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Thread ID: 17835 2002-04-12 10:55:00 Multiple NICs on NT4 Server Guest (0) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
43484 2002-04-12 10:55:00 Ok heres whats up.

My nt4 server needs more network bandwith so the thought of adding another 100meg nic came to mind.Can this be done. Remembering i want some sort of load/balancing on one segment of the network. Every time ive tried it. It always turns to custard. Network lockups with no appreciable gains.

your thoughts!

==Orac==

BTW: it is running thru a switch and the cards do have seperate IPs and different brands
Guest (0)
43485 2002-04-12 11:17:00 Multi NICS are possible my question is why?? My school has a main server for students feeding 115 computers it also has 2 other servers all of which are linked via a switch all servers have only one 100 nic each and the system copes with the demand fine (bear in mind school systems tend to have 70-80 students logging on at the same time and often 20+ saving to the server at a time. the system includes ADSL Internet and students put a large demand on this too. Guest (0)
43486 2002-04-12 23:41:00 It Can certainly be done, each card will have a unique IP address but you can set tha same gateway for them this should effectively allow them to share...however 2 Nic's is generally done for routing or bridging reasons one 100 mb card should be sufficent for good network performance. Guest (0)
43487 2002-04-13 01:05:00 Sorry B j the question wasn't why do I want 2 cards in my server but I want 2 cards in my server but they don't go, most people would agree that if you got a spare network card and NT Server can support more than 1 card then why not install it and enjoy the benefits of load balancing...

Justa few questions for you Orac, can you get into windows or does it crash before starting if so, remove one of the cards then can you boot, if so check the event viewer for any errors, if you find any what are they, you may even be lucky enough to get a Q number... Let us know how you get on... Oh yeah Orac you do know me...
Guest (0)
43488 2002-04-13 01:29:00 in my own geekish way and to answer the question of why?answer is because i can and am curious to see if any performance gains can be achieved and how much.

But continuing along.

With both nics installed and drivers loaded etc nt goes fine with the exception that network ability is a no go.
Take out one of the cards and all is well.
It would appear that some sort of conflict is happening but the logs show all as normal.

Are there any special services required? or is there something required in network side of things to tell it how you wish it setup?

==orac==
Guest (0)
43489 2002-04-13 12:04:00 I have done this for several servers, however I had to do the following:

NICs had to be the same.
Had to install Vendor specific driver (IBM) which created a virtual device that contained both NICs (NT,2000)didn't support this on its own.
Also had to pair up the ports on the switch(can't remember the term 3com uses to describe it).

Hope this helps.
Guest (0)
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