Bonding your network adapters for better performance
Together
© Photo by Andrew Moca on Unsplash
Combining your network adapters can speed up network performance – but a little more testing could lead to better choices.
I recently bought a used HP Z840 workstation to use as a server for a Proxmox [1] virtualization environment. The first virtual machine (VM) I added was an Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS instance with nothing on it but the Cockpit [2] management tool and the WireGuard [3] VPN solution. I planned to use WireGuard to connect to my home network from anywhere, so that I can back up and retrieve files as needed and manage the other devices in my home lab. WireGuard also gives me the ability to use those sketchy WiFi networks that you find at cafes and in malls with less worry about someone snooping on my traffic.
The Z840 has a total of seven network interface cards (NICs) installed: two on the motherboard and five more on two separate add-in cards. My second server with a backup WireGuard instance has 4 gigabit NICs in total. Figure 1 is a screenshot from NetBox that shows how everything is connected to my two switches and the ISP-supplied router for as much redundancy as I can get from a single home network connection.
Figure 1: Topology of my home network.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.