Server/router - how many nics?

[MrTrigger]

Hi,
I want to setup a server that will also act as a router and is wondering how many nics I need to get it all to work? The server part should be mail, web, NAS etc. and will run Ubuntu server edition. Will I need 3 nics and setup as follows or can the server applications connect through the second nic so I only need 2?

3 nics:
Server port 1 - WAN <-> "Servern acting as router" <-> Server port2 - LAN <-> switch <-> Server port 3 - server applications connecting to the switch on the LAN

 

[Crusty]

For each different network segment you are connecting to you will need a NIC. In your case, you have a public network(WAN), and your private network(LAN) so you would only need 2 NIC's.