Windows Server 2003
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Load Balancing NICs

 
Alex Eldridge
Occasional Contributor

Load Balancing NICs

I have an HP Proliant ML570 G2 server running Win2k Advanced Server with a single Compaq NC7131 gigabit NIC. I was wondering if it is possible to install a second gigabit NIC card and congfigure it to load balance the network traffic across both NIC cards, in an effort to increase performance? I set up performance monitor to view traffic on the NIC and saw heavy "packets received/sec" (over 90 percent for 20 - 30 minute intervals) at various times throughout the day. I was hoping a second NIC might alleviate the load. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks!
3 REPLIES 3
Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: Load Balancing NICs

You are in a wrong forum area now - this forum is HP-UX related.

Anyway, you can use "NIC teaming" to achieve this. You need similar NICs for this.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

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Steven E. Protter
Exalted Contributor

Re: Load Balancing NICs

Shalom and welcome to HP-UX land,

Yes indeed you can, you are much better off with an exact match. You'd also be better off with Windows 2003 Server if you must do windows.

The cards should be near exact matches to each other.

You might also deal with this situation with a better network switch.

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Steven E Protter
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Ivan Ferreira
Honored Contributor

Re: Load Balancing NICs

Please see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175767/en-us

You will need a network card with "teaming" capabilities.
Por que hacerlo dificil si es posible hacerlo facil? - Why do it the hard way, when you can do it the easy way?