Network Bridge

[Chuckster]

I have installed 2 x Dual Port Ethernet cards (1Gb) on a HP ML350 G5 server, which effectively gives me 4 ports.

I just wanted to know what Network Bridging actual does.

If I highlighted all 4 LANs in the Network Connections folder, right-clicked and selected Bridge Connections, does this mean they all act as one LAN thus enabling it to have redundancy, i.e. if one fails you still have 3 to fall back on? Plus using the one IP address if given a static?

Also, is this what's known as 'teaming'?

[sahmeepee]

That's not really what network bridging is for. As the name suggests, bridging is for joining together different LAN segments. In Windows you might use it to bridge a wireless LAN on one subnet to a wired LAN on another for example.

Microsoft explain it surprisingly clearly here:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true

I'm not sure what the outcome would be if you bridged all four connections.. it may do what you want it to or it may go horribly wrong!

Generally you should be able to set up teaming in the options of your ethernet card drivers. Depending on the manufacturer, they might have an icon in the systray, or possibly an applet in control panel which will let you configure it. It will then provide the fault tolerance and combined throughput you are after.

[Ignatius]

As far as I know, bridging is a way of extending LAN segments. Here's an explanation, along with the possibility of configuring XP as a router.

[dhicks]

I just wanted to know what Network Bridging actual does.

Like what a switch does, except in software - think "virtual switch", or "fake switch", if you like. Just plugging multiple connections in to a bridge is likely to have the same effect as with a physical switch, i.e. create a loop in your network. Bridging your connections might be the first step in teaming them, though.

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David Hicks