I have a server (2003R2) that has two gigabit nics, but I'm only using one of them. This nic is now being over-worked. Is there any way of using the other nic to 'share the load' so to speak?

Not using anything built-into Windows. To do proper HA/LB using more than one NIC on a computer, you'll need to install 3rd party "teaming" software. If this is an HP server for example, you can download and install the HP Teaming software and bind the two NICs together. What happens is that the software will create a virtual NIC/virtual MAC for which is shared by the two physical NICs. Depending on the configuration you choose you can set it to an active/passive failover or load sharing config. Simply connecting two NICs to the network will not result in what you would think of as a "load balancing" connection. Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

Hi JM, Yes, I've tried just connecting 2 nics to the network with the same cost metric, and the server just uses the one. This is a Dell 2950, and now that I've looked into it, there is an option to team them. I'll look further into this. Thanks!

If these are Intel NICs, you could go to the INtel web site and download their "teaming" software. This type of teaming has been around for more than a decade. I generally do not care for adding any type of complexity to a system unless there is a business reason to do so. For instance if you had an SLA on the server that requires 99.999% availability, or if the app had a 24/7 requirement. In other words, don't team just because you can or it seems like a neat idea. Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

Nope, Broadcom nics. I see I have to use their BACS 3 software, which is on the Dell CD in the server room vault 40 miles away. I can't seem to download it. So this will have to wait for another day, when I'm on site. Actually, I'm reluctant to do this 'teaming', but it may be my last resort. I have installed an application which has increased network demand, and so other apps are battling. I'm not even sure if it's related to nic congestion, but I'm just looking at options.