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    Wired vs. wireless connection - which gets used?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by CubsWin, Oct 21, 2010.

  1. CubsWin

    CubsWin Notebook Consultant

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    There are 2 separate MAC addresses on the M11x, 1 for the wireless LAN adapter and another for the wired LAN connection. I have each MAC address assigned to a static IP address on my network. When both are connected, how does the M11x choose which connection/IP to use?
     
    CubsWin, Oct 21, 2010
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  2. slickie88

    slickie88 Master of Puppets

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    It's generally a bad idea to have to NICs attached to the same subnet. Best practice is to disable one or the other.
     
    slickie88, Oct 22, 2010
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  3. jeremyshaw

    jeremyshaw Big time Idiot

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    with the default dell card, you can set that in the advanced tab of the driver options :) (disable upon wired plugged. Useless to have two, since it doesn't support port teaming, iirc).
     
    jeremyshaw, Oct 22, 2010
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  4. kopicha

    kopicha Notebook Evangelist

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    in most systems LAN normally have priority over WLAN as far as my understanding goes
     
    kopicha, Oct 22, 2010
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  5. slickie88

    slickie88 Master of Puppets

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    That's true. It's governed by the metric value associated with each interface.

    An explanation of the Automatic Metric feature for Internet Protocol routes

    If for some reason your wifi connection is being utilized rather than your wired connection then you can manually set the metric values for each. However I've seen lots of issues with two interfaces connecting to the same subnet over the years. OSX, Vista, XP, etc. However, on a small home network I suppose the chances of it being a problem is pretty low.
     
    slickie88, Oct 22, 2010
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