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Is it possible to increase the network bandwidth between 2 servers on Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 ?

For example : Use 2 Gigabit NICs on each computer to have 2 Gigabits/sec between 2 machines ?

(I know it's possible to load balance traffic from a computer to a group of others base on MAC or IP address with modes such TLB, ALB, etc. that are using LACP (or not), but I've not found any solution to merge 2 NICs as only one for now ...).

Thanks in advance @ all !

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No, teaming/etherchannel/LACP works by using the last 1/2/3 bits of the destination MAC to decide which link to send the traffic down, it doesn't 'round-robin' or similar so you could string as many 1Gbps NICs between two servers but regular ethernet traffic will only go down one of them. Of course some tiny management traffic will go down the others links but ultimately this won't give you a 2Gbps channel for server to server traffic - buy a couple of 10Gbps NICs instead.

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  • I was afraid of reading this answer, but it confirms what I begin to realize ... thanks :)
    – user59333
    Commented Nov 5, 2010 at 19:07
  • You're right on the overall question, but you're wrong on how link aggregation arrives at the hash in its link selection algorithm -- it uses a hash, and what it hashes is configured at the switch/server level (they don't have to be the same algorithm). If a port channel only used the destination MAC to determine where the packets go, there would be no point to the channel instead of TLB -- everything would go down the same link anyway (virtual MACs notwithstanding). Source-destination IP hashing is typically used, because this is the only method that works well through a gateway.
    – jgoldschrafe
    Commented Nov 5, 2010 at 19:09

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