Many network adapters can be made to behave as one.
NIC teaming is the process of combining two or more network adapters to create one single adapter with greater bandwidth capabilities. Bandwidth is the rate of data that can be sent out onto a network. It is measured in bits per second, or bps. The desirability of greater bandwidth is that it speeds up the response times of network or Internet requests and enables larger amounts of data to be moved within a specific time frame.
Naming
Both NIC and NIC teaming are known by several other names. A NIC is a network interface card. The name derives from the days when network capabilities were an extra function of computers. The hardware providing network capabilities was bought separately as a card that fitted into one of the expansion slots on a PC's motherboard. Nowadays, most computers are shipped with network capabilities integrated into the motherboard -- no longer a separate card. The NIC is also known as an Ethernet adapter, an Ethernet card and a network adapter. NIC teaming is better known as "NIC bonding," also called "link aggregation."
Method
NIC teaming does not involve fusing two network adapters together. The adapters involved in the bonding each maintain a separate existence and each connect to separate cables. However, a network controller within the computer links to all of the NICs in the team and can choose any of them to carry a request from an application out onto the network. The adapters are all identified externally by the same address, and a reply can arrive on any of the network cables connected to the computer. All incoming massages are routed through the same controller, so the operation of several adapters in invisible to the application.
Other Purposes
Along with increasing data throughput for a machine, NIC teaming also provides a back-up mechanism in case of hardware failure. If one of the NICs in the team stops functioning, the controller can continue operating on the remaining NIC or NICs in the team. The controller distributes load between the NICs in the team, reducing the possibility that network access is blocked by a one overworked network adapter.
Problems
NIC teaming only expands the available bandwidth at the point of access to the network. If the network to which the computer is connected is congested, NIC teaming will not improve network access, because the network will not be capable of handling the greater throughput processed over the NIC team. Similarly, the processing capabilities of a computer's CPU can limit the capacity of the controller to less than the throughput capabilities of the combined network adapters.
Tags: network adapters, NICs team, network capabilities, greater bandwidth, network access, network adapter, onto network