Thank you Rob for the detailed explanation.
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Windows server 2003 - adding 2nd network card
I am curious how things work when there are two NICS in windows server 2003, that acts as a file server? So far we have two separate workgroups that are connected to this server (approx 40 PCs total). We have a 24port switch that is has no available ports on it. Since today two ports have stopped functioning.... probably due to heavy thunder strikes all day long. I have an extra 24 port switch free, so I am thinking of adding it to network. My question is: should I just move half of the connections from one switch to another, or should I add 2nd NIC to windows server 2003? And why is one a better approach?
Here is a quick network explanation:
Workgroup A is connected to Workgroup B through private point to point link over DSL (approx 40-50Mbit speed). All PCs from workgroup A are directly (or through some small 5/8port switch) connected to a main switch (we will call it main switch), and this switch is connected to windows server 2003. PCs from workgroup B are connected to 16 port switch, and then through private link goes to main switch.
If I put two network cards on server, how would a traffic to this server be handled? Since switch is unmanaged, there is no "load balancing"? If NIcs have 192.168.2.10 and 192.168.2.11 IP addresses, if I type \\server_name on some PC on workgroup, through which NIC would it connect? I guess I could map to IP intead of name (so I can choose which NIC to connect to), but is this a correct approach? :)
Any help is appeciated.
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by: RobWillPosted on 2009-11-02 at 14:28:33ID: 25724466
2 NIC's on a server are most often used to allow the server to be a gateway for the network. There is a LAN NIC and a WAN NIC isolating internal and external traffic.
The next common use of a second NIC is for increased throughput, but for this Teaming is usually used which requires identical cards and hardware specific software to support it.
Another use is if you want to to use 2 separate subnets to isolate some traffic such as you might want to use one subnet as a backbone for performing backups.
However with a small network like yours adding a second NIC which would be on the same subnet would likely create more DNS issues than improve performance. I would just split your connections over the different switches, and connect them in such a way that there are as few hops as possible. If you have a switch with bad ports it might be an idea just to get rid of it as there may be other less obvious damage.