Connect plotter and farmer directly with a 10 Gbit cable

My plotter and farmer are separate machines both running Ubuntu Server without GUI.
I’ve only got 1 Gbit switches at home, and 2.5/5/10 Gbit switches are too expensive where I live.
But I’ve got two spare 10 Gbit PCI-E network cards.
Is it possible to connect my machines directly to each other so that internet access is handled through 1 Gbit ports and the plots are sent through 10 Gbit ports? If yes, how can I do it?

I can’t tell you how to do it, because you are running Linux.
But I can tell you that it is possible, because I have done it on Windows 10 – and it was simple.

So it should be easy on Linux, too.

Your 10 Gbit cards will likely give you additional network addresses, specific to those cards. You should be able to connect an Ethernet cable directly between your two 10 Gbit cards, and configure Linux to have them talk to each other, by specifying the target machine’s new, 10 Gbit IP address (that is the part I cannot help you with in Linux).

You will need a cable that supports 10 Gbit speed. A web search will reveal which CAT level cables support 10 Gbit. Or someone in this forum will surely know.

In years past, you would need a crossover cable to connect two boxes directly to each other.
That is no longer the case, with hardware in the past decade or two. I have connected two Windows boxes, directly, using standard Ethernet cables. So if Windows can do it, Linux will be able to do it.

If you live in the USA, here is a 2.5 Gbit switch that after applying the $5 coupon, ships for $89.78 + tax.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B6BWVMJT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00

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  1. dont listen to this guy ^
  2. outright cheapest would be to make your own cable, a “crossover cable” in order to connect 2 computers together directly.
  3. i assume here but obviously you will want to make sure your using copper cable that supports 10gbit. cat7 minimum if im not mistaken.
  4. can you use the fiber? u didnt specify the interface to witch your 10gbit pcie card is.
  5. a for your purpose 10 gbit switch should be as little as 100$
  6. i attempted to crossover cable a proxmox cluster… it was a nightmare…
    save the headache buy a switch…

you can even plot over a 10gbit link. not fast but ive done it.
in your setup to >>> do it your own way
you need to connect the machines with crossover cable. to run your local traffic over the crossover cable. plenty of tutorials. all of this is to say tho a waist of time…

like when u are hammering a nail and u missed it a few times (the nail becomes bent) but you just keep trying to hammer that nail in anyways… it will go in eventually, crooked n bent. but wouldn’t you of rather just hit the nail clean in on one shot???

so why not leave the plots where they are being plotted to? why are you moving them over to your farmer?? who cares how you are doing it. its the wrong way. moving plots around like that is just wreak less in terms of plot integrity(100gb files jumping over a network is likely to miss a bit here and there,imo) , time consuming, energy waisting, pointlessness… all for what!!! just so you don’t have to learn how to set up a simple harvester… its madening

harvesters ALLOW you to farm over a network. so theres no reason to move a plot anywhere ever. if your doing things as intended.

what im saying is
every plot iv ever created goes final directory wright to disk and there it sits for harvester…to harvest… 0 reason to move the plot.

or say if your final plot directory was a nertwork share location that both ur chia and ur plotter had access too. over 10gbit this would probably be fine… but again not as intended. at all…

said to much. hope helped somone

what the correct topography for your farm should be is as follows
1>havester/plotter machine
2>farmer/wallet machine…

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Please provide a link to such a switch.

That will happen when you try to save $10 to build a crossover cable.
Whereas using a standard Ethernet cable, built by a reputable manufacturer, will work, and you would not have a nightmare.

No, you don’t “need” to use a crossover cable to connect two machines. Any 10 Gbit controller will work with any Ethernet cable. Cat 6a or higher will run at 10 Gbit. But lesser Ethernet cables will work, albeit at slower speeds. You can use a crossover cable, if you feel compelled to do so. What compells you, @jonesjr, is unknown.

No, it is not likely to miss a bit here and there.

Can you imagine the chaos on the world’s networks if TCP/IP were that unreliable?

@vasiliinorris, if you have no faulty hardware, then you can copy plots until the cows come home, and every copy will complete properly.

@jonesjr knows everyone’s setup. He knows every conceivable configuration. That is how he knows there is no reason to move a plot anywhere, ever. He is our forum’s mystical medium to our Chia overlords.

