NIC Express also verifies the path to the default gateway between cards. To test this, I pulled the uplink port from the switch connected to the primary card. This didn't change the link status on the server, but because NIC Express couldn't ping the gateway, the software failed over to the backup card. Being able to detect logical network breaks is one of the product's distinguishing features.
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Vendor Info
NIC Express Enterprise Edition, $995 per server, per workstation. IP Metrics, FalconStor Software, (817) 358-1007, (877) 358-1007. www.ipmetrics.com/ipms/home2.htm
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The monitoring software shows five states for the adapters: working, currently failed, now working after failing, failed again and disabled. You can configure the software to disable a card if it fails more than "x" times an hour. Admins can be alerted by SNMP or through the Enterprise Manager add-on and can reenable the card after troubleshooting.
NIC Express's centralized and remote management lets you access all your servers, see a status report on the network adapters and view statistics--in all, a good deal. You get high availability, failover and impressive management capabilities for less than $1,000.
Michael J. DeMaria is an associate technology editor for Network Computing. Write to him at [email protected].
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