If I have three NIC cards on my Windows 2000 Server, how do I bridge them
together so when they are working as one unit? I heard that by having
multiple NIC cards on the server, you can Send Data and Retrieve data much
faster because it has three NIC cards to send and recieve data from. Is this
true. For example i have thirty workstations at my office and one server. If
thirty users are sending and recieving data from the server wouldn't it be
faster to have more PCI NIC cards installed on your Server?

If my statement is true then can some show me how to bridge three NIC cards
on my windows 2000 server.I am not sure if you bridging is the right
terminalolgy but hopefully with my example from above you can help me out
here. If that is not the case there has to be something to make the server
send data much faster then upgrading memory and CPU.

Ankit Shah

Click each on in the Network Connections dialog box
(hold shift after the first).

With all selected, create a new bridge.

Do NOT plug these in to the same broadcast domain
(same segment.)  You are bridging between different
segments.

Don't hold your breath on that one.

What you REALLY need is a "teaming NIC driver" to make
the work in tandem -- without interferring with each other.

Even then, it probably will not give you exciting increases
in speed.

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Don't you mean "do" plug them into the same broadcast domain. Bridging is
Layer2, so it must "happen" within the same broadcast domain. Effectively
this is just turning the computer into a lan switch.  If you get into two of
more broadcast domains then you need routing (Layer3) not bridging (Layer2)

No, I meant "do NOT" but I certainly see where confusion
is possible.

We are going to JOIN multiple broadcast domains into a single
one, by using the bridge.

We must not plug the bridge into the SAME (existing) broadcast
domain and it would be practically to useless to do so even if it
caused no trouble.

That is correct.

The word "switch" here isn't precise enough (switches
are hybrid or advanced devices which use either bridging
or routing, or even a combination.)

It is really just turning the computer into a BRIDGE.

No.  Your misunderstanding is very understandable though
as we are turning multiple broadcast domains into a single
one BY USING the (newly introduced) bridge.

The key to unraveling all of this (perhaps I should have just
explained it to start) is that you are USING the computer to
join two existing separate broadcast domains (or segments.)

You must not plug such simple bridges into a single EXISTING
broadcast domain since that is what the bridge is going to
create from the multiple segments.

If you do this, you will end up with a bridging loop, where
everything broadcast by one NIC gets picked up by the other
and sent back out again (unless the bridge is sophisticated
enough to prevent this.)

Even if the bridge avoids this -- it will NOT help to use the
bridge since the domains are already "joined" the purpose
of the bridge is unnecessary.


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Well, I'm still confused but I trust your judgment and I'll just write it
off as a terminology issue.  To me, Switch and Bridge are synonymous with
Switches simply having more ports (multi-port-bridge).  I consider a
broadcast domain to be a "logical" thing probably more so than physical.
You can have two physcial segments connected with a Switch (aka Bridge) and
would end up with two physical segments that make up a single broadcast
domain,...after all, it is the router that creates the broadcast domain, not
the physical wiring.

No.  It is a technical design issue no matter what
terms you use.

The terms may confuse our communication but their
is a key point hidden underneath them.

You have been misinformed.  They are distinct device
type, possibly with some overlapping features.

Switches are not even always based on bridges, but may
be switch-routers (layer 3) or some hybrid of a bridge
and router switch.

If you wish to fully understand you need to start with
CLASSICAL (simple) bridges and routers, learn their
KEY points and then apply this knowledge to understanding
modern hybrid/complex switches.

It is a physical thing first and foremost.

It defined as the domain (area) in which broadcasts will propagate.

A bridge propagates broadcasts; a router does not. (by default)


Yes - when you start they are two SEPARATE broadcast
domains.

You connect them with a Bridge (doesn't matter if the bridge
is also a switch or not -- the key point is that it is BRIDGING,
not routing.)

Now, you have one new Broadcast domain since a bridge
propagates broadcasts.

Much like tying two strings together to get on (longer) string.

Right.  Due to the Bridging (of the switch in this case.)

No.  Routers generally DO not join broadcast domains like
bridges do.

No, the physical wiring sets up the 'units' of the broadcast
domain and any bridges may join multiple physical segments
into a larger broadcast domain.

Do NOT hook a bridge TWICE to the same broadcast domain.

This is not the same as saying you hook a bridge to two
broadcast domains to CONVERT them into one broadcast
domain.

Do the following though experiment:  Take a pair of bridges
and hook them to the same physical segment then to each other
on another segment...

What happens when a broadcast occurs on one of the segments?

What does each bridge do with broadcasts?

Does the other bridge 'see' the propagation to the other shared
segment?  What does it do with that?

(And the first bridge, what does it do when it hears the other
bridge propagate the broadcast?)



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We'll have to agree to disagree. I have not been misinformed. I am basing it
right from Cisco's material used to train CCNA's.   MS's materials for the
"Networking Essentials" exam  (or whatever they call it now agrees with
Cisco).  The early ones only had two ports and were called bridges, later as
they evolved they were given more ports and were then called "multi-port
bridges",..then later someone got the bright idea of calling them "Switches"
due to the Layer2 Packet Switching ability which was the heart of  what
Bridges do. That is the name that "stuck" and is what they are known by
today. The term "bridging" somewhat faded away over time and was relegated
mostly to routing devices on WAN links that ran in "bridging mode" because
both ends of the WAN link were the same subnet. But the term has been
resurrected again with the latest MS OS's with the Nic Bridging that simply
makes the computer function as a Layer2 switching device (aka
bridge/switch).  If it only has two Nics it would be a parallel to the old
two-port bridges, if it has more Nics, with all bridged together,  then it
begins operate the same as a Switch,...which is kind of pointless to me
since you can go out and buy a cheap switch for $50 that does the same
thing.

