.
> This would make a great project for an MS student - mucking around in the
> kernel to implement this.  
> Anyway, lots of issues to explore.  Please do, and then let us know what you
> find.
> 
> Walt


> > I could imagine an application where one has two
> > kinds of messages. One kind is a short message but
> > highly 'urgent'. Only after the message was delivered
> > can the calculation continue. For example a
> > synchronization message. And then another type of
> > message which is higher in volume but is not
> > time critical.

Perhaps I shouldn't raise myself above the parapet
here, but as an ATM person, that's the sort of thing
an ATM network might be able to do - QoS for different
traffic types. Some thoughts off the top of my head would
be using  PVCs for this 'priority' traffic,
and having normal IP traffic via Classical IP or LANE.
Also could investigate multicasting for moving
bulk data to all machines.
(Quickly ducks head back below parapet before
the flames start leaping).

-------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOO-----------------
John Hearns                       Systems Engineer
FrameStore             http://www.framestore.co.uk
Tel 0171-344-8910                0171-208-2626 Fax
-------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOO-----------------