Subject: [netatalk-admins] Multiple network interfaces

From: Robert Lucier <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 21:50:57 -0800

Can netatalk be bound to two or more network interfaces on the same
linux machine? My goal is to create a Macintosh file server that can
serve through more than one NIC at a time, increasing server throughput.
I suppose that the single linux box would have to be represented as two
or more different machines in the apple "chooser", but that's fine as
long as I can increase the bandwidth.

A little background if you're wondering why bandwidth is so crucial that
a 100Mbs card can't do the job. I work as a systems admin for a
pre-press company. Most of the graphics work is done on Macs. The full
resolution image files that we use are routinely 20M or greater, so
speed is crucial, and it's not uncommon for two or more macs to be
accessing the server at the same time. We're using NT right now, but it
can only bind AppleTalk to one NIC. I'd love to save the day with Linux.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Rob Lucier
Pacific Color
Carlsbad, CA

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From: Jonathan Peterson <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 10:04:08 +0000

>serve through more than one NIC at a time, increasing server throughput.

Hi,

I actually work in a very similar situation (design company moving huge
files around a hetergenous network.) Sadly, I do not think that your bottle
neck is going to be the NIC, it is going to be the network itself. 

Ethernet (not TCP/IP) is a broadcast technology. If machines A,B,C,D are
all on one network, then if A sends a file to B, that still uses up the
network bandwidth let available for C and D. Bascially, this is because the
data gets sent to all the machines, and they all ignore it except the
intended recipient.

So... putting two cards in your server will be great if each card is on a
different network, but a bit pointless otherwise - unless all you clients
have two cards, and are each on two networks!

Now, suppose you had some Macs in 'Print design' and some Macs in 'Digital
design'. Well, if each of these departments is on a different network, they
can both share files through the same server, and then you will be making
use of both cards.

Note. You don't have to have seperate networks - you can use something
called a switch to split up an ethernet network and make it faster. But,
all in all, it seems to me like you need a faster network, not a faster
server, and so you really need to look at ethernet network technology -
beyond my remit.

Final Note. Appletalk/IP is said to be much faster in any case, and if it
sits ontop of the TCP/IP stack, it shouldn't care about how many NICs you
have. you might want to look at this.

eek, long message.

--------
Jon Peterson	[email-masked]	+44 (0)171 613 5300
Internet Developer

Test tube babies shouldn't throw stones.

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From: David Perry <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 06:13:36 +0000 ()

Rob,

I thik you should give a look at an OPI system. I work in a shop that on 
a dialy basis prints 1 gig jobs. The users are so jaded that they think 
nothing at all of running out 4 or 5 different versions of a poster with 
a 400 meg tiff file. The server makes a low-res proxie and that file is 
placed in the page layout program. When printing from quark, the user 
selects OMIT TIFFS AND EPS to not even send the low-res data back. It 
would still work just fine if they did but they are allowed that much 
more a time savings. The job is printed through a print spooler that does 
the hi-res substitution with files that are local to it then streams the 
job to the printer via a 100 mBit printer network. 

I don't know that netatalk has features anywhere close to this but some 
programs that do include
	ColorCentral
	Helios EtherShare OPI
	K-A Share
	PrintDesk OPI

Hope this helps.

David Perry

On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Robert Lucier wrote:

> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 21:50:57 -0800
> From: Robert Lucier <[email-masked]>
> To: [email-masked]
> Subject: [netatalk-admins] Multiple network interfaces
>

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From: Osma Ahvenlampi <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 Feb 1998 10:37:29 +0200

> all on one network, then if A sends a file to B, that still uses up the

Ethernet is, but switched Ethernet isn't. If you have two interfaces
in your server, a high-capacity 100Mbit switch, and one interface in
each client, you're essentially allowing two clients to have
simultaneous 100Mbit bandwidth to the server. The server has a total
of 200MBit, with half of it usable for any one client. Well, that's
how it works with TCP/IP based protocols and round-robin DNS,
anyway. 

-- 
When the going gets wierd, the weird turn pro.
Osma Ahvenlampi <[email-masked]>