Topic: How to configure 2 network adapters on the local network

[ghorst352]

I currently run a server (SME ver with 2 network adapters but right I am only using one of them in a "Server - Only" configuration.  Right now it would be nice to utilize the 2nd network adapter so I could connect it to another server via a cross over cable to transfer files, however something simple has turned into a John Grisham novel.  I for the life of me cannot get the 2nd adapter configured correctly and ontop of it you cannot use the regular /etc/sysconfig files as you would with Centos since they are templated, if you will, by SME.  Plus there is not option within the admin console that gives the end user the ability to configure 2 adapters locally? Why not? Here is what I need to do:

1) Keep my current eth0 adapter on the local lan which is 192.168.1.10
2) Configure the 2nd adapter as 192.168.1.18 only for connecting to another server whose ip is 192.168.1.12 via a crossover cable, not on the lan.

Plus It would be nice not to have to reboot the server since it's in production.

Thx 

[janet]

bhay3s

The best thing would be to do it the sme way. Add a router between your current LAN and the other LAN, and then add the other LAN via the Local Networks panel in server manager. Too simple and easy, so don't complicate it by trying to add a second NIC.

[ghorst352]

Yeah I complicated that.  I actually figured out the solution 5 minutes after posting.  Sometimes our brains get burned in IT.   I'm in the middle of a server migration while in production so I was ancie and not able to think logically,,,, which also happens to me normally,  .

[Jean-Philippe Pialasse]

Bhay3s,

i agree with Mary, as by design it is not possible with SME. Router or switch with the first network adapter should be the easier way.


But for the records and the performance, have you been able to have the second adapter up and running as long as there is no reboot or reconfiguration ?

If yes, How did you configure it ?

[ghorst352]

I actually did not utilize the 2nd adapter because the 2 servers both have gig nic's and the server I am trying to transfer files too is not being utilized heavily therefore as performance is concerned the differences between crossover cable server > server vs. server vs server on lan not much difference.  In fact I already transferred 40GB's worth of data while this post was up.  I made a mountain out of an anthill basically.

In regards to setting up the 2nd adapter beforehand.  I had setup the 2nd adapter as you would in centos by editing the eth1 file with the ip info and then running 'ifup eth1' and restarting network services but this did not work (I probably missed something).  I would of opted for Mary's example had I not been able to adequately transfer the large amount of data over the lan but as we see now that was not an issue to begin with.  I would still like to know what I did wrong regarding this config Server > Server (crossover cable).

Thx.

[janet]

bhay3s

Maybe this could give you some ideas, it talks about adding a 3rd NIC to a 2 NIC server gateway configuration
http://wiki.contribs.org/CoovaChilli

[guest22]

a long time ago I wrote a HA How-To (now very very outdated). There is a section in there about adding NIC's.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/smeserver/contribs/rmitchell/smeserver/howto/High%20Availability%20How-To%20for%20Linux%20Mitel%20SME%20v5.htm