NIC Bridging??? 1

[apex1x]

Hi all you netware experts.
Our current setup involves a server with two NICs in it, and one of these NICs is active. This active NIC is connected to the hub.
Due to troubleshooting issues, the second NIC was disabled (REM'd out in autoexec.ncf) but since then we have figured out the problem and would like to reinitialize that second nic and have it connect to another hub.

I do not know how it was set up previously, but I heard that TCP/IP packets can only stay on the hub that's connected to that particular NIC on the server.
I want the two hubs able to talk to each other and I've also heard there is some sort of router you can set up for the hub or NIC bridging.

Any advice and direction here would be helpful, as the two NIC setup should relieve some traffic on the server.
~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[summoner]

It was an old trick to use several nics in a server to handle high network traffic loads. Now with ethernet switches, full duplex and gigabit ethernet, theres no reason to do this anymore. With multiple nics, the server turns on software to route packets between the different network segments meaning every packet must be analyzed and routed to either the other segment or to the server itself. This type of extra overhead in uneccesary these days so stay away from multiple NICS unles you absolutely need to keep the networks seperate.

If you want the 2 hubs to speak to each other, simply connect them together with a crossover cable and have one of the hubs connecting to one nic in the server. The best solution would be to replace the hubs with a switch(s) and upgrade the server NIC to a faster more robust card.

 

[apex1x]

I appreciate the info.

What sort of "robust and fast" NIC would you recommend?
Right now the two NICs we use are CE100B (the active one), and 3C980.

Also, on a side not I'm curious about something.
When going from static IPs on workstations to DHCP assigned, I found that many workstations retain their old IP address. I've released and renewed their IPs but they still stay. Shouldn't the DHCP server assign the IPs incrementally? ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[summoner]

I like intel nics. Any intel server NIC is fine but 3com also makes good NICs as well. The server usually does assign the IPs incrementaly, but when you release/renew and get the same address its because the address released hasn't been taken so the server assigns it again to the same workstation. If you release the address, then renew on another set of workstations and then come back to the first comp, chances are you won't get the same address.

 

[apex1x]

What sort of performance gain would there be if a gigabit NIC were used to connect to a 10/100 base tx switch, rather than a 10/100 NIC used? ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[summoner]

Assuming the gigabit NIC can negotiate down to 100, no extra performance advantage. You could throw a gigabit nic in and be ready for gigabit speeds in the future when you upgrade your switches. Almost all gigabit nics require a 64 bit PCI slot and disks fast enough to read/write at that speeds. In most cases scsi raid arrays.

 

[apex1x]

OK, great.

I think we'll stay with fast ethernet for now but I think replacing our two hubs with a good switch will do the trick.
I've been looking at the 3COM 4250T 50-Port 10BT Switch.
I'm curious once again as to what performance gain this switch would give over our two current hubs (two Dlink hubs with switch).

Thanks again. ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.