Extra network ports, what do you suggest?

[Ambidexter]

Hi,

I have an M6F, and I could use 1, maybe two extra 1 gigabit ports. I'd use one of the PCIe x1 ports, so I should be able to do 2 X 1000 Mbps (1 Gig full duplex) new ports, at wire-speed.

I'd like these two, and, ideally, the main motherboard network port to be able to be teamed (LAG, EtherChannel, LACP). I'd use all three ports as trunks carrying 3 VLANs. This way, I can get 3 Gbps full duplex, if the other VLANs aren't busy, plus I get backup if one or two of the switch ports these three are connected to fails. fYI, the VLANs would be normal Internet traffic, file server / Storage, and Ceton 6 tuner Ethernet or streaming video to media center extenders, etc. I'd use QoS to do all three at particular committed bandwidths.

I've looked at dual Intel PRO cards, thinking keeping similar drivers on my Win8 machine may be better than getting another vendor for contingency.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,

-Ambi

[RepOGer]

interested to know if any software could do the LAN port teaming

[Ambidexter]

Hi,

Here is some info, it seems NIC teaming is a new feature in Win 8 (previously, we've had to use the vendor's software - i.e. Intel PRO Set tools, etc.): http://cloudtidings.com/2012/04/02/windows-8-and-nic-teaming-modes-and-how-to/. Also about LACP - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation

I usually use LACP for teaming. "Teaming" is a generic name I use as a network person. I know server people think of a particular type of aggregation when I say teaming. I prefer LACP because it's a standard, and even though 802.3ad is also a standard, I've seem implementations of it where there's trouble connecting Cisco, Juniper, Netgear, Avaya, 3Com, etc. together.

Using LACP, I've had better luck. Also, because LACP's dynamic, you can add as many links as you want and the bandwidth comes or goes with the links coming up or down. Sometimes, I'll config a single port as an LACP port. The value in this is that when another LACP port is added, the bandwidth increases, and there is no link up/down...no packets are dropped.

You'll need to put the 2 (or more) ports into a single logical switch, but we'd usually use two blades of a chassis switch or two members of a stack-type switch...that way a single switch blade/member failure leaves the communication working, just with less ports.

My NAS has 2 ports, usually used for an "inside" and "outside" connections, but they can be bonded to get 2 Gbps using LACP. I have it set up like this now on my switches and that's how I back up to the NAS, but I don't have 2 ports in my M6F yet to see if I get more than 100 MB/s (which is about 1 Gbps using iSCSI).

While I'd suspect it would work with, say, a dual Intel PRO/1000 card, I wonder if the "main" motherboard NIC could be added to the other two to achieve 3 Gbps or maybe ~250-280 MB/s?

The value of having all 3Gbps as a single trunk would be that I could, on the switches, enforce policies to have 3 VLANs on the trunk, but send different amounts of data...or let whichever VLAN needs the bandwidth to use it. Also, all three types of data (internet-bound, NAS-bound, and video-bound) would still be running if 2 of the 3 ports failed...without dropping link on the aggregated port.

I'll let you know if I find a board that will work...without it costing a ton for the board!

Cheers,

-Ambi