Ethernet teaming network

[ReD Spark]

I have two ethernet ports on my motherboard
and I want to ask that can I use both of my ethernet ports even if my device is not supported for teaming
what affect will it have on my network if I do use both of my ethernet ports
motherboard
z170x gaming 7

 

[marko55]

Connecting both adapters to the same LAN will do nothing for you. It shouldn't cause any problems per say. Try it and see if Windows pops up any warnings. Typically windows will just give one adapter priority over the other and use it. Its possible it will keep both adapters active & load balance traffic for your outbound connections. You can verify this by opening a command prompt and entering "route print." If there are two default routes listed (route to 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0) both with the same metric then Windows is actually load balancing your outbound connections.

One way or the other I wouldn't do it.

 

[kanewolf]

Connecting both adapters to the same LAN will do nothing for you. It shouldn't cause any problems per say. Try it and see if Windows pops up any warnings. Typically windows will just give one adapter priority over the other and use it. Its possible it will keep both adapters active & load balance traffic for your outbound connections. You can verify this by opening a command prompt and entering "route print." If there are two default routes listed (route to 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0) both with the same metric then Windows is actually load balancing your outbound connections.

One way or the other I wouldn't do it.

Connecting both ports to a network that doesn't understand link aggregation will kill your connectivity. Both ports will DHCP (by default). They will both get addresses with a default gateway. You will get a loop. That is BAD. If you don't have the proper network hardware, ONLY connect one port.

 

[marko55]

It's not gonna cause a layer 2 loop kane. The NICs al aren't switch ports. They won't forward each other's traffic out themselves. NICs are more of a layer 3 interface.

 

[marko55]

It's the same concept as a laptop having both it's wired and wireless connected at the same time. Difference there is Windows will typically prioritize the gateway of the wired adapter in its routing table. If it holds the same metric for both wired adapters default gateways it will load traffic equally out both adapters from their individual MACs and the ack traffic will come back to the same adapter because of its source

 

[kanewolf]

Connecting them BOTH to switch ports will cause problems. That was my point. If you don't have LACP aware network hardware don't connect both. The host that has both ports connected to an unmanaged switch or a router will not have reliable connectivity. You will potentially have traffic leaving on one port and attempting to reply on the other. THAT won't work ...

 

[marko55]

It won't brother. Trust me