Mac Pro's 2 ethernet ports

[phuong]

i'm just wondering how they work?
say, if i plug in 2 ethernet cable (from the same router), will there be any change?
and if i have 2 totally separate connections (2 different IPs), and i plug them in the MP, how will it work? will my MP connection twice as fast? will it have 2 IPs?

 

[MacBoobsPro]

i'm just wondering how they work?
say, if i plug in 2 ethernet cable (from the same router), will there be any change?
and if i have 2 totally separate connections (2 different IPs), and i plug them in the MP, how will it work? will my MP connection twice as fast? will it have 2 IPs?

You will most likely confuse the hell out of your mac I dont know the answer myself but Id like to hear it.

 

[Origin]

There is, as I know, a possibility to "team" the 2 gigabit ethernet interfaces to make a huge virtual network interface that combine the bandwidth of the 2 physical ones, having only ONE IP for the two. This is in your network preferences pane I think.

If you don't activate this special operating method, the two network chip will operate independantly and get their own IPs/Mask etc. ...

If the two ethernet are connected to the same router in this last setup, this will not give you any visible advantage, the IP stack will route on the last "obtained" IP via your default gateway.

 

[robbieduncan]

There is, as I know, a possibility to "team" the 2 gigabit ethernet interfaces to make a huge virtual network interface that combine the bandwidth of the 2 physical ones, having only ONE IP for the two. This is in your network preferences pane I think.

I think the router/switch has to support this as well, but I could be wrong.

 

[phuong]

If the two ethernet are connected to the same router in this last setup, this will not give you any visible advantage, the IP stack will route on the last "obtained" IP via your default gateway.

but at least it should improve local speeds, shouldn't it?
i've been trying to look for information about this on other sites but no succeeds, except this quote from http://www.computerworld.com "On the back of the machine: another FireWire 400 port and a second FireWire 800 port, plus two built-in, independent Dual-Gigabit Ethernet ports. Again, this was done with professional operations in mind so that one Ethernet port can talk to the Xsan metadata controller and the second works with the data network. Of course, those not using Xsan can use the ports independently with two networks or bind them to give the machine a 2GB Ethernet interface."

still not very clear though

 

[abrooks]

but at least it should improve local speeds, shouldn't it?
i've been trying to look for information about this on other sites but no succeeds.

Unless the router/switch supports the feature of binding two separate connections then there will be no advantage, it'll simply use one port rather than the other.

The idea of these 2 ethernet ports is to allow connections to two networks simultaneously or a connections to a LAN and a direct connection to a server.

 

[robbieduncan]

Unless the router/switch supports the feature of binding to separate connections then there will be no advantage, it'll simply use one port rather than the other.

The idea of these 2 ethernet ports is to allow connections to two networks simultaneously or a connections to a LAN and a direct connection to a server.

It is a workstation after all. I would have thought that you might have one connected to the LAN for normal traffic and another connected to a separate LAN for SAN access.

 

[phuong]

i just read again the MP's specs on Apple site. apparently this is for something called "jumbo frames" - a technology that makes the speed increases 6-fold. pretty interesting!

 

[robbieduncan]

i just read again the MP's specs on Apple site. apparently this is for something called "jumbo frames" - a technology that makes the speed increases 6-fold. pretty interesting!

Jumbo-frames is for a single interface (you do not need 2 ports for this to work). It increases the maximum amount of data you can send in a single packet. By doing this you send more data compared to addressing information. A standard Ethernet packet can hold around 1500 bytes of data. Jumbo frames allow for a lot more (normally set to 9000) with the same amount of addressing data.

To enable this both endpoints need to be configured for it (i.e. not only does your MacPro need to be set up for this but the other computer needs to be as well). This is OK on a LAN but not so good over the Internet.