Combine two ethernets?

[Robert Collins]

On Sun, 2006-08-27 at 11:23 +0200, Xan wrote:
> 
> I have two network interfaces: eth0 and eth1.
> I just want to know if it's possible to combine two interfaces for 
> downloading (and uploading) at the same time in the two interfaces.
> That 
> is, can ubuntu use the two interfaces at the same time?
> 
> For example I think:
> a) ubuntu automatically uses the less used interface. If it's
> possible, 
> we could have two balanced interfaces (equal traffic bandwitth)
> b) we could specify which program uses what interfaces. For example,
> use 
> bittorrent in eth0 and web browsers in eth1....
> 
> And the question is: if it's possible, is it _easy_ (for desktop
> users)?

As far as a) Its very possible see the excellent Linux Advanced Routing
and Traffic Control HOWTO: http://lartc.org/.


The extent to which its possible is largely dependent on non-Ubuntu
factors - ISP or company network configuration etc. [unless you are
actually talking about parallel-http/ftp range fragment downloading,
which is purely application configured, and nothing to do with the
network as such.

For b), yes, with limits - its possible to tag a traffic flow, and then
use that in routing and traffic mangling rules to force it out a
specific interface. Things like bittorrent which have dynamic ports are
somewhat harder to do this too, but its still possible with sufficient
effort.

And no, its not easy, generally not for anyone, let alone 'desktop
users'.

I hope that anyone who does set out to do make this easy does so with an
awareness of the complexity that exists inherently in such tasks, and
tries to find ways to reduce that - making it easier for server admins
to achieve would be a good first step in making it easier for 'desktop
users' to do.

-Rob

-- 
GPG key available at: <http://www.robertcollins.net/keys.txt>.
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