# Using Dual gigabit Ethernet ports?



## Lionheart (Mar 28, 2010)

Hey guys, just wanted to ask a simple question. What can I use dual gigabit ethernet ports for and are there any benefits using it?


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## Lionheart (Mar 28, 2010)

UUmmmm anyone home


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## Melvis (Mar 28, 2010)

Even i always wanted to know the answer to that question, because i haven't seen a use for them yet ether.

Someone would know, give it time.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 28, 2010)

You can link them,and share your connection with a second pc,or you could connect a nas to the second one.


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## Bo$$ (Mar 28, 2010)

well im using one and it seems fine man, no need to waste your time and effort to get it working


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## IggSter (Mar 28, 2010)

There are a number of ways to use 2 Ethernet ports :

*Two Network Connections (two subnets)*

Will allow your PC to be connected to two networks at the same time.

*Balance-rr (Round-Robin) * 

Transmit packets in sequential order from the first available slave through the last. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

*Active Backup(Fail Over) * 

Only one slave in the bond is active. A different slave becomes active if, and only if, the active slave fails. The bond’s MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adapter) to avoid confusing the switch. This mode provides fault tolerance.

*Balance XOR * 

Transmit based on the selected transmit hash policy. The default policy is a simple [(source MAC address XOR’d with destination MAC address) modulo slave count]. Alternate transmit policies maybe selected via the xmit_hash_policy option. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

*Broadcast 	*

Transmits everything on all slave interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.

*IEEE 802.3ad * 

Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings. Utilizes all slaves in the active aggregator according to the 802.3ad specification. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance but requires a switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation with correct LACP mode configured.

*Balance-tlb (Adaptive Transmit Load Balancing) * 

Channel bonding that does not require any special switch support. The outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load (computed relative to the speed) on each slave. Incoming traffic is received by the current slave. If the receiving slave fails, another slave takes over the MAC address of the failed receiving slave. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

*Balance-alb (Adaptive Load Balancing) 	*

Include balance-tlb plus receive load balancing (rlb) for IPV4 traffic, and does not require any special switch support. The receive load balancing is achieved by ARP negotiation. The receive load balancing is achieved by ARP Replies sent by the local system on their way out and overwrites the source hardware address with the unique hardware address of one of the slaves in the bond such that different peers use different hardware address for the server. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.


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## Lionheart (Mar 28, 2010)

IggSter said:


> There are a number of ways to use 2 Ethernet ports :
> 
> *Two Network Connections (two subnets)*
> 
> ...



Thanx for having the time to write that in depth description


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## Disparia (Mar 28, 2010)

Only 2? Weak! 4 is where it's at,







I even tried 6-way by adding the 2 on-board ports to the quad-port NIC team. But then I had a feeling that I never felt before... I said to myself, "this is too much". And I'm talking about my work network here.

At home not a lot of users would ever know the difference. I have a switch that supports up to two teams, so it's there for the boxes that will support it (I would not go out of my way and buy a NIC). Had a couple old Xeon servers with two ports apiece, but I don't run them any more.


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## hat (Mar 28, 2010)

The only benefit I can think of is if you constantly transfer a shitton of stuff over your network, but for that to work, the computer you're transfering from has to be running at 2Gb too.


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## Lionheart (Mar 29, 2010)

thanx for the help guys


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## Chicken Patty (Jun 8, 2010)

So not to create a new thread i'll sorta hi jack this one.  There is no advantage in using both ports just for your regular PC use right, like it won't give you better bandwidth or anything like that?  Heard this the other day and i'm not really into networking so it kinda made me wonder.


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## Mussels (Jun 8, 2010)

Chicken Patty said:


> So not to create a new thread i'll sorta hi jack this one.  There is no advantage in using both ports just for your regular PC use right, like it won't give you better bandwidth or anything like that?  Heard this the other day and i'm not really into networking so it kinda made me wonder.



Unless you have a managed switch (read: expensive) then you get NO benefits, other than should one cable fail, you have a backup connection.


when transferring files through windows, it doesnt split the load between network adaptors - it all goes over the one adaptor (the primary one, whichever that is) - even with two PC's set up and teamed, you only get 1Gb of transfer... cause the OS insnt designed to handle it.


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## Chicken Patty (Jun 8, 2010)

Mussels said:


> Unless you have a managed switch (read: expensive) then you get NO benefits, other than should one cable fail, you have a backup connection.



Thank you kind sir   for clearing that up


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