NIC

MAC Address #

Frame #

Logical Link Control (LLC) #

Media Access Control (MAC) #

Buying NICs #

Buy name-brand.

Installation #

  • Commonly installed in PCI or PCIe slot on motherboard.
  • Can get USB NICs

Drivers #

Usually NICs will come with a CD or have downloadable drivers

  • Often the drivers are already baked into an OS

Bonding #

Most switches enable you to use multiple NICs for a single machine, a process called bonding or link aggregation.

  • This can effectively double (or more) the speed between switch and machine.
  • Best to use identical NICs if this is going to be done

All UTP NICs have some type of LED that indicates if connection is good and if it’s working.

  • Link Light Solid, on if working

  • Activity Light Flashes intermittently when detects network activity

  • Collision Light Some older NICs have this, not found on modern network equipment

  • Multispeed Devices Use multiple colers to differentiate between speed of connection

  • Orange = commonly 10BaseT or 100BaseT

  • Green = commonly 1 GbE