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Dual CPU with two NIC

Hey

I have a client who I’ve just installed a Dual Xeon Intel Server at. The Server has Two 100Mbps Network cards. I connect only one. My question is this – if I connect the other network card to the same hub or even a second hub, could it improve network performance?

Thanks.

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corneliup

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corneliup

If the NICs are on the embeded, as far as I remember the intel driver is able to do trunking, I am not shure if it works with a hub....

corneliup

SimonQureshi

ASKER

Chaos eh?! Should be fun Cheers!!!

corneliup

In the first msg. it should have been: connect both NICs to a switch that is able to do trunking

SimonQureshi

ASKER

yeah i thought so!, but u wouldnt need to plug both of them into one hub anyway, that defeats the whole purpose in the 1st place surely? just a thought.

corneliup

If there are hubs, I think it doesn't matter because the hub don't care what is plugged in, the hub just forward every frame it receives on one port to all other ports. So if you plug the NICs in a hub without configuring them to work together, then you have good chance to receive on one NIC the frames from the other NIC, this not good! The switch is aware of what is plugged in his ports, he learns the MAC addresses of the devices and forwards the frames accordingly.