How to correctly use 2 on board nics

[magikman]

Bob wrote:
> The most common configuration for using two nic's is one nic is used for
> your dsl or cable modem connection to your ISP and the second nic services
> your local LAN.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Ivan Carey
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 6:55 AM
> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Subject: How to correctly use 2 on board nics
>
> Hello
> I have a server board with 2 onboard nic's
> I have set them up in rc.conf as follows
>
> defaultrouter="192.168.1.1"
> network_interfaces="em0 em1 lo0"
> ifconfig_em0="inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0"
> ifconfig_em1="inet 192.168.1.4 netmask 255.255.255.0"
>
> The question, is this the correct configuration?
>
> If I have both nic's connected to the switch I can ping 192.168.1.1 and
> 192.168.1.3 and 192.168.1.4
>
> If I have only em0 connected I can ping 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.3
>
> If I have only em1 connected I can ping 192.168.1.3.
>
> What could the 2 onboard nic's be best used for. I was thinking that in
> the event on was to fail then the other would still be ok.
>
> Any ideas would help.
> Thanks,
> Ivan
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>   
I guess the 'correct' way of using two NICs is really dependent upon 
what your goal of using two NICs is. Do you want to be able to serve two 
networks out of the NICs, one from each interface? Do you want to create 
a gateway of some sort? What is it, exactly, you are trying to 
accomplish by doing this?