Some servers are fitted with two network cards and so can support dual networking (multiple physical connections between network devices). Typically, dual network servers are used with ClearSCADA to provide redundancy—they allow a server to have two physical connections to another server, meaning that should one network path fail, ClearSCADA can use the ‘backup’ network path instead. Dual networking can also be used to isolate networks and to provide additional bandwidth.
To configure dual networking you can use ClearSCADA's native network sharing feature, or the configuration features of the operating system and / or network card software. We recommend the latter, and to do this, you need to use Microsoft Windows Control Panel to configure Network Connections. In the configuration for each network card, you will need to define:
- An IP address—Used to identify the port used by each card
- A subnet—Defines the number of IP addresses that are available in the network.
When you have set up each network card in Windows, you will need to configure ClearSCADA to recognize the two network cards
Further Information
For more information on setting up network cards in Windows, please refer to the documentation supplied with your network cards as well referencing NIC Teaming for further advice.