Multiple NICs On Mobos
- Thread starter Piyono
- Start date
ddrueding
Fixture
I'd map two of them to a VM and run Smoothwall on that, then bond the other two for more bandwidth to the server.
Assigning native nics to virtual machines; seperating Jumbo frame network from non-jumbo frame network; Internet caching+firewall+Router; Increasing bandwidth; load balancing; Connection redundancy.
For the general person just trying to get some internet access - Not much need.
For the general person just trying to get some internet access - Not much need.
Assigning native nics to virtual machines - With multiple cores on a chip, it is becoming common in businesses to run multiple virtualized machines with seperate operating systems on a single computer. There is a benefit to assigning each seperate virtural machine to its own network card as opposed to sharing that particular resource.
Seperating Jumbo frame network from non-jumbo frame network: Ethernet has a standard amount of data that is transmitted as a single chunk. Each chunk needs to be properly setup when transmitted and when received it needs to be deconstructed to remove the data in that chunk. That process takes time with the advent of Gigabit it was found that the amount of data that can be transmitted can be significantly increased if the size of the chunks can be increased (Jumbo frames). The problem is that normal devices can not deal with the increased chunk size, and they will choke on it, so one has to keep networks with normal sized chunks physically seperate from jumbo sized data chunks. Thus multiple physical nics are useful in keeping the two seperate while still being able to access all devices.
Internet caching+firewall+Router: This is called replacing your router with a computer and gaining creased control over its capabilities. You can then have much more controll over what goes in and out; You can controll and cache common data rather than sending and receiving that data through your internet provider saving bandwidth; You can replace the routers firewall with one that has much better capabilities and controll; You can get much improved reporting as to all these functions.
Increasing bandwidth: You can bind the different nics together so they send data in parallel increasing the total data transfered.
load balancing: You can seperate data so that each one gets its fair share of resources rather than it being bunched together requiring it to be processed together.
Connection redundancy: With multiple Nics you can connect each one to a seperate infrastructure with multiple different paths to the same data so that if for some reason one path dies, there is another one that can be used to get the data you need. For example you could have two internet providers, one cable and one DSL and if one of them goes down you will still have access to the internet.
Do these explanations help justify the additional cost?
ddrueding
Fixture
...unless you are squeezing it into a 1U enclosure. I'm looking at one of these for a smoothwall.
I suppose that's a way of looking at it, especially for the virtual work which I hadn't considered.
Right, well, that's kinda what I'm getting at. This motherboard seems a bit ill-conceived.
ddrueding
Fixture
Perhaps not ill-conceived, but targeted at a niche market. Many things targeted at a niche end up being wanted by everyone. Trucks and SUVs come to mind; a few need them, most want them.
I do not believe it is ill conceived because it has its uses to those that need or want such a MB. Others simply buy something else that more fits their needs. It's like putting down Smoothwall, just because there are cheap Linksys routers: they both have their place in the scheme of things. It is just that cheap Linksys routers have a much larger place.