asked on

Mutilable Network cards in PDC And BDC

We have 3 nic cards in our primary domain controller w2k and We are only using one. Also Our BDC Has two netork cards and only one is being used. The previous Admin used only one nic in the PDC Because he said mutiple nics were causing issues. That's all I know. I want to know can I use these extra nics to improve preformanance. If having multiable nics will improve performance or can be used for windows service of functionaltyt How do I configure this Besides assigning static IP to each addtional Card? Could you give me a little technical detail. 500 Points

younghv

Years ago we used to use that configuration to give NT PDC's (and certain Servers) different "Outside" and "Inside" IP Addresses.
I've also seen it used for DMZ boxes and Firewalls.

I don't think you ever want to set up DHCP on a Server, but I've been out of the server business for a while.

If things are working, why do you want to change?

Unless someone can come up with a good reason for it, I would use the NIC's somewhere else.

IMHO.

Vic

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

lnkevin

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

lnkevin

Microsoft offers some IP load balancing on there cluster configuration. Check the following links:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/a7a1c8f4-1f4a-4865-a3d8-b962aaf0fcc11033.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/solutions/gigabit.htm

K

lnkevin

These are more links in Microsoft. Keep in mind that you want to team up same type and class of NICs (cannot team a Gigabit with a Pro100). If you want to improve your performance, I suggest to get a pair of Intel NICs and team them up with Intel ProSet. Anyway, here is more microsoft load balancing procedure:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303751

K

jimbecher

Been there done that. The previous administrator was correct. Multi-homed (mutliple NIC) servers are very tricky to keep running properly. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands to keep messing with the likes of WINS, DNS, DHCP, etc. you are better off either removing the extra nics from the servers or at least disableing them.

Greg Groth

FYI - Didn't read everyone's comments before mine...

Use all of the ports on all the servers... Just ensure you use the host files on any and all PC's to use the resources properly.

Servers should know eachother by certian IP's so the transmissions don't interfere with client PC's comms.

Client PC's should only speak on certain lines dependent on your host file configs.

Good luck