Turn Server 2012 into a 10G Switch

H

Hammer!

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
155
Hi, I have some unused 10G NIC's and want to see if there's a way to install them into a computer and turn that PC into a switch. I need to run Windows based software for driver support of the NIC's, such as Server 2012. This is a picture of what I am hoping to accomplish:

[PC1] -----10G------[PC2]------10G------< Hardware Switch >
| | | | |
1G 1G 1G 1G 1G
| | | | |
[PC3][PC4][PC5]......

As you can see in the simplified picture above, I have a real switch which has a single 10G link that is connected to PC2. I would like to add the 10G cards to PC2 so that I can create a "switch" of 10G ports on PC2 which I can then hook up other clients (such as PC1 in the above picture).

PC2 needs to provide network access and internet access to PC1 (and other PC's connected to PC2 - not pictured).

The rest of the clients on the network are connected to the regular gigabit ethernet ports of the hardware switch (including my router which is 192.168.1.1).

I looked into Windows Internet Sharing, but for that to work, I need to connect the router to PC2 above and for other considerations not described above, it is not physically possible for me to do that.

Is there software I can run on PC2 that will turn all the NIC ports of PC2 into a "switch"?

Thanks, Hammer!

Thank you!
 
Don't know if its still in Sever 2012, but what you want is the "windows network bridge" connection. Google will help you - use search words "network bridge".

It would be a LOT easier to describe how if you were willing to use Linux.
 
Wow!!! That did the trick. The only catch is now I don't have internet access on PC2 - the one where the 10G cards are installed. But the PC1 has connection, internet and local network access.

I tried to enter in an IP address for PC, but while it will allow me to enter an address and mask, it won't let me enter in a default gateway. Whenever I do and hit close, when I open IP settings again, default gateway is blank. Thoughts? I guess I can leave one NIC off the bridge configure that for access.

Thank you very much!
 
As a follow-up, I am noticing that speeds are about 1/3 of what they were. 800MB/s to 260MB/s

PigLover, you had mentioned a Linux solution, do you think that will help me get back some of the lost speed?
 
Are you configuring that in the bridge or one of the individual NICs?
 
I'm configuring the ip address/mask/gateway on the bridge. Should I do it on one of the individual NIC's instead?
 
Hammer! said:
As a follow-up, I am noticing that speeds are about 1/3 of what they were. 800MB/s to 260MB/s
Click to expand...

What kind of CPU utilization are you getting for transfers?
I wouldn't imagine the performance of that solution to be that great.
 
I reinstalled the NIC drivers and now I'm up to 450MB/sec on copies. So, about half 2/3's the speed of a straight connection which is acceptable for me. Thank you all for your help!
 
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