D-Link DFE-570TX
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is a Server
NIC?
- What are the
DFE-570TX Quad-MAC Server NIC features?
- Who are the
major producers of server NICs?
- Does the D-Link
DFE-570TX server NIC support load balancing and fault tolerance
feature?
- Can I allow
different workgroups to access the same file server using the DFE-570TX
Quad-MAC server NIC?
- How can I
connect a Server farm and switch application?
- Why built 4
ports within DFE-570TX?
- Must the
DFE-570TX be connected directly to the Switch or Hub?
- If we connect
our DFE-570TX card to our switch (like the DES-5016), can we activate
the port trunking feature on the switch?
- Is there a
difference whether we turn on or off the Port-trunking feature in our
switch?
- Does Load
Balancing and Fault tolerance work on all switches and hubs?
1. What is a Server NIC?
Basically, the following features are necessary to call a network card
a server NIC:
- Multi-Link ability-multiport or multiple cards to build a server
farm.
- Fault Tolerance-each port needs to provide backup link
functionality.
- Traffic load balancing is also an important feature for a server
NIC.
2. What are the DFE-570TX Quad-MAC Server NIC
features? (Back to top)
One DFE-570TX server NIC includes four DEC DC21143 chips on board.
Software includes NDIS driver+. D-Link load balancing and failover
software.
- IEEE 802.3u
- 10/100Mbps Auto-sensing
- Half/Full Duplex support
- PCI Bus mastering
- Meets PCI 2.1 specification, system board is compliant with PCI 2.2
- Supports load balancing and fault tolerance features under Windows
NT 4.0
- Cache buffer 8KB*4
3. Who are the major producers of server NICs?
- Intel Server Adapter Pro/100+
- 3Com Server NIC
- Intel Dual-port Server Adapter
- D-Link Quad-MAC Server NIC
4. Does the D-Link DFE-570TX server NIC support load balancing and
fault tolerance feature? (Back to top)
Yes, the DFE-570TX server NIC does support both features. The DFE-570TX
server NIC provides a Load Balancing and Failover Software, which can be
built on Windows NT 4.0 network protocol stack like TCP/IP, IPX or
NetBEUI. Through this software the network traffic will be distributed
thus balancing each network port.
When the DFE-570TX server NIC loads this software, it will balance the
network traffic over all four ports of the server NIC, and it will also
provide backup link functionality for all four links.
5. Can I allow different workgroups to access the same file server
using the DFE-570TX Quad-MAC server NIC?
Yes, you can configure the port grouping function in the D-Link load
balancing and failover software. It allows users to setup two different
groups (2-ports as one group).
6. How can I connect a Server farm and switch application?
Connecting a file server to a departmental switch is a typical
application for the DFE-570TX server NIC. Users can set multiple links
(for example: 4 links between the server NIC and a switch) as a trunk
group to aggregate the bandwidth. Benefits: Server backup, load-balancing,
Bandwidth aggregation (Trunking) between a switch and the server.
7. Why built 4 ports within DFE-570TX? (Back to top)
In addition to the above features, the 4 ports DFE-570TX will solve the
not enough PCI slot problem of some servers.
With the failover feature, the server will continue to operate without
lost of data if there is a bad cable, a port on the switch or hub is
defective or there is a failed network adapter. The dynamic failover
feature will balance the traffic across the remaining adapters.
With the load balancing feature, the DFE-570TX provides increased
throughput and dynamic failover to eliminate traffic bottlenecks at the
server and to ensure that the server is always available to the network.
8. Must the DFE-570TX be connected directly to the Switch or Hub?
The DFE-570TX works best in a switched environment. Some features will
still work in a shared media environment. If there is a router between the
client and the server, the router will response in proxy, giving out the
same MAC address to all clients. Load balancing on inbound traffic will
not work in this case, but fault tolerance will.
9. If we connect our DFE-570TX card to our switch (like the DES-5016),
can we activate the port trunking feature on the switch? (Back to top)
No, you cannot connect DFE-570TX to DES-5016 activated trunking ports.
DFE-570TX should connect to ports without trunking activated.
10. Is there a difference whether we turn on or off the Port-trunking
feature in our switch?
There is a big difference. DFE-570TX will not work with Switches that
has port-trunking activated. DFE-570TX will ONLY work with Switches that
has port-trunking deactivated.
11. Does Load Balancing and Fault tolerance work on all switches and
hubs?
Load balancing works best only with switches. Fault tolerance can work
with any hub or switch.
(Back to
top)
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