Two Nics

[wesattexas]

Is there a good discussion on the board about the pros and cons of having/not having two nics.

Here is my current hardware:
ASUS M2NPV-VM MainBoard BIOS#0603 AMD 64x2 - 4400
Kingston DDR2 4200 DUAL KINGS 1Gb
2ea SATA 300 300GB
1ea SATA DL DVD Burner
WinTV 32552  (PVR-150 MCE ?) capture card
pcHDTV HD-5500  capture card

This Mother board has only two PCI slots and already has a Gig Ethernet built in.
It's plugged into a Gig switch.
At this point I don't see multiple additional TV's as part of my system,
though home security, Voip, and X-10 are high on the list.
I thought a single hybrid server would fit my needs best.

I have read about external nic's and internal nic's, and modems as nic's...?
It all seems very confusing.
Would the second nic require me to wire a duplicate cat-5 network.
What traffic would flow on each network.

I'm sure all this has been discussed at length, but I can’t find any of the threads.

One additional comment:
I downloaded the software at work.  Finished late one night.
Couldn't wait to get home and try the install.
We work in a Network support shop and we have lots of spare machines around.
So I stuck the i386 DVD version of the software in a new DELL OPTIPLEX.
And went through a quick install just to familiarize my self.
Then I shut the system down and went home.
Imagine my chagrin when I came in the next evening shift and
found out the box had reset instead of going completely down.
... It only took our guys a short while the next morning to find out
why no one could get on the network, because that’s what we do.
My linuxmce was handing out IP addresses much quicker than the
Remote DHCP server could.
It seems that it would be a good thing to mention that by default
linuxmce will install DHCP and provide address to its own private non-routed
subnet and it might be a good question to ask during the install:
  Do you want DHCP service?
Well only a little damage done and most of that to my ego.

Looks like this is going to be a fun project
and I can hardly wait to get it all up and running.

Regards,  Wes

[freymann]

Is there a good discussion on the board about the pros and cons of having/not having two nics.

 If you read the forums, you will find plenty of posts explaining why 2 NIC's are required and exactly why 2 nics make LMCE do the things that it can do (i.e. PNP).

 I tried it with one NIC... wasn't much fun. I regrouped, came back, utilized two NIC's. Things work.

 I don't recommend trying to weasel out of the 2 NIC requirement.

Then I shut the system down and went home.
Imagine my chagrin when I came in the next evening shift and
found out the box had reset instead of going completely down.
... It only took our guys a short while the next morning to find out
why no one could get on the network, because that’s what we do.
My linuxmce was handing out IP addresses much quicker than the
Remote DHCP server could.

 If this is a complaint, then I would have to draw the conclusion that you didn't do enough research before you took the plunge. At least you didn't lose data because the DVD install erased your hard drive.

 But seriously..

 Between the wiki and these forums, you should have absolutely NO PROBLEMS understanding the dual nic requirement. If you think that is an issue, then I would say LMCE is not the solution for you.

[pigdog]

Hi,

To be very simple:  one NIC on a core or core/hybrid (eth0) is your real world connection (the internet - some real world!).

The second NIC is your internal LMCE (eth1) network.

Eth0 connected a router you can have your in house network (wife's PC, the kids PC's your home office) and core (core/hybrid) network access.

Connect Eth1 LMCE thru a gigabyte switch feeding your MD's, PABX, home automation, etc. you've got two distinct networks, home and LMCE.

Works fine, lasts a long time.

[wesattexas]

Thanks for the quick answers.
So I guess your suggestion is to get rid of one of my
capture cards and install a second Ethernet Card.

What I keep finding in the forms is:
"... did you follow our instructions for setting up the network?
two NICs, one connected to your modem,
the other connected to your internal switch..."


In my case - a Fujitsu DSL modem with Ethernet out
and a linksys switch/dhcp/NAT router/firewall with
a WAN port and five additional ports.
Of course I will disable the dhcp, and avoid the [WAN]
port to disable any additional NAT and firewall inside my
"internal" network.  Of course there will be nothing to plug
into the other ports on the linksys as the MCE hybrid is the
only computer.

