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Multiple NICs on 2014 Mac Mini

U

unplugme71

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 20, 2011
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For those of you with advanced networks, how do you handle multiple NICs with your Mac Mini.

My network currently consists of several VLANs.

Management
Servers
Storage
Backup

The Mac Mini seems limited to 3 ethernet ports (internal, and 2x TB to Ethernet). I'd like to keep the Storage and Backup on separate cables. I guess I could make the internal network use the Servers network and create a VLAN for Management but I'd prefer to keep everything on separate cables. Does OS X 10.10 still have USB to Ethernet drivers? I saw the USB to Ethernet adapter is no longer supported on Mac Mini that Apple sells. The management can be on the 10/100 network.
 
unplugme71 said:
For those of you with advanced networks, how do you handle multiple NICs with your Mac Mini.

My network currently consists of several VLANs.

Management
Servers
Storage
Backup

The Mac Mini seems limited to 3 ethernet ports (internal, and 2x TB to Ethernet). I'd like to keep the Storage and Backup on separate cables. I guess I could make the internal network use the Servers network and create a VLAN for Management but I'd prefer to keep everything on separate cables. Does OS X 10.10 still have USB to Ethernet drivers? I saw the USB to Ethernet adapter is no longer supported on Mac Mini that Apple sells. The management can be on the 10/100 network.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll ask the question: Why?

Schedule backups after hours so it doesn't interfere with the rest of the activities of the server. The management of the server should only be done periodically so why would it need its own NIC. What are you doing as "server" capabilities that requires its own NIC? Most of my servers are limited by WAN bandwidth or by the content they are serving (ie even high bit rate video uses less bandwidth than one realizes). If you are truly concerned about your NIC and bandwidth necessary, just get one thunderbolt enclosure and slap a 10gb card in it. That's more bandwidth than even 4 go NICs.
 
Capsicum said:
I'm using two of those USB/Ethernet adapters with my 2012 Mini server on 10.9.5 to get to 4 NICs as the 2012 has only one Thunderbolt port.

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters®-SuperSpeed-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00C50FSPU

The drivers are not included in OS X, so you'll need to download and install them separately.
Click to expand...
paulrbeers said:
I guess I'll ask the question: Why?

Schedule backups after hours so it doesn't interfere with the rest of the activities of the server. The management of the server should only be done periodically so why would it need its own NIC. What are you doing as "server" capabilities that requires its own NIC? Most of my servers are limited by WAN bandwidth or by the content they are serving (ie even high bit rate video uses less bandwidth than one realizes). If you are truly concerned about your NIC and bandwidth necessary, just get one thunderbolt enclosure and slap a 10gb card in it. That's more bandwidth than even 4 go NICs.
Click to expand...

I might just create a virtual network for management on the LAN side as I don't log in often enough to reduce performance and it'll cut out having to install 3rd party NIC software.

My storage and backup are on two separate physical networks. So I need 2 cables for iSCSI. Backups are critical so they run continuously.
 
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unplugme71 said:
My storage and backup are on two separate physical networks.
Click to expand...

Why? Those seem like things that wouldn't need isolation. Usually isolation is for security reasons or bandwidth. But I can't think what would be sucking so much bandwidth.

Just helping to check if maybe he problem is overcomplicated for your true needs.
 
grockk said:
Why? Those seem like things that wouldn't need isolation. Usually isolation is for security reasons or bandwidth. But I can't think what would be sucking so much bandwidth.

Just helping to check if maybe he problem is overcomplicated for your true needs.
Click to expand...

Technically, neither has to be isolated nor redundant, but I'm doing it because I want to.
 
You can use more than 2 ethernet cards on the TB ports if you use TB docks but that'll become quite expensive. Or you could go 10GbE plus VLANs :cool:
 
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