I finally found some info at Intel that discusses it a little. The product looks really good. As Allen (and others -- thanks) said, Automatic Load Balancing and Failover -- just what I wanted. The Intel site is missing low-level technical details, though, which I'd like to have. E.g., I notice that the load balancing is on output only (when connecting to ports on separate switches or without FEC) -- only the "primary" NIC is used on input, but no technical reason was given. This implies that only the "primary" NIC responds to ARP requests, at least until the standby takes over after a primary link failure. But, I'm wondering why this is so. Let's suppose that there are redundant paths thru the switching fabric and that the 2 NICs in the NT server are connected to 2 different switches. ISTM that if both NICs responded to ARP requests that you could achieve some load sharing on the input side, as well. When a client makes an ARP request, both NICs see it and respond. Client uses first one it sees. Some clients would get Mac-A, others Mac-B, so input could flow in on both NICs. Now, this would require some driver code to handle this, but I don't see why this is any more technically difficult than doing the outbound balancing. I must be missing something simple (like the last time :), but I'm tired of thinking about it, so I thought that I'd just ask ;>) ------------------------------------------------- Tks��� ��� | <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> BV��� ���� | <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sr. Technical�Consultant,� SBM, A Gates/Arrow Co. Vox 770-623-3430�����������11455 Lakefield Dr. Fax 770-623-3429���������� Duluth, GA 30097-1511 ================================================= -----Original Message----- From: Allen May [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 3:35 PM To: Bob Vance Subject: Re: redundant NICs That's what the Intel Adapter Teaming does. Very kewl software. It detects when connectivity goes down and will fail over to the other nic if either the switch or nic slot fails. You can also set them up where they are both live and sharing bandwidth and if one fails the other takes all of the traffic as well. I think intel.com has all the documentation there. I've used it before and didn't have any problems with it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Vance" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CISCO_GroupStudy List (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 1:49 PM Subject: RE: redundant NICs > What I really want is one NIC, the "active" one, connected to Switch-A. > The other NIC, "standby", is hooked to switch-B. > If Switch-A fails (or the NIC fails), the software on the NT server > notices that there is a loss of connectivity on this NIC. Then the > "standby" NIC takes over with the same IP (doing a Gratuitous ARP to > inform local-net devices of the change) and now traffic is going thru > Switch-B > Client PCs will never know (we'll have redundant switches and paths > in the core). If an edge switch is lost, then those PCs will lose > connectivity, of course, unless manual patching is done. > > > ------------------------------------------------- > Tks | <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > BV | <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sr. Technical Consultant, SBM, A Gates/Arrow Co. > Vox 770-623-3430 11455 Lakefield Dr. > Fax 770-623-3429 Duluth, GA 30097-1511 > ================================================= > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Windows NT/2000 Discussion List > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Ali > Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 1:53 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: redundant NICs > > > They way you do it is you install two Intel nics and there is a software > that's loaded into your tray by your clock. u go into the Intel software > and > you can group those two or more nics to together. they will operate on > the > same ip and be redundant and give you more throughput. > _________________________________ FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
