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Is there any benefit to using a bonded network on a server setup or should I just assign 2 IP addresses to my server?

From what I've noticed thus far is there is a HUGE reduction in transfer speeds.

Matthew Auld
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    Link aggregation is about maximum throughput, not a reduction, basically two or more interfaces working as a single network card multiplying throughput. Is [that](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBonding) what you have used to setup bonding ? – Alex Aug 28 '18 at 19:30
  • What's the switch model that's doing 802.3ad? Please provide the switch setup, and the Ubuntu commands in use. The nic models in use wouldn't hurt either. This should have a transfer rate of a little less than both NICs max speed. (Network overhead) – Tim_Stewart Aug 28 '18 at 19:50
  • Okay, I'm running a Lenovo ThinkServer RD240 which has dual onboard gigabit lan connections. I've run Cat5e cable to both (I'm aware Cat6 is better) and when I did a fresh install of Ubuntu I bonded the connections. After uploading a few files I noticed I was only getting around 32MiB/s. I then unbonded and did a transfer to the server which meant only 1 cable was in use and yielded a better result at up to 107MiB/s at peak. Averaging around 95MiB/s. – Matthew Auld Aug 28 '18 at 22:22
  • Anyway assigning one IP per card in the same LAN will get only one card used thus no increased bandwidth, unless very special and quite complex [ARP and routing settings](https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/tree/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt?h=linux-4.14.y#n1145) are applied. Often not worth it. – A.B Aug 28 '18 at 23:42
  • @A.B _**Theoretically **_ if I assign 2 different LAN IPs to the multiple NICs and forward different PORTs to each it could balance the services in use on the machine no? – Matthew Auld Aug 30 '18 at 20:37
  • the "very special and quite complex" setting with a link about it, is to make the theory be reality. eg: https://serverfault.com/a/900958/217515 – A.B Aug 30 '18 at 20:43

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