Solve : Team up NICs to X Bandwidth??

1.	Solve : Team up NICs to X Bandwidth??
Answer» There was a discussion many years ago that this guy claimed at a computer show to have teamed up NICs between 2 systems to have 200mbps bandwidth between 2 systems in a peer-to-peer running linux, where each computer tower had 2 NICs and each computer was networked together with 2 cross over cables. I was thinking about this today as I was LOOKING over one of my computers with 2 NICs and was thinking I wonder how hard it would be to team NICs and multiply bandwidth between them using cross over cables that wont compete for bandwidth thru a shared switch which would bottleneck at 100mbps if a 100mbps switch. Each cable has dedicated 100mbps bandwidth with nothing to compete with. Has anyone done this or seen it done to explain how you do this? I am interested in trying this out if it can be done easily. The guy stated that this is SIMILAR to an earlier project in which 2 x 56k modems were teamed to give 106k bandwidth due to 53k limit of 56k modems, with 106kbps connection to the internet thru 2 independent connections to ISP using 2 phone lines. I was thinking about doing this with 2 computers both with Gigabit NICs to have potentially 2000mbps bandwidth between them if its doable. I prefer MS OS, but have knowledge of Linux as well. Reason for MS choice is that most applications I have that can use better bandwidth are MS compatible software with local file sharing.I've never seen or heard of this myself, but when thinking about it I still think that there is going to be a bottleneck somewhere in the line that would limit the connection. First, doing this on a broadband connection It's likely that you're only going to be getting at most around 10MB down, which is plenty for one 100MB cable can card to support without needing an extra card. Second, most websites and services will limit how much each visitor can download. Usually you're going to probably only get a max of a few hundred KB from one site and maybe lucky to get up to 5MB from some sites and download services. Having an extra card on the same network is going to share the same IP (I'd imagine) so it wouldn't be possible to bypass this for a single site. Finally, if this is possible I'd imagine you'd only get support and steps on how to do it in Linux and not Windows (if it was even possible in Windows). All of that being said, I really don't think something like this would be applicable or useful for broadband Internet. Unless maybe you're one of the lucky few that has a fiber connection (e.g. Google dark fiber @ Gb a sec) that could be more than once network card could handle or you're someone who is file sharing, gaming, and browsing the web all at the same time on one computer. Quote I was thinking about doing this with 2 computers both with Gigabit NICs to have potentially 2000mbps bandwidth between them if its doable. Yah if it was doable it was going to be between 2 systems locally peer-to-peer as for if attached outbound it would be bottlenecked as you stated as well as if connected via a 100 or 1000mbps switch both NICs would compete for the 100 or 1000mbps bandwidth and so there is no gain unless you have 2 isolated networks with cross over cables between them. Google search found nothing, so I figured I'd mention this here. I was also thinking that there would have to be some SORT of manager to split the packet load between the NICs and a manager at the other end to assemble them from 2 sources, while the existing network is a single dedicated connection making disassembly and assembly BACK to files easier. ( Best analogy would be similar to how if a teleporter existed, moved a person from point A to B disassembling the body and reconstructing it at the other end "hopefully perfectly" when using two pipes to pass information vs 1 dedicated pipe.) Not sure if the manager would flip/flop to alternate packet transfer between the NICs to 'almost' double the bandwidth. * I would think that it would not be exactly double as for additional packets may be needed to maintain sync with the managers for the reconstruction process to happen perfectly like a feedback loop, so that if a packet was lost it would be resent etc. Packet loss should be very minimal on a short cross over cable between 2 systems, but hypothetically speaking I would assume you would need a feedback loop between the managers at each system to make this work. I've got a feeling that certain higher-end NICs and managed switches can do this in firmware? Usually however, you'll need driver support and also you'll need to make a decision on how the teaming will work (round robin, load balancing, etc.) With open source GNU/Linux, I think you might just be stuck with round robin bonding and you'd be looking to proceed along the following lines: http://www.howtoforge.com/nic_bonding Possibly some NIC vendors have proprietary solutions that could offer various load balanced options. YMMV. Never tried this personally, because I've generally used gigabit cards for high-bandwidth applications and they've been sufficient. Many switches (e.g. HP ProCurve) can handle this kind of load. The bandwidth per port is not the issue - the max bandwidth on the switch's backplane is the issue.Thanks Rob for that link. That sure looks like it... "NIC Bonding" I guess that is why I didnt find it in google hunt, didnt know it was bonding of NICs to act as 1 node. The link you posted goes into great detail on the config which is neat. When i am more awake I will read more into this tomorrow. As for now its 1:30am EST and time to crash. I bet this is what he did since it looks to be exact and based on Linux OS. Cool.

