Carrying on from my previous post – Home Lab – reloaded! I thought I would detail the additions I’ve made.

The first was a follow-on from a post on VirtuallyGhetto – William Lam’s excellent blog.

He has a post detailing how to set up a USB 3.0 single or dual NIC adapter.

I have followed the instructions and can confirm that it works a treat and takes 2 minutes to install.  Download the VIBs from Williams page, follow the instructions and Robert is your mother’s brother!

I used the Dual-port StarTech – £50 from Amazon.  USB 3.0 has a throughput of 5Gbs.  So 2 x 1Gbs NICs are not exactly going to push it are they?  Network speed is excellent, although I haven’t monitored it yet so don’t have the numbers.  But I do now have 4 x 1Gbs ports.

The StarTech adapters also support LACP, Jumbo frames (4000kb max), and lots of other goodies.  So if you are NIC-challenged – its an easy setup and an easy win.