Here is my basic network config:

Cable Modem connected to router/fw/ip phone connected to 10/100 switch

Linux Server w/ RH9.0
10/100 NIC connects to switch

Various Windows machines
10/100 NICs connecting to switch.

PowerMac G5 machine
Gigabit NIC connecting to switch. (throttled down to 100Mb/s)


My basic goal is to increase the performance between the PowerMac and Linux Server w/ Gigabit ethernet. I purchased a gigabit ethernet card to put in the Linux server, but I'm too cheap to upgrade all my switch equipment to gigabit.

My intention is to add this new giga-NIC to the linux server, such that the existing 10/100 NIC is the server's connection to the entire network (and therefore the internet) through my switch.

The new giga-NIC will be a dedicated connection to my PowerMac G5, giving me a very fast connection between those two computers.

I would like the Linux server to simply pass all traffic not destined for the server itself out over the 10/100 card to the rest of the network. So I guess I want the linux box to appear as a simple hub, bridging my 10/100 network to the Mac via gigabit ethernet.

If anyone has any advice on setting up multiple NICs in a RH9.0 machine in such a manner I would appreciate your insight.

Thanks!
-RRuss

The Linux bridge module will allow a Linux box to act similiar to a switch

http://bridge.sourceforge.net/

One caveat is that when you bridge two NICs, you don't assign an IP address directly to them anymore, but you can assign the ip address to the virtual bridge interface you created for them.