Answer»

There was a discussion many years ago that this guy claimed at a computer show to have teamed up NICs between 2 systems to have 200mbps bandwidth between 2 systems in a peer-to-peer running linux, where each computer tower had 2 NICs and each computer was networked together with 2 cross over cables. I was thinking about this today as I was LOOKING over one of my computers with 2 NICs and was thinking I wonder how hard it would be to team NICs and multiply bandwidth between them using cross over cables that wont compete for bandwidth thru a shared switch which would bottleneck at 100mbps if a 100mbps switch. Each cable has dedicated 100mbps bandwidth with nothing to compete with.

Has anyone done this or seen it done to explain how you do this? I am interested in trying this out if it can be done easily. The guy stated that this is SIMILAR to an earlier project in which 2 x 56k modems were teamed to give 106k bandwidth due to 53k limit of 56k modems, with 106kbps connection to the internet thru 2 independent connections to ISP using 2 phone lines.

I was thinking about doing this with 2 computers both with Gigabit NICs to have potentially 2000mbps bandwidth between them if its doable. I prefer MS OS, but have knowledge of Linux as well. Reason for MS choice is that most applications I have that can use better bandwidth are MS compatible software with local file sharing.I've never seen or heard of this myself, but when thinking about it I still think that there is going to be a bottleneck somewhere in the line that would limit the connection.

First, doing this on a broadband connection It's likely that you're only going to be getting at most around 10MB down, which is plenty for one 100MB cable can card to support without needing an extra card.
Second, most websites and services will limit how much each visitor can download. Usually you're going to probably only get a max of a few hundred KB from one site and maybe lucky to get up to 5MB from some sites and download services. Having an extra card on the same network is going to share the same IP (I'd imagine) so it wouldn't be possible to bypass this for a single site.
Finally, if this is possible I'd imagine you'd only get support and steps on how to do it in Linux and not Windows (if it was even possible in Windows).

All of that being said, I really don't think something like this would be applicable or useful for broadband Internet. Unless maybe you're one of the lucky few that has a fiber connection (e.g. Google dark fiber @ Gb a sec) that could be more than once network card could handle or you're someone who is file sharing, gaming, and browsing the web all at the same time on one computer.
Quote

I was thinking about doing this with 2 computers both with Gigabit NICs to have potentially 2000mbps bandwidth between them if its doable.

Yah if it was doable it was going to be between 2 systems locally peer-to-peer as for if attached outbound it would be bottlenecked as you stated as well as if connected via a 100 or 1000mbps switch both NICs would compete for the 100 or 1000mbps bandwidth and so there is no gain unless you have 2 isolated networks with cross over cables between them.

Google search found nothing, so I figured I'd mention this here. I was also thinking that there would have to be some SORT of manager to split the packet load between the NICs and a manager at the other end to assemble them from 2 sources, while the existing network is a single dedicated connection making disassembly and assembly BACK to files easier. ( Best analogy would be similar to how if a teleporter existed, moved a person from point A to B disassembling the body and reconstructing it at the other end "hopefully perfectly" when using two pipes to pass information vs 1 dedicated pipe.) Not sure if the manager would flip/flop to alternate packet transfer between the NICs to 'almost' double the bandwidth. * I would think that it would not be exactly double as for additional packets may be needed to maintain sync with the managers for the reconstruction process to happen perfectly like a feedback loop, so that if a packet was lost it would be resent etc. Packet loss should be very minimal on a short cross over cable between 2 systems, but hypothetically speaking I would assume you would need a feedback loop between the managers at each system to make this work.

I've got a feeling that certain higher-end NICs and managed switches can do this in firmware? Usually however, you'll need driver support and also you'll need to make a decision on how the teaming will work (round robin, load balancing, etc.)

With open source GNU/Linux, I think you might just be stuck with round robin bonding and you'd be looking to proceed along the following lines: http://www.howtoforge.com/nic_bonding Possibly some NIC vendors have proprietary solutions that could offer various load balanced options. YMMV.

Never tried this personally, because I've generally used gigabit cards for high-bandwidth applications and they've been sufficient.

Many switches (e.g. HP ProCurve) can handle this kind of load. The bandwidth per port is not the issue - the max bandwidth on the switch's backplane is the issue.Thanks Rob for that link. That sure looks like it... "NIC Bonding" I guess that is why I didnt find it in google hunt, didnt know it was bonding of NICs to act as 1 node. The link you posted goes into great detail on the config which is neat. When i am more awake I will read more into this tomorrow. As for now its 1:30am EST and time to crash.

I bet this is what he did since it looks to be exact and based on Linux OS.

Cool.

Solve : Team up NICs to X Bandwidth??

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