Using both Dual Gigabit Ethernet Ports

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59 points

Using both Dual Gigabit Ethernet Ports

Using both Dual Gigabit Ethernet Ports

If I plugged both of my ethernet ports into my LAN switch, that would double the bandwidth to and from my machine. A switch does not used shared bandwidth like a hub does. I realize that it won't speed up any of the other devices that are plugged into the switch. Regardless, I would have the capacity for double the bandwidth to my machine.

All LAN cables are CAT6 and the switch is 10/100/1000.

The question is, would Mac OS X 10.4.7 utilize both ports (soft of the way it uses multiple processors)?

Quad 2.5 G5, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Sep 3, 2006 10:48 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 3, 2006 2:51 PM in response to TigerKR

My understanding is that they allow connection to seperate networks but do not aggregate bandwidth on a single network. ( ie connect to a WAN and LAN but not double bandwidth on a single LAN )

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Answer 2

UCD-Grad

Level 1

10 points

Oct 5, 2006 10:57 PM in response to TigerKR

Yes, you can use both ports as long as each has own IP address; if using DHCP from the router it will work fine.

However, if you are using appletalk, it can only be active on one ethernet interface at a time; so you have to make a choice here.

About the performance, will it double your throughput? It depends, but the short answer is no because any speed limitations you have are from the internet side of the house, even if you are using DSL at 6Mbps or Cable at 10Mbps. Remember, the telecommunications side is in bits per second and the G5 ports at native 100TX or 1000TX are exponentially faster than any internet connection.

To test this, run the network utility and check your stats. I think you will find the ethernet ports are usually idle.

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Answer 3

TigerKR Author

Level 1

59 points

Jul 12, 2007 9:21 PM in response to TigerKR

I don't have a switch that supports aggregated ports.

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