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[nanopico]

So let's say I have two nic's in my mac.  Is it possible to use both at the same time?
I don't have two in one machine, but if it's doable, I would have a use and would add a second nic.

[devils_advisor]

In leopard it is its called congregation i think but there is friction and you might not get much use out of it besides eating up 2 lines on your switch.

[MacTron]

Yes, it is possible to use two ethernet connections in Mac Os 9. I have done it long time ago... let me some time to remember how...

[nanopico]

In leopard it is its called congregation i think but there is friction and you might not get much use out of it besides eating up 2 lines on your switch.

Well in my case it would be one line each on two switches. 

[MacOS Plus]

  In general, yes, but mainly depends on what job each one is supposed to do.  One of the common stock configs on the Xserve G4 was dual ethernet - the integrated one and a PCI card in the single-slot riser.  (In fact, the only way to take advantage of the second ethernet activity LED on the front panel is to use a supported PCI card in the single-slot riser.)  I gather Apple intended this setup to perform router/gateway functions.

  If you're talking specifically OS 9 and earlier, I believe AppleTalk can only be assigned to one device at a time with stock software.  If you get some more sophisticated router software involved then you should be able to bridge the connections in some manner.  Connecting them both to the same network is a recipe for trouble.  "Dual-attach" networking is a different beast.

[devils_advisor]

From experience if you activate or even trying to you end up with no connection at all
the system is just confused to which route to take and yes in the prefs you can only activate ip once,
i assume you can lets say run a web server package on os9 or something like that and with 3rd party  tools utilize a secondary nic. But again if the system is aware of that you have no connection to the outside world. Or better no routing.