What worry's me is putting the linuxmce directly on the Internet.
I think it would be very dangerous for most people to put
the full attack surface of a high value target like a barefoot
linux high end media pc on the dirty side of a firewall.
Even if Kubuntu has a built-in software firewall. 
Don't they have yearly contest to see NOT IF, but HOW LONG
it takes to break-in and take over highly protected computers.
At least behind a NAT firewall the hackers have to wait
for the target to establish a connection with them and mostly
the hackers go for easy prey like no dedicated firewall.

Also If it's important to have no firewall between the Internet and
the Hybrid then will it be possible to install linuxmce at my dad's?
I set up a linux pc for him to do email and look up stuff on google.
His ATT- SBC modem is integral Modem/usb/Ethernet/wireless/four port switch.
and one PC.
No way to get in between modem and router.
This is his only PC and I would like to add a capture card and mce.

[tschak909]

Hello, I am one of the developers.

typically, hybrids aren't used in production environments... typically only a dedicated core is exposed to the internet.

The bottom line, we need control over DHCP to handle automatic configuration of devices that we find that hop on and off the network, as well as facilitate the network booting of media directors.

we need the internet side of things to make configuring VOIP relatively painless, and we do our best to try and firewall things off appropriately.

We also need internet-access to allow for mobile phones to trigger house events, currently.

-Thom

[royw]

Nothing says you can't put your core behind another firewall.  I run:

wireless broadband router -> wired linksys(1) -> core -> home lan (including a wireless linksys(2) bridge)

Have fun,
Roy

[tschak909]

*hmm*

if you know what you're doing, yes.. of course you can put stuff behind another firewall and forward ports....

again, the whole reason we do this is to allow anyone to be able to use all the features of the system WITHOUT BEING A FUCKING NETWORKING GURU.

damn it, people. some of you are so steeped as geeks, that you fail to realise the final target for this system!

-Thom

[totallymaxed]

Nothing says you can't put your core behind another firewall.  I run:

wireless broadband router -> wired linksys(1) -> core -> home lan (including a wireless linksys(2) bridge)

Have fun,
Roy

Thats pretty much what we install too. We use ASUS ADSL/Routers (with integral firewall) on the WAN side. Our small under TV Hybrid Cores have single NICs and our larger Cores (still hybrids I might add but we set these to UI1 on the onboard LCD) have dual NICs.

All the best

Andrew

[hari]

I do the same with a cisco router in front (for VPN and stuff). As my SIP gateway is located in the VPN I have no port forwarding issues with VoIP. The most painless configuration with cheap routers is probably setting the "DMZ Host" (or sth. like that) option for the external Core IP. But as TSCHAK has noted, it is easy to mess up the ports without some networking experience.

best regards,
Hari

[cht_winston]

Hi Wes,

I use the same Motherboard as you in my Hybrid core. You may want to consider using a PCI-E NIC so that you do not have to lose a PCI-slot.



Good Luck



Win

[PowrrrPlay]

Curiosity killed the cat.  So I was wondering if it was possible to run 3 NIC's in an MCE core.
1 NIC for the external internet access
2 NIC's for the HOME LMCE DHCP LAN

[tschak909]

No.

-Thom

[hari]

hehe, it is possible. You could use the bonding driver to load balance the two internal nics. But this is not supported, and you have to do some (read many) tweaks.

best regards,
Hari

[Stutch]

hehe, it is possible. You could use the bonding driver to load balance the two internal nics. But this is not supported, and you have to do some (read many) tweaks.

best regards,
Hari

Yup, it is possible but not supported...  I'll take a swing at it and share my experience since I am familiar in this process.  I have a quad port gig nic form Broadcom that I plan to use on the MCE network.

Here is a link to the step-by-step I wrote for configuring network bonding in Ubuntu 6.10.  From what I have seen thus far, the process has not changed.


http://howtoforge.com/network_bonding_ubuntu_6.10 

[hari]

setting up the bond itself should be the easiest part :-)