DL380 G5 - NC373I - How many NIC's supported?

[Guilherme Laurenti]

According to report from the HP Insight Diagnostics, the server has 5 PCI-E of which two are occupied, one with the Smart Array P400 controller and the other with a network card NC364T PCIe Quad Port Gigabit Server Express.

PCI Slots
PCI-E Slot 1 In Use
PCI-E Slot 2 Available
PCI-E Slot 3 Available
PCI-E Slot 4 In Use
PCI-E Slot 5 Available


The following describes the network card that uses one PCI-E:

PCI Device: NC364T PCI Express Quad Port Gigabit Server Adapter
Seller Name: Hewlett-Packard Company
Seller ID: 8086
Device ID: 10BC
Sub Seller ID: 103C
Subsystem ID: 704B

The following is the Network Card Embedded next to the Board:

PCI Device: NC373i PCI Express Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapter
Seller Name: Hewlett-Packard Company
Seller ID: 14E4
Device ID: 164c
Sub Seller ID: 103C
Subsystem ID: 7038

I would like to know if this server can support a new NIC, and, if so, how many NIC's it can support.

[Michael A. McKenney]

I had two quad NICs and two ports on board working. The 8 x 1 Gbps team and 2 x 1Gbps team. You can team up to 8 ports. You might hit the option ROM limit. How many do you need? How many subnets? I would not use the server as a router with more than 3-4 subnets. If you are going to do this, get a layer 3 routing switch.

[Guilherme Laurenti]

Right now just one more, but with time, maybe more.

The total number of NIC's supported is also just to be informed.
Is there an official number on the specs? I can't find it.

[Michael A. McKenney]

Should not be. I doubt three more NICs would be an issue. So you can do 12 more ports on quad controllers. If you are going to be routing, I would do a layer three switch over a server routing. You can use subinterfaces at that point. You can team 8 ports together. NICs don't require power, they should not really affect option rom. If you really need performance, look at the NC522sfp dual 10 Gbps controllers and A5820 switches. You can get 80 Gbps teams.