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Connecting a Mac Pro to two networks
Hi folks
Trying to find a semi-definitive answer (I’m assuming there is never a definitive answer to anything) to a question: can you plug a Mac Pro into two different networks using it’s dual ethernet ports?
We have an existing network system at our office based around an xServe and an xServe Raid that everyone is connected to (which also has internet access) but we’re toying with setting up a separate network for the edit suites to allow some media sharing. So it would be:
Port 1 – Access to xServe, General Raid and Internet
Port 2 – Access to separate Media ServerIs this possible? Having done some research online the general consensus appears to be yes but my Line Manager is thoroughly convinced you can’t have multiple IP addresses on a computer. Could someone help clear this up?
The Mac Pros in question would be Quad Core Xeon’s with a standard Apple Ethernet card.
Thanks 🙂
J
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5 Replies
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Yes this is possible.
X-SAN systems in general ALWAYS are accessing two separate networks. As you noted, they even have TWO ethernet ports built in.
You really need to speak to someone who understands network protocols to set this up. Your external ethernet switches have to be set up correctly to make this work.
Whether a simple ethernet setup will be “beefy” enough for your needs really depends on your expectations. Move files around? Sure. Move big chunks of media? Maybe. Share storage for editing? Probably not. Do your homework on this. It’s MUCH more complicated than you think.
Mark
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Hi John,
Your Line Manager is partially wrong and partially right. You can have multiple IP addresses on the same computer, they just cannot be in the same Subnet.
For example, if your Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0 and your Ethernet Port 1 is set to have an IP address of say 192.168.1.101, then Ethernet Port 2 could not have it’s address be 192.168.1.102, but it could have an IP address of 192.168.2.101, as this would place it in a separate Subnet.
If you’d like to read/learn more about Subnets and masking there’s a nice Wikipedia article here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork
So, you’re best bet would be to set up the Secondary “Media Server” network on a different Subnet than your Office/Internet LAN.
Hope this helps,
-Caspian
Product Specialist
Studio Network Solutions -
can you plug a Mac Pro into two different networks using it’s dual ethernet ports?
REPLY – YES – I do this all the time. I did it today. Ethernet port 1 is DHCP for the house internet system, and Ethernet port 2 is a dedicated subnet for our shared storage system. So YES YES YES.
We have an existing network system at our office based around an xServe and an xServe Raid that everyone is connected to (which also has internet access) but we’re toying with setting up a separate network for the edit suites to allow some media sharing. So it would be:
Port 1 – Access to xServe, General Raid and Internet
Port 2 – Access to separate Media ServerIs this possible? Having done some research online the general consensus appears to be yes but my Line Manager is thoroughly convinced you can’t have multiple IP addresses on a computer. Could someone help clear this up?
REPLY – the answer is yes.
The Mac Pros in question would be Quad Core Xeon’s with a standard Apple Ethernet card.
YES !
Bob Zelin
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Thanks everyone, those were exactly what i wanted to hear.
My research has brought out another set of queries but I’ve started a new post for that.
Thanks again
John
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Of course you can do this. We do it all the time with our 6 port cards!
Steve Modica
CTO, Small Tree Communications
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