The Layer3 Switch is a hybrid "Johnny-come-lately". They do not "define"
what Switches do, they are unique to themselves and do both the job of a
Router and a Switch. We paid about $10,000.00 for ours due to additional
add-ons and modules.

I didn't just start yesterday. I've "been there, done that".  I'm trying to
explain those things, not learn them as if I didn't know what they were.

If a Switch or Bridge separates thm, then it isn't two segments but just
one. Without the router there is no separation.

Umm,...that is what I've been saying.

Then you are wrong (to disagree) as the material you are using
is either grossly oversimplified (to the point of being wrong)
or you have misunderstood it.

Then that source is wrong too.

Switches electronically hook multiple segments or legs
together (briefly) -- the analogy is like a switch board.

Someone having a naive understanding of the way SOME
switches work might have written something that ASSUMES
(incorrectly) that all switches are using bridging methods
to make the decision when and what to connect.

They could be referring specifically to a bridge type switch
(either explicitly or by context) and you might have missed
that distinction.

Probably the source (if it is useful at all) is making some
general and introductory comments or is just purely written
rather than outright wrong but the result is the same if it
caused you to misunderstand.


Swithes are divided into two major classes:

    1) Layer-2 switches (Bridge type switches)
    2) Router-Switches (Layer-3 switches)
        (I used the most common name first here)

They operate different.  One uses Router methods (routing tables
and Protocol specific information) and the other uses bridging
methods (MAC address, clien OS and protocol transparency,
forward all broadcasts by default).

There are also today many hybrid devices able to do both,
or even to configure some ports in a bridged set, while
router to other (sets) of ports.  Usually called a VLAN
switch since each CUSTOM broacast domain is called a
VLAN.

No, they they "got the idea" because these SWITCH (electically
connect the two endpoints) rather than store and forward as does
a pure bridge.

No.  Pure bridges do NOT "switch".

They store (briefly in memory buffer) and forward.

Routers are entirely different type of device from a
bridge.

That part is correct and thus they are NOT acting as
routers.

(Actually these are devices originally called "half bridges"
or "wan bridges" since half of the bridge is  on each side
of the WAN.)

No.  It is only a Bridge and DEFINITELY not a Switch
in correct network terminology.

There IS NOT electrical connection from port A to B
at any time -- it is just a computer with two NICs.

A switch would actually "switch in a direct connection
through it's backplane."

But the REALLY critical distinction you are missing is
between a Router and a Bridge (ignoring whether these
are embedded in the more modern electronics of a
switch.)

They operate the same whether there are 2 or 16 NICs.

You are making another false distinction.

You are probably talking about one of the misnamed (this time
by the product advertisers) 10/100 'switches'.

This may be another part of your misunderstanding but it is
largely due to ADVERTISING because this is NOT a switch
in the network engineering sense EITHER.

These devices are really a 10 Mbps multiport repeater
(i.e., SIMPLE hub) BRIDGED to a 100 Mbps multiport
repeater -- to hubs with a bridge in between that have all
been integrated into the same box.

The only "switching" that takes place is that when a 10 Mbps
station plugs in it is STATICALLY switched to the 10 Mbps
side (or hub.)

A dynamic network switch as we have been discussing above
does something more complicated on each packet.

No, again you have misunderstood:  They do what switches
do -- but they use ROUTERS method to decice when and what
to swich.

This is your basic misunderstanding (if you care to fix
it rather than just argue) when you miss the KEY distinctions
between BRIDGE and ROUTER.

Irrelevant.  Router and Bridge differences are the key to
your understanding this subject.

And you have based it on misunderstanding or misinformation.

Your choice.

Exactly but it was TWO before you hooked in the bridge.
(whether it is a switch or not)

So if you join to broadcast domains with a Bridge,
and then try to JOIN them again with another bridge
you CAUSE broadcast loops.

That was the original point you misunderstood.

[I see you snipped out the thought experiment so here it is
again]

No, the physical wiring sets up the 'units' of the broadcast
domain and any bridges may join multiple physical segments
into a larger broadcast domain.

Do NOT hook a bridge TWICE to the same broadcast domain.

This is not the same as saying you hook a bridge to two
broadcast domains to CONVERT them into one broadcast
domain.

Do the following though experiment:  Take a pair of bridges
and hook them to the same physical segment then to each other
on another segment...

What happens when a broadcast occurs on one of the segments?

What does each bridge do with broadcasts?

Does the other bridge 'see' the propagation to the other shared
segment?  What does it do with that?

(And the first bridge, what does it do when it hears the other
bridge propagate the broadcast?)

Show quote Hide quote Then I think you are wrong,...I think they are right.  We aren't going to
get anywhere with this and we've beat this poor dead horse about as much as
it needs beating. It's time to move on to another poor animal.

That's right, you may think anything you wish -- plenty
of people go through life believing in superstition and
myth.

The difference is that I was trying to help YOU because
YOU asked for that help when you misunderstood.

--out

Ooohhh! Herb!   Lighten up!  Today's a new day,..and it Friday, too!

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