[Samba] Samba and Multiple NICs

[Clint Sharp]

On Sun, 2004-04-04 at 18:23, AndyLiebman at aol.com wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I'm a happy Samba user. I've been working sucessfully in Linux for the past 6 
> months. I've built a Linux Server with very fast storage and I'm connecting 
> it to many Windows XP "video editing workstations" via Gigabit Ethernet (all 
> NICs using Jumbo Frames, by the way). 
> 
> Now I want to see if I can increase my data flow in and out of the Server so 
> that more workstations to connect to it simultaneously. I'm pretty much maxing 
> out on the amount of data that can flow through a single Gigabit Ethernet 
> connection (from the Server to a single Gigabit Switch). So I'm wondering what's 
> involved in adding a second NIC to my Server and dividing my workstations into 
> two groups. 
> 
> Is this a difficult thing to configure? Would somebody be willing to tell me 
> what are the crucial settings that need to be made (in smb.conf, for example, 
> or in /etc/*.* stuff). Do I have to create subnets? 
> 
> I'm currently working on an internal network where all the workstations have 
> 192.168.1.XXX static addresses. These workstations occasionally connect to the 
> Internet through a Cable/DSL router that's also on the network and that 
> serves as the gateway. 
> 
> Is it possible to give my server two fixed IP addresses (one corresponding to 
> each NIC) and then connect each NIC to its own switch, which would then be 
> connected to half of the workstations? I tried this today and had no luck. 
> 
> And how can I make it possible for each workstations to have access to the 
> Internet. Presumably, only one switch can be connected to the cable/dsl router 
> -- or else data traffic could go through the cable/dsl router to get from a 
> workstation to the Server. But I suppose that's the least of my worries. 
> 
> I'm not looking for somebody else to do my homework. I've spent about 6 hours 
> today googling around trying to figure out what's required and I'm coming up 
> more confused with each article or discussion thread I read. 
> 
> I would sure appreciate it if somebody out there was willing to lend a hand. 
> I'm sure this is basic stuff to an IT guy, but I'm just working on this 
> networking stuff at a "hobby level" -- doing pretty well, but now a bit stumped. 
> 
> By the way, does anybody know if this scenario is covered in the new Samba 
> cookbook? I'd be happy to purchase it tomorrow if I thought it would give me the 
> recipe to do what I'm trying to accomplish. 
> 
> Regards, 
> Andy Liebman

Andy,

I'd have to say you've got yourself a bit of a conundrum.  Basically at
this point, if you want to double the capacity your server can output, I
would recommend segmenting your network into two VLANs (or separate
switches if your switches aren't capable of doing VLANs, although any
switch worth it's snuff is).

However, before I go into more detail about how to actually accomplish
that, what kind of hardware is this running on?  I'd be seriously
concerned that you'd be wasting a lot of time and effort if your
hardware isn't capable of capping two GigE cards.  I'd attach one
machine with a GigE interface via a crossover cable to the second GigE
interface on your Samba server and leave the other interface connected
to the switch you have now.  I'd then try to cap the interface from the
side connected to the switch and from the side connected to another
computer via the crossover and see if you can actually exceed greater
than the speed one GigE is going to give you (or at least what you were
getting previously).  Also, some details on your hardware would be
helpful.

Clint