Lousy Network Performance

[Kurt Wall]

Hi, list,

How do I go about solving a significant latency problem on my
internal network. I have two computers connected via a crossover
cable, eth1 on the "server" (luther) to eth0 on the "desktop"
(easter). Both cards are 10/100. Ping time is atrocious:

>From luther to easter:
$ ping -c 10 easter
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=893 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=53.6 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=910 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=72.6 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=930 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.699 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=960 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=3.69 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=979 ms
64 bytes from easter (192.168.0.2): icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=0.694 ms

--- easter ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9071ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.694/480.691/979.699/455.463 ms

>From easter to luther:
$ ping -c 10 luther
PING luther (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.418 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1038 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=38.9 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1077 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=77.2 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1116 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=116 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1155 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=155 ms
64 bytes from luther (192.168.0.1): icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1194 ms

--- luther ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9002ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.418/597.109/1194.010/522.194 ms, pipe 3

I can't see any reason why the latency should be so extreme.

Kurt
-- 
Once, adv.:
	Enough.
		-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"