2 Network Cards working together

[raj812]

I have 2 10/100/1000 network cards on my windows xp machine and am wondering if there was a way to dedicate the full capabilities of the cards to either downstream or upstream. People are constantly taking large files from my computer and it would be nice to put both cards to use (currently one is not being used). I have heard about people setting their system's up to use one card as the downstream card and the other for upstream and couldn't find anything about how to do this. I figured this would probably be the best place to ask.

If anyone knows anything about how to use two network cards as one connection (1 downstream and 1 upstream) I would love to know how. Even a link you might know of about how to do this would be much appreciated. Also if this is impossible and I heard lies, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by raj812 on 11/03/03 04:29 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Dev]

I know this is possible on certian Sun servers, but I have never needed it on a pc since full duplex achieves about the same troughput, albeit in a different manner.

Dev

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[EdtheROM]

Some so called "server" nics can do this, but when I tried to do this, I had nothing but problems. I was told there was some software to do this, but could never find it.

This was one reason I have started the path to upgrade to a gigabit network

let us know how it turns out.

good luck

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-=ed

 

[TKS]

I've never heard of a windows program that does this. If you are truly concerned with speed and dependability you'll switch to Linux...especially since the price is right. From there, it's a simple search on freshmeat.net or sourceforge.net for the proper software to reach your goals.

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<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[jihiggs]

where did that come from?

wpdclan.com cs game server - 69.12.5.119:27015

 

[TKS]

Just the fact that I'm sure that the open source project will fully support a dedicated upstream and downstream NIC with some sort of software. As for windows, I dunno that one. And if you are serious about your internet connection, you'd want to protect it as well as speed it up. Installing a linux gateway/router does all of these things.

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<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[grafixmonkey]

He doesn't need dedicated upstream/downstream NICs. Full Duplex does that (as stated earlier.)

What you need is intelligent packet routing between the two NICs to take full advantage of both their capacities in both upstream and downstream. However, I don't think that would solve the problem even if you found a way to set it up, because those two trunks would have to meet a hub or switch somewhere, and unless you plan on doubling all your network hardware and setting up the same dual-trunk system on all computers, your hub/switch would limit total throughput to 100 megabit anyway.

Also, your problem does not stem from inadequate bandwidth. It stems from the fact that your hard drive is being fondled against your will across the network, and that will slow your system down no matter what. All a faster network would do is reduce the amount of time each file transfer took, probably by up to half, and make your computer work even harder for the duration of the transfer. (so shorter, but even more debilitating interruption.)

What would help is a controller card that would help eliminate the use of the CPU for the hard drive access, or a RAID system (possibly coupled with a faster network), which would allow very fast access to your files while hardly interrupting the operation of your workstation at all. (With a 2-drive RAID-0, a 100 megabit network would only be able to take away at most 20% of your hard drive throughput, with very little CPU usage at all.)