1 system + 2 NICs + 1 LAN = ?

E

Elledan

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - April 2010
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I'm probably displaying a serious lack of understanding regarding networking theory here, but I seem to be unable to answer the following question:

If you've got one PC with two installed NICs which are both connected to the same network, how does the OS and any applications running on it deal with this? From what I understand, it takes additional software to make the OS (and applications) treat those two NICs as a single connection, so I assume that this is not a cheap way to increase bandwidth.

Naturally, I reserve the right to be horribly wrong, therefore I'm asking this question here. What is the obvious answer that I'm overlooking?
 
You'll need special drivers or OS support to "bond" the NICs. What will happen if you don't do that and you just put both on the same switch is open to debate. IIRC one of the ports would be blocked (STP) unless the other link dropped, effectuating redundancy.

However, I may just be thinking of what happens when you do a dual-uplink with switches without configuring them for multi-port trunking.
 
Not neccessarily. My Compaq NC3131 with port bonding drivers was all that was needed with my Netgear and Catalyst switches.
 
So such a configuration would merely be a redundant connection, taking over when the other connection fails (e.g. NIC dies, someone pulls out the wrong cable)?
 
well, if all the comps on the network have dual nics, wouldnt that make 200mbps thoeretical transfer rate..
 
Originally posted by Elledan
So such a configuration would merely be a redundant connection, taking over when the other connection fails (e.g. NIC dies, someone pulls out the wrong cable)?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the connection that is listed first in the connection list (advanced settings) will be tried/used first. The only times the PC will use the 2nd NIC is when the first one is not available.

...though you can probably play with the routing table to send different traffic to different NICs (for example route Internet traffic through NIC1 (by defining it as default route) and LAN traffic through NIC2 (static mappings)). This is obviously no good in a routed network (or will at least get very complecated), and I seriously doubt you would get any performance gain...

Windows Server supports multiple connections via RRAS
 
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