Any advantages to plug in twice to the same network?

[Catsrules]

I was wondering, I have two gigabit Network cards in my computer, Is there any advantages I would get put plugging in twice? Or would I just be wasting a precious port on my gigabit switch?

 

[Emerald]

Usually your PC only uses one NIC at a time; therefore, it is a waste.

 

[Catsrules]

I am guessing it is the same for server 2008?
I am using it as a file server, nothing fancy.

 

[Emerald]

Look into load balancing it might help if you have a lot of simultaneous file access

 

[Plumble]

Intel did used to have a system for taking advantage of multiple network connections, however I'm only aware of it on thier 10/100 cards.

 

[Emerald]

I think you will find the info you need hear.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771300%28WS.10%29.aspx

 

[riser]

Depending on your hardware, you can look into 'Teaming.' Dell supports Broadcom NIC teaming.

 

[Catsrules]

Depending on your hardware, you can look into 'Teaming.' Dell supports Broadcom NIC teaming.

Hmm, it is a Dell power shot, but it has dual Intel pro cards, Do you think they will still support it?

 

[riser]

Probably. Check out Dell's site or do a google search on the intel pro cards and teaming.

The only benefit you will get is on your local LAN. That would only be a benefit if the gigabit connection is saturated. Heavy backend traffic, transferring large files, etc, could make it saturated.

If you're not in a medium to large environment, I doubt you will see anything above a minor improvement.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

The cards need to support teaming. There are 2 ways to handle teaming. Either teamed together as one card giving you 2GB or as a backup using one card and the other as a fail over.

The benefit is there but they need to be the same card and support teaming. It's similar to RAID.

I was wondering, I have two gigabit Network cards in my computer, Is there any advantages I would get put plugging in twice? Or would I just be wasting a precious port on my gigabit switch?

 

[Catsrules]

Yeah, I got it working, it now saids it is going at 2gbps. But I can't tell any difference in speed. Owell it is kinda cool to see it say it is running at 2 gbps

 

[Catsrules]

So if I make it act as a backup could I unplug the main one when it is copying file and it would act like nothing happened, and finish copying the files, or will it take a second to switch over?

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Just leave it at 2gb just because you probably don't need a fail over. The only way you'll notice a difference is if you copy files over to your computer otherwise its just a talking point.

So if I make it act as a backup could I unplug the main one when it is copying file and it would act like nothing happened, and finish copying the files, or will it take a second to switch over?