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You just need a 10G NIC with a chipset that is supported by Linux kernel so that you do not have to install any drivers (that’s a Win annoyance). I use ASUS XG-C100C which has a Marvel chip that Linux kernel supports without any special drivers. Then use any patch Cat6a or better cable between two NIC as they will auto X switch and convert that cable to a cross over cable ( making a cross over cable manually became obsolete decades ago). Lastly, set static IP on both NICs and give them a different IP but in the same subnet (don’t forget to include subnet mask) that is different from your main network subnet. Note that you do not need to define a gateway an both NICs will see each other and should auto negotiate to 10G.

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@dctech wouldn’t Linux work with any NICs? Or is it fussy?
@vasiliinorris already has the cards.

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I was just about to write that crossover cables AFAIK are history since 1 Gbit Ethernet, but you were quicker and more precise.
Thanks for your answer! Now I’ll just need a long enough Cat6A cable and to somehow make Linux use 10 Gbit cards to transfer the files and not the existing 1 Gbit.
But AFAIK there’s nothing difficult. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I just need to manually assign the IP addresses and make Samba/NFS shares bound to that specific new 10 Gbit IP. Did I forget anything?

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These seem to be competitively priced, and have good customer feedback:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CLWXL7Y/

I am a novice Linux user. But what you wrote sounds correct. But someone else should confirm.

@dctech provided instructions:

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@vasiliinorris

I just read all of the reviews.
A couple of people had issues. I guess that is unavoidable.

Of the 5-star ratings, no one actually wrote that they tested for 10 Gbit speed confirmation.
It seemed to be a parade of people complementing the build quality, the steady connection, or just general “works great” comments.

Amazon takes returns. So if you go with these cables, test them during the return window.

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The issue is that 3rd party driver needs to be loaded at boot by kernel which means it needs to support the kernel version which frequently gets updated. Companies are frequently slow in updating their drivers, if they provide update at all, so you will be stuck with a particular version of kernel bcs of a driver incompatibility which is a security issue and annoyance as kernel updates come along other software updates. This is why it is easier to use hardware that is directly supported in the Linux kernel.

Also, 10G requires Cat6a to run stable up to 100m. That does not mean Cat6 won’t work on shorter runs but it is not guaranteed as it all depends on cable quality and length. Also, don’t over spend on cable, as long as it is rated for Cat6a it will work and you do not have to get a Monster gold plated everything and overpriced cable. Shielded cable is not required but it helps to reduce noise pollution if you going to run the cable near EM sources like power lines or motors.

If you are not sure if the NICs you have are supported by Linux kernel the easy way to quickly test is to boot from a live CD/DVD/USB Linux disk to check if the NIC is recognized in the OS. I originally had a StarTech 10G NIC which worked fine in Win but required 3rd party driver that was no longer supported which became an issue really quick. Since I switched to Marvell AQC chip based NIC I had no issues under both Linux and Win.

you cant say anything more till you
lookup what a crossover cable is right now. u sound ill informed.
and i never said i made my own crossover cable. i said that i tried to use them.
but i know for certain you can make your own. by altering wire pattern inside the cable of a cat cable…
that would be the cheapest obviously.
but all that is pointless because its the improper way with your (bent nail)

we all know you cant connect 2 computers together with standard cat cable. and if you don’t im sorry your a complete idiot. it will never work that way. period. that’s just not how computers work. sorry.

when you buy anything u only ever buy just good enough… i don’t think you drive a nice car do you? why be constrained at ur 10gbit by using a cable with (theoretical-- maximum is 10gbit… that’s creating a silly bottleneck… iv always recommended a higher tier spec. not just for future proofing…you dont want your ,maximum be its maximum.

have you really never heard of the least significant bit? do you even comprehend how tiny a bit is. how do u think data corruption even happens… you could have a corrupt plot and not even know it. and the odds of it being corrupt are much higher if you’ve moved it around a few time. thats a fact jack, especially if your not using format xfs. just saying.

you keep trying to sound witty but looking rather silly at the things your conveying. disagreeing just to disagree. even if your wrong/ could it be your trolling me?

maybe if you took a minute to listen to actual truth big picture you might learn something. take notes maybe? ill say again. theres 0 reason to ever move a plot. if you know how to correctly use a low powered harvester machine. or your trying to download plots over wan wich is a terrible idea… or maybe u have a nas that ONLY connects via ethernet. wich is another just terrible idea…

so i can see how your rational thinking about doing just bad ideas. might seem like a good idea to you.

uv been blessed with knowledge i don’t care what you do with it. and im sorry it offends your very linear way of thinking.

again. literally any any setup i don’t care how it looks or what u got. could and should be configured where there is no need for moving plots{especially over the network). or your doing something wrong… and in worst worst case scenarios… you could handle moving the hardware. hard drives arnt that heavy. instead of doing it with software for here to there… wasting resources and time bandwidth.

