Maximum number of NICs for Linux.

[Tom Horsley]

On Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:18:53 +0200
Roberto Ragusa wrote:

> Forgetting for a moment about virtual devices (including tun, ppp, ...),
> you now got me busy trying to imagine hardware with 32000 ethernet jacks.

I think in practice it breaks down before that. I seem to recall
at work the OS guys were testing a PCI expansion box and filled
it up with random cards like NICs, and some versions of the linux
kernel had big problems with the algorithms used to enumerate
the PCI devices when that many were plugged in (I forget how big
the box was, but I'm sure it was smaller than 32000 :-).