Install a Fast Server NIC

On a Windows 2003 Server, performance is the name of the game. In networking, because network traffic tends to congregate at the server, spending extra bucks on a fast, powerful NIC makes sense. At a bare minimum, you want a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)-based NIC because it offers the best bus connection to the rest of the system. Other hardware enhancements worth purchasing for Windows Server 2003 NICs include the following:

• Direct Memory Access (DMA): Enables the NIC to transfer data directly from its on-board memory to the computer's memory without requiring the CPU to mediate .

• Shared adapter memory: Enables a NIC's on-board RAM to map into the computer's RAM. When the computer thinks it's writing to its own RAM, it's writing straigt to the NIC; and when it thinks it's reading from its own RAM, it's reading straight from the NIC. Shared system memory works the same way, except the NIC reads from and writes to the computer's RAM instead of its own on-board RAM. Extra memory for NICs is almost as good as more RAM on Windows 2003 PCs!

• Bus mastering: Lets the NIC manage the computer's bus to coordinate data transfers to and from the computer's memory. Bus mastering enables the CPU to concentrate on other activities and can improve performance by 20 to 70 percent. This is the most worthwhile of all the enhancements mentioned here.

• On-board coprocessor: Puts an additional CPU on a NIC and allows the NIC to process data that the CPU would otherwise have to handle. Many NICs today use such processors to speed operations.

The idea is to put the processing power and speed where it does the most good: on the NIC that all the users must interact with to obtain data from (or move packets through) a server. In fact, if you have the money, you may want to investigate building backbones that use alternate or high-speed connections, such as FireWire (which is defined by IEEE 1394), Fibre Channel, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), or Gigabit Ethernet.