MP 1,1-5,1 How do you use the 2nd ethernet port on your Mac Pro 5,1's?

[Jigga Beef]

I recently went all Unifi so i have an old but working Time Capsule around. I don't have a use for it as a network switch but I still backup my Mac Pro 5,1 to the drive inside and my 2 laptops to a connected USB drive. These really just serve as a secondary backup for all machines. I have a spot under my desk next to my Mac Pro that the TC could go and I think I can use the 2nd ethernet port to connect it to the network.

But then I realized I Never even thought about the 2nd port before and there might be a better use that I am not thinking of.

 

[rm5]

I recently went all Unifi so i have an old but working Time Capsule around. I don't have a use for it as a network switch but I still backup my Mac Pro 5,1 to the drive inside and my 2 laptops to a connected USB drive. These really just serve as a secondary backup for all machines. I have a spot under my desk next to my Mac Pro that the TC could go and I think I can use the 2nd ethernet port to connect it to the network.

But then I realized I Never even thought about the 2nd port before and there might be a better use that I am not thinking of.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I noticed the 2nd Ethernet port doesn't even work on my 5,1 cMP. Could just be a hardware issue, but the first one works fine.

NOW, to answer your question - I like your idea of using your TC with the second port, that would work just fine.

You could also use some sort of "direct-attach" with a server, but that's the only other thing I can think of.

 

[GlynH]

I was excited when I saw dual Ethernet ports on my 5,1 as all of my switches support Link Aggregation and I use both ethernet ports on my Synology NAS into two ports on 24-port switch using LACP so thought I'd do the same with my Mac Pro not because I really need it but just because I can!

Or so I thought. I setup the second port but after I did that the first one stopped working so I never tried it again.

Might take another look one day...

-=Glyn=-

 

[Macschrauber]

I have used it as a switch when I have none at the place.

Best use is to connect and isolate a Nas.