2 NICs problems?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andrey Makarov
  • Start date Start date
A

Andrey Makarov

There are:
- Windows 2000 Advanced Server + SP4 running application server for
Rational ClearCase
- 2 NICs on server motherboard (100Mb & 1Gb). Only one (1 Gb)
connected to network. Other connection disabled.

Should I expect problems with network perfomance caused by
non-disabled 2nd NIC?
Should I disable 2nd NIC in the Device Manager or should I switch it
off in the motherboard BIOS? Why?
Any other suggestions?
 
Andrey said:
There are:
- Windows 2000 Advanced Server + SP4 running application server for
Rational ClearCase
- 2 NICs on server motherboard (100Mb & 1Gb). Only one (1 Gb)
connected to network. Other connection disabled.

Should I expect problems with network perfomance caused by
non-disabled 2nd NIC?
Should I disable 2nd NIC in the Device Manager or should I switch it
off in the motherboard BIOS? Why?
Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you aren't using it at all, it shouldn't cause problems, but if you don't
need it, disable it in the BIOS.
 
If you aren't using it at all, it shouldn't cause problems, but if you don't
need it, disable it in the BIOS.
Click to expand...

The problem is that we can not disable second NIC because HostID (generated
to obtain keys for Rational ClearCase) uses MAC adresses of both NICs.

And now we experience problems with Visaul Studio 6.0 wich hangs on while
linking files. Our network admins says that reason might be non-disabled
second NIC. Are they right?
 
In general I have not encountered any performance issues on Win2k Servers
where one or more of several non-connected adapters were not also disabled.
As a precaution it might be a good idea to make sure that the active adapter
is listed first in the binding order. Right click My Network Places and
select Properties. Click Advanced/Advanced Settings - move the Local Area
Connection for the active adapter to the top of the list. Also, if this
inactive adapter has ever been connected, make sure that there are no stale
DNS entries for its IP address.

Here's a possibility - I did a clean install of XP Pro on a machine with 2
adapters. The second NIC was disconnected but not disabled and it had never
been connected to the network. Network perfomance was awful. Binding order
made no difference. Disabling the Local Area Connection solved the problem.
But, I found that I could get the same result without disabling the
connection - As soon as I connected the second NIC to an empty switch,
performance was normal - ie. the second adapter didn't have to be connected
to the network, it just had to be connected to something. So if you need to
keep the MAC address alive, try connecting the inactive adapter to an empty
switch or hub and see if performance is restored.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
 
"=?Utf-8?B?QW5kcmV5IE1ha2Fyb3Y=?=" <Andrey
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in
The problem is that we can not disable second NIC because HostID
(generated to obtain keys for Rational ClearCase) uses MAC adresses of
both NICs.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Rational ClearCase, it's probably a FlexLM
implementation. Just request a new license file from the vendor and supply
them with the one-and-only MAC after the unused one is disabled.
And now we experience problems with Visaul Studio 6.0 wich hangs on
while linking files. Our network admins says that reason might be
non-disabled second NIC. Are they right?
Click to expand...

Not familiar enough with Rational.
 
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