Using multiple network cards

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
I have a home server and i have a couple extra nics sitting around... I was reading some material somewhere about using more than 1 nic (and i know servers do it), but i couldn't remember where i read it.

how do i set up my comp (win2k and linux) to use dual or even 3 nics... is there some kind of bridging or something that i have to do? thanks.
 

sohcrates

Diamond Member
Sep 19, 2000
7,949
0
0
You would really only use multiple NICs only if you were using your computer as a router

one would connect to broadband input and second would connected to local area network and provide the ICS (internet connection sharing) for all other computers.

practicallynetworked.com has some computer-as-router ICS guides i believe.
 

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
so there is no way for me to connect more cables to my switch and increase the bandwith for that one computer (it is being accessed by more than 1 computer.) i've seen the router setup before, and thanks for the link.
 

sohcrates

Diamond Member
Sep 19, 2000
7,949
0
0
ahh...i see where you're going with this

perhaps you can do it, it would probably come under the heading of "network load balancing" which i believe win2k server and advanced server support.

can't tell you much more than that.
 

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
sohcrates,
thanks for the info.. i will check out load balancing.. that's one of the things i remember reading about.
 

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
still not sure how to go about telling my system to use both the cards at the same time... i am only using 1 nic right now when i do network transfers.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
0
You can use bonding in Linux to do it, but you may need a switch and/or NICs that are compatible.
 

gaidin123

Senior member
May 5, 2000
962
1
0
What you are wanting to do is called teaming. The Intel Pro 10/100 Server adapters support it at the driver level. You must have a switch that can support this...no consumer ones that I know of do. :(

You can easily toss multiple NICs in a single machine but each one will require it's own IP address and that kind of negates the possibility of teaming them.

Not that this is relevant because what you want to do sounds fun, but can your server put out more than 12.5MB/s both ways? :)

Gaidin
 

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
i did notice that they needed their own IP address.. i have 2 intel pro 100b, so these should support teaming? does my switch have to be managed to support teaming, or just specifically support teaming? if i have to use a consumer switch, is there a way i can use both of them to maximize throughput?


i honestly don't know if i could output more the 12.5mb/s, but i want to try.. :) thanks for the info.
 

Garion

Platinum Member
Apr 23, 2001
2,329
6
81
This has actually come up a few times in this forum - You might want to do some digging. What usually ended up being the answer is "Sure, you can do it, but unless you're using a proprietary tool (Like Intel AFT) you're actually going to slow things down a bit".

One trick I CAN recommend.. Unless you do something like using the Intel AFT, you can use two NIC's with two different IP addresses, then edit the LMHOSTS files for your various workstations and point each of them to a different NIC. Not really teaming, just sending different client PC's to different NIC's.

Last caveat - In some cases, adding the extra overhead of the 2nd NIC actually slows things down a bit - I'd try to find some good way to measure this, like transferring a big file from server to client before and after the upgrade.

- G

 

jackwhitter

Golden Member
Dec 15, 2000
1,048
0
0
thanks garion..

i didn't think i was the first person to think of using more than 1 nic, but i wasn't sure where to start... right now both my nics are connected but only 1 is ever being used, but it probably does slow down slightly from the single nic.

is there some proprietary software out there that is network card independent?
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
8,678
0
76
they also make nic cards with 2 or more ethernet ports on the same nic.. my friend bought one with the idea that its drivers allowed for load balancing in win2k.. dont think he every got it working though but you could check that out
 

ChillX

Senior member
Oct 6, 2001
389
0
0
One of the better uses for a spare set of NICs (note that I said set) is to create a secondary link between two computers. The secondary link can use just a crossover cable (or straight through with some NICs). The secondary link avoids whatever conjestion is on the first, and if just a link between two computers, can always work in full-duplex mode. Of course if the primary link is through a switch, there isn't that much benefit to this, unless if the primary nic is busy responding to other hosts.

I recently did this with gigabit between my main workstation and another. I liked it so well that I re-did my server (and bought a bunch more gigabit nics to do this).
I now have a fully switched 10/100 network for everything, and in addition, three seperate gigabit links to my server from 3 workstations. With a bit of wizardry, that also means gigabit speed between those three workstations (IP Forwarding in the server).

I have some specs in a thread here: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=656424

Only downfall to something like this is the wiring gets crazy, you have to setup all your routes custom on each machine, as well as an lmhosts file, and if you ever turn off your machines, the other one alerts you that the network cable is unplugged (in Win2K) or whatever. Plus you better know how IP gets routed on your machine (know the route command?) before you start, or you'll just have two unused NICs or a non-functional network.

Actually, if you are crazy enough (and understand routing well enogh), you can setup seperate receive/send paths. Ie - send on one NIC and receive on the other. And that would work with just one extra NIC. However, you would probably need to setup custom routes and lmhosts on every machine to make it work consistantly.

As far as Adapter Teaming, it only works with server NICs. Such as the Intel Pro/100 S Server Adaptors. There is no difference between the server and desktop adaptors from Intel, but the Intel Proset II software does recongnize the difference and only lets you make adaptor teams and some other features with Intel server adaptors. I think 3COM has similar features for their line of server adaptors.
 

lowtech1

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2000
4,644
1
0



<< "so there is no way for me to connect more cables to my switch and increase the bandwith for that one computer" >>



Sure you can do it through Peering in a Linux router, and then there is load balancing such as round robin but you have to code it for yourself.