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Standard ethernet?
- Thread starter c073186
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Roy
macrumors 6502
2nd ethernet port? Well...
1. NAT
2. Network firewall
3. Proxy server
4. Two independent internet connections
To give an example of the first two:
A smallish company needs to connect from inhouse to the outside world. They need to control access and traffic. While a company that is less concerned about security might use a router with NAT and Firewall built in, this limits your options. For full control, you want a full system. This full system is your network's gateway to the outside world. You have a fully capable firewall where you can modify the rules based on detected inbound traffic. You need to be able to log all transmissions to detect penetration of the network. You want to enforce network policies. Meanwhile, you also need a NAT running with a DHCP server. At the same time, you want VPN access from the outside world.
By hooking one Mac Pro ethernet connector into the outside world, and one into the LAN, and running a OSX Server on it, you can do all that.
1. NAT
2. Network firewall
3. Proxy server
4. Two independent internet connections
To give an example of the first two:
A smallish company needs to connect from inhouse to the outside world. They need to control access and traffic. While a company that is less concerned about security might use a router with NAT and Firewall built in, this limits your options. For full control, you want a full system. This full system is your network's gateway to the outside world. You have a fully capable firewall where you can modify the rules based on detected inbound traffic. You need to be able to log all transmissions to detect penetration of the network. You want to enforce network policies. Meanwhile, you also need a NAT running with a DHCP server. At the same time, you want VPN access from the outside world.
By hooking one Mac Pro ethernet connector into the outside world, and one into the LAN, and running a OSX Server on it, you can do all that.
Actually I did ... I looked at the Mac Pro page under specs but could not find it. Apparently I am not good at searching for these types of things.
apfhex
macrumors 68030
Well, also on the Tech Specs page under Communications: "Two independent 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet (RJ-45) interfaces with support for jumbo frames"
Roy
macrumors 6502
Since information seems to be able to flow in and out of the computer via the 2 ethernet ports, then can one of the ports be used to hook up to another computer and share the same Internet connection? Or can a computer be hooked up to the 2nd port and each computer view and use the other computer's hard drive? Or could the 2nd port be used for say a scanner or printer or perhaps an external hard drive?
My G4 tower only has one ethernet connection and I can't find anything on Apple's website describing the any uses for a 2nd port.