No need for a crossover cable since most modern nics have mdix sensing circuits onboard…

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If you are going to call someone a complete idiot, then do not write:
“…your a complete idiot”

It is:
“…you are a complete idiot”
– or –
“…you’re a complete idiot”

No one should be the grammar police. But it is hypocritical to get the grammar wrong in a sentence calling someone a complete idiot. Do you see the irony?

Also, no need for you to be sorry that I am a complete idiot. Do not blame yourself.

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Once you have the two machines connected with 10G direct LAN cable the easiest way to transfer files will be either with SCP command or setting up NFS server on one PC, exporting a path with NFS server and mounting it under the other PC using NFS client. There are many guides on how to accomplish this on the net but let us know if you need help with that. For Linux beginners, or anyone who prefers to use a UI, there is a web UI available that can ease this and other server setup tasks, check out cockpit-project.org to learn more.

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@dctech I have a question. Although I read quite a lot I still don’t have a real grasp on networking. Could you explain in your language what a gateway is? I always thought it’s just the IP of the router but I understand that way to simplified.

Yes, gateway IP is typically the IP of the router. Let’s say your home network IP range is 192.168.0.0/24 (24 here is the subnet which can also be written as 255.255.255.0 and indicates how many IPs are in this network), the gateway will typically be the first IP (193.168.0.1). If you set the IP of the 10G NIC to an IP in different network ex: 192.168.100.10/24 your PC will automatically know to send all the traffic to IPs in 192.168.100.0/24 network through that NIC instead of the default gateway. So if the second NIC, that you connect via direct cable, is assigned an IP in the same range (ex 192.168.100.20/24) then the 2 PCs will communicate to each other over that direct cable only.

Switch 100G under 800$ because f*ck it YOLO:

Switch SFP+ ~100-150$:

Switch 2,5Gb Ethernet, I received mine yesterday, so far so good. Watch the video below:

Netgear has some nice 2.5 an 10GbE switches

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@dctech

So u say that if i have different Networks than it will normally use (if not specified) the assumed gateway? so for 192.168.100. … it will use 192.168.100.1 and for 192.168.0. … it will use 192.168.0.1? Which means that you need to tell the network that is not having a Gateway at .1 that it need to be shown the “way” (IP Adress) to the Gateway to the internet (which could be in another network)? Is a gateway allways the “gateway to the internet” or is this a wrong interpretation?

Sorry a little confusing for me.

And 192.168.0.0/24 (means the ip range is 1-24) for that Subnet 255.255.255.0 ?

Sorry for the stupid questions …

When looking at a small home network a gateway & router would be synonymous as your home router has a build in gateway which may not be the case in other networks. Your home router/gateway (ex: 192.168.0.1 which is the first IP on the subnet) is responsible for connecting devices on your home/private network to the Internet/public network. Your home network technically does not need a router/gateway to allow hosts/PCs to talk to each other if you assign them static IPs, they are all on the same switch, subnet, and they do not need to connect to Internet or other networks/subnets. I’m intentionally ignoring A LOT of networking details (completely ignoring DNS which helps to resolve hosts by name instead of IP and many other networking stuff) here as I’m trying to simplify things, but the reason why all the PCs can talk to each other without a gateway when connected to the same switch and are on the same subnet is also why 2 PCs connected with a direct cable can talk to each other. The reason why you need to set a static IPs is because your router has a service called DHCP which helps with assigning IPs to hosts and if you do not have a router on the network then likely there is no DHCP service to assign IPs automatically. One other important fact is that a host/PC can only use ONE gateway at a time. This is why you only need to specify a gateway on the NIC connected to your home network (ex: 192.168.0.0/24) and not on the other NIC which would be used for direct connection to another PC using a different subnet (ex: 192.168.100.0/24). Regarding the “/24” this is called CIDR notation of the subnet mask and means the same thing as “255.255.255.0” but obviously it is much easier to write :slight_smile: The “/24” subnet indicates that there could be up to 254 IPs assigned to hosts (ex: 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254) on this network where “.0” and “.255” are special and cannot be used by hosts. I’m just scratching the surface here but hopefully this help you understand how things work.

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