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V4705Flag for United States of America

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Can I use dual gigabit lan ports (T410) for link aggregation ?

My Dell T410 (runs sbs 2011) have 2 different ethernet cards and I need it to be only on 1 lan.
The switch I'm using (PowerConnect 2484) support "link aggregation". can I set it somehow to upgrade the server connectivity to 2gigabit lan? if so, What is the right configuration (on the server's side) to do that?


Many thanks!
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Cliff Galiher
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If what Cliff says is the case, the card drivers may support it. It depends on the network cards. You say they are different, does this mean different type/manufacturer or just separate?
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No it's just the on-board 2 ports,
Broadcom BCM5716C NetXtreme II.

So there's anything I can do with this setup other that connecting to a 2 different networks?
You cannot connect to two networks either. Limitation of SBS.
While Windows may not natively support link aggregation/teaming, manufacturing drivers may.
With SBS 2011 you're stuck. Broadcom appear not to have drivers for any Windows 2011 products and if you were to find and install them, Microsoft will not support them. The release notes:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg491249.aspx
under "The Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard networking wizards do not support network teaming"
state you will be instructed to remove network teaming and use the standard network wizards.
You would need the Advanced features to be installed for the BACS software that comes as part of the driver from Dell or Broadcom to implement a team, but the point is kind of mute, as you can't implement it with SBS anyway.
Do you have a way you can segment your LAN?  e.g. have some users on one NIC, some on the other?

- Dani
SBS doesn't support that either.

-Cliff
Man, SBS is really that crippled?  Sounds like your requirement may help you justify an upgraded to an OS with less limitations.  Good luck!
It costs less than a "regular" OS AND includes SQL Server and Exchange ... it's a deal, but it costs you in other areas.  You're exactly right ... if your organization outgrows or requires more, then it is time to upgrade.