100bT rather than gigabit?

[G_Town]

I have 2 winows 2003 servers, identically configured but one has been coming up lately as being only connected at 100bT, they are plugged into the same switch, network etc,,hell they are in the same cabinet.

Where do I specify the connection to be at gigbit?

I extremely busy or I'd spend a few minutes looking.

[NefariousDrO]

Most switches allow you to specify the speed at the switch itself, but you may need to double-check the networking settings on the server. It's in one of their control settings, but I'm not up on the newer Windoze servers.

[Chilbear]

the speed is determined by the switch automatically to match the incoming connection I believe.

Try switching the two cables around and see if the speeds switch, it would tell if the server  (or cable) or the port on the switch is causing the issue.

[Joe]

Cable can definitely make the difference. If it's a standard cat 5 cable it will only connect at 100 baseT. A cat 5e or cat 6 will connect at 1000 baseT if both the network card and switch support it.

[G_Town]

Cable can definitely make the difference. If it's a standard cat 5 cable it will only connect at 100 baseT. A cat 5e or cat 6 will connect at 1000 baseT if both the network card and switch support it.

Everything was just rewired as cat6, both servers plugged into the same switch.

I'll try a different cable or port.

[Joe]

Cable can definitely make the difference. If it's a standard cat 5 cable it will only connect at 100 baseT. A cat 5e or cat 6 will connect at 1000 baseT if both the network card and switch support it.

Everything was just rewired as cat6, both servers plugged into the same switch.

I'll try a different cable or port.

The patch cable is cat6 too? You are sure the one connecting as 100 baseT has a gigabit network card in it? And the drivers are up to date?

[DigiCorn]

Just a last thought. If your server is a ProActive Tech. box they include two ports on the back of the physical server itself... 1 100bT and 1 GB. It sounds stupid, but when rewiring, it's just as easy to plug into the wrong port.

[mattbeals]

Joes point of the patch cables and other cables is right but you also have to worry about the punch downs and connectors. If there isn't a proper connection you won't get the connection speeds. If the switch is managed the port could be forced to 100Mb instead of "auto". Gigabit wiring needs to be done correctly. It is *MUCH* less forgiving than 10/100Mb cabling. You can force a card to a particular speed or duplex settings but that can cause all sorts of problems. Have you tried swapping cables to see if the other server connects at 100Mb? Are these cables hand made or factory made? Do they say CAT5 or CAT5E? Gigabit will need at least CAT5E but should use CAT6. Be sure to actually look at the cable and verify that it's CAT6. You can always get a cable tester to have the cable & connection verified at gigabit compatible.