New server configuration NIC Card

We bought 2 new HP ProLiant ML370 G6. The server has 4 1GB NIC card. and 1 Dedicated remote management port. I want to know what is the benefit of this NIC card with 4 port? Can I connect this 4 port to main switch and have a high bandwidth to my server?

And what`s the benefit of this dedicated remote port?

The best way to RAID 5 four 146GB SAS drive?

From serverfault

• The 4x 1GB card is used for several things. Also, that server has 2 on-board ports, for a total of six The Windows drivers at least allow for several things:

  • Port aggregation (if supported by your switch), which allows much higher bandwidth to the server. Though no single TCP connection will exceed 1GB, if you have several such streams they won't block.
  • VLAN trunking (if supported by your switch).
  • The ability to connect to 4 different subnets.
  • The option of being a dedicated iSCSI HBA.

  The dedicated remote port is for the Integrated Lights Out port. It allows you to perform remote power cycles, as well as the ability to mount DVD media remotely. If you paid for iLO Advanced, it allows you to have a graphical remote console just through the remote port. It's very useful.

  As for the storage, that depends on what you're planning to do with it.

  From sysadmin1138

• First, why would you spend money on servers that you don't understand the capabilities of?!

  Yes, you can use HP's software to aggregate the links. If you switch supports LACP you can get 4Gbps bi-directional. Or you can get link redundancy. Or you can use each port individually. Or a combination of the above.

  The dedicated management port is primarily for environments where the primary NICs are sensitive to management traffic, or your switch/environment doesn't support vLANs. iLO can be accessed through either the dedicated management port; or it can share it's connection with the first on-board NIC using vLAN tagging.

  The best way to RAID 4 drives will depend on what you want from them. RAID10 is faster for some situations; RAID5 will give you more storage space.

  From Chris S