Possibly dumb question, but...

[Marcin_gps]

What IP address did you enter when subnet mask was 255.255.255.192? There are only 62 valid IP addresses for that subnet mask

 

Did you set default gateway to IP address of the other port? (which connects to router)

[One and a half]

On 2/6/2023 at 7:33 PM, Marcin_gps said:

What IP address did you enter when subnet mask was 255.255.255.192? There are only 62 valid IP addresses for that subnet mask

 

Did you set default gateway to IP address of the other port? (which connects to router)

There are two address that are assigned to the same machine, 172.17.20.8 & 172.17.20.6. The JCAT is set to 6 the mobo to 8. 

The router assigns the addresses via DHCP, using the MAC address. In case of the Network bridge, one of the NET XE's ports is visible to the router, the other connected to the Lumin.

I had this working for a few months, until one day in January, when the system went pear shaped. 

Assigning two IP addresses with the same gateway on the same machine causes an alarm in Windows, so I assigned the 6 address to the NET XE bridge with no gateway and altered the metric to 5. The file transfer was abysmal.

 

Gave up and reinstalled windows now using the mobos's two Intel NICs in balancing mode, copy performance is very good. The Lumin is wired directly to the router.

 

The NET XE is out of the server for now, would like to use it again. The Intel NIC software can use many Ethernet ports and treat them as one, provided all the ports end up at the same switch or router. Plug in a host, like a renderer does nothing only assigns a 169 IP address to the Lumin.

 

The mobo has LEDs on the front case to show network activity which I like and use. Using the NET XE does not show traffic on the front panel LED, that is if the mobo nics are disabled.

[One and a half]

Network Bridge is working.

 

Well, an interesting afternoon. The audio-jbox PC that had the JCAT NET XE fitted, has a slightly older version of Windows 10 LTSC. Here JCAT port A is connected to router, the other port B to the Lumin. Works fine, even survives a reboot.

 

This works on the Audio-Jbox PC:

   

=======================================================================================================================

 

This version of Windows doesn't work to connect the Lumin to the Router. The Network Bridge is created OK, but there's no traffic, and the Adpater receives a 169 number.

 

 

Everything is working with the JCAT NET XE in front of the EtherRegen. There are DX-ISO on all connections to stop noise as much as possible. There was a post on a super user forum, that the Network Bridge is broken in Windows 10, but is supported with Windows server editions.

The original server where Minimserver and the music files are stored is working fine with the dual mobo NICs has great file copy speed, some 80 MB/s with the Intel ProSet software as teaming link aggregator. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[One and a half]

With all the different combinations to workaround the Windows behaviour for the Network Bridge on the main music server, the old Audio-jbox PC was added again.

For the moment, until Windows decides to change and wreck the bridge it works.

I tried:

a) Lumin U1 wired directly from the router with DX-ISO. Music stored on Music-Server
Verdict: Ruff, raw, bad distortion, like having the volume up too far. This is now remembered as very bad digital distortion. Unlistenable

b) Music-Server dual NICs and Net XE in Teaming Mode, Lumin to one Net XE port. No identification on the Net port, predictable, since Teaming relies on SERVER-SWITCH connections, not SERVER-HOST.

 

So the chain is now:

 

Router LAN Port 2 & 3 -> Music Server Intel NIC x 2 

Router LAN Port 4 -> Audio-Jbox PC with NET XE Port A in Netowrk Bridge mode -> XET XE Port B -> EtherRegen Port A -> EtherRegen Port B -> Lumin Ethernet

There are DX-ISO filters on every cable except on the B side of the ER to the Lumin. There's an Initio 3 powering the NET XE.

 

The sound quality now is as before, very clean, a very dramatic difference with the NET XE Card in place and working. Made all that work worthwhile to see the end.

Now to find a linear supply for the router, alternatively an English Electric Switch to keep the music system on the one switch. I could have used the EtherRegen on the A side, but the cabling distance is too far to strech the B side, some 20m between the B and the Lumin would be the consequence, not going to happen.

 

The olde NET FEMTO is now in the main file server in teaming mode, replacing the single Realtek 2.5GBe NIC. The Realtek either RTL8125 / RTL8125B(S)(G) came with an Asus mobo.

I couldn't reach the transfer rates for files with the Realtek alone, the NET FEMTO does a far better job with throughput, about 20-30 MB/s higher speed.

 

Both the NET FEMTO and NET XE use the Intel i350 NIC. Particular benefit of the i350 is winding up the transmit and receive buffers to max, data just flies.