>I have done some extensive
>performance tests of aggregating 100Mbs cards using FEC (Fast Ether
>Channel....This was the Intel Server Card) and the increased CPU load
>managing the FEC negated the minimal increase in throughput...not to
mention
>the major Disk Array bottleneck.
I've got to agree here. NT has never been known as a "bandwidth-taxing" OS,
unlike NetWare. Remember that 100 mbps equates to about 9 megabytes per
second, in each direction if full duplex. Not much reason to go beyond 2
NICs, in my opinion. FEC with 2 cards is a good idea for redundancy, but
the last time I checked, the channel ports needed to be on the same line
card of the switch. If you've got redundant switches, FEC won't help with 2
NICs. If you're doing redundant switches, the 3Com and Intel "virtual
address" teaming methods seem to work good. They give immediate fail over
if a NIC fails, and they do load balancing in transmitting.
Chuck Church
CCNP, CCDP, MCNE, MCSE
Sr. Network Engineer
Magnacom Technologies
140 N. Rt. 303
Valley Cottage, NY 10989
845-267-4000 x218
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