How hard is it to team two NICs

[macssuck]

The server is a NetServer LH3r running NT4 with dual PIII 600 with 768MB and 6 9gig with raid5 and Intel 10/100 82557 nic that connects to a Cisco 6000 series switch. The server houses 200 users home directories and an application, which uses a 250MB database and few smaller apps run from it. Would it speed things up adding a second nic or am I wasting my time?

 

[spidey07]

Check the utilization on the CAT6000 switch port. If it is high then yes, teaming NICs will improve network performance. If you are not pushing the port/nic above 30-40% then really no need for another NIC.

Intel makes simply fabulous cards just for your situation. It is a dual-port 10/100 card and supports Cisco etherchannel (works great on the 6000s)

my .02

 

[Akash]

just get another one of your intel nics and in the software it will let you tag team them...

 

[macssuck]

Do I have to configure anything on the switch for the 2nic's to work using fast etherchannel?

 

[spidey07]

yes...

Usage: set port channel <mod/ports...> [admin_group]
set port channel <mod_num/port_num> mode <on|off|desirable|auto>
[silent|non-silent]
set port channel all distribution <ip|mac> [source|destination|both]
(admin_group = 1..1024
An example of mod/ports is 2/1-2,3/1-6 up to 8 ports
silent|non-silent only valid with auto|desirable specified.)


use &quot;set port channel 3/1-2 on&quot; to channel 3/1 and 3/2 together. by default 6000s use mac address hashing to load balance. This might not be optimal if it is a large routed campus network. If most layer2 traffic is destined for a router then use IP load balancing. &quot;set port channel all distribution ip both&quot; command

good luck

 

[spidey07]

you can view snapshot reports of traffic stats with the &quot;show top n&quot; reports. Very helpful.

 

[macssuck]

spidey07 This switch is in the MDF with 10 IDF's connected to it but only one IDF has a Layer 3 Switch which is a 5000 series the rest of the IDF's have 3500's and I would say that 75-80% of traffic is internet

Can you add more memory to a 6000 series switch?

 

[spidey07]

if you have the msfc (layer3switching) you can upgrade to 128 MB on the msfc. buy i'm guessing the 6000 doesn't have the msfc or pfc, just a reguler sup1.

Catalyst 6000s were the first to support IP based frame distribution on etherchannel. I don't think the ASICs support it on the 5000.

so just leave the defaults and balance according to MAC

spidey

 

[macssuck]

I wasnt shure it the 5000 did layer 3 but I know the 6000 does

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software
IOS (tm) C6MSM Software (C6MSM-IN-M), Version 12.0(1a)WX5(6g), RELEASE SOFTWARE

Copyright (c) 1986-1999 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Fri 11-Jun-99 14:57 by integ
Image text-base: 0x600108F0, data-base: 0x605F4000

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.0(1a)WX5(6e), RELEASE SOFTWARE

MDF-6009-RSM uptime is 3 weeks, 4 days, 23 hours, 41 minutes
System restarted by power-on
System image file is &quot;bootflash:c6msm-in-mz.120-1a.WX5.6g.bin&quot;

cisco WS-X6302-MSM (R5000) processor with 65536K/8192K bytes of memory.
R5000 processor, Implementation 35, Revision 2.1
Last reset from power-on or reset from supervisor
4 Gigabit EPIF Controllers (1 GE Port/Controller).
1 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)
4 GigabitEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)
507K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.
16384K bytes of processor board Boot flash (Read/Write)

Configuration register is 0x101

 

[spidey07]

yep, that's a 6000 MSM blade. Very familiar with them. You don't need to worry about memory on that puppy. It an ATM blade from the 8500 series. It was the first generation L3 switching product for the 6000 and has been discontinued.

You should have no troubles at all teaming the NICs. I use 2-4 100 megabit cards in a team all the time and also do 2 gigabit teaming on the servers as well. The intel cards work like a champ.

 

[macssuck]

Thank you very much spidey