Benefits of using two NIC

Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2002
Posts
81
Location
Shropshire UK
Q.
What would be the benefit in terms of overall network speed if I were to add an extra NIC to my simple file sharing machine and fed that also to my switch (guess I would need a cros-over for that).

The machine is XP pro running RAID 1 and performs no other function than to share files.

Thanks.
John.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,139
Location
Ironing
If both net cards are same make and have drivers that support teaming and/or bonding, then you can use teaming/bonding for resiliancy/speed.

You might need a switch that supports it, and you'll only see a benefit in speed if you're maxed out on your current connection, and the resiliancy benefit comes if you absolutely need 24/7.

In short, unless you know you need it, you probably don't.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
24 Oct 2002
Posts
81
Location
Shropshire UK
Yeh I see your point two NIC is going to be a pain...


If I went to GigaNIC would that not mean I would need to swap my switch out for a GigaNIC, (then cables and the other NIC's eventualy)........

I suppose that if the Switch were Giga then the data rate to the switch would be able to cope with say 4 (100Mhz) connections that were running at say 50%

John.
 
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