A technician is tasked with providing network-based high availability to a pair of identical web servers. What is the recommended NIC configuration?

The recommended network interface card (NIC) configuration for achieving network-based high availability in a pair of identical web servers involves using one physical NIC per server, with each individual NIC configured for network load balancing. This approach allows the two servers to work together effectively, handling incoming traffic in a manner that optimizes resource utilization and provides redundancy.

When each NIC is configured for network load balancing, it enables the servers to distribute the network traffic evenly across them. If one server becomes unavailable for any reason, the other can take over the load seamlessly, ensuring continuous service availability to users. This configuration is particularly effective for web servers, as they often experience fluctuating traffic loads and require a reliable setup to manage requests efficiently.

Other configurations, such as having two physical NICs with one for multicast and one for broadcast, do not provide the necessary redundancy or load sharing. Similarly, having two NICs with separate traffic types does not effectively utilize the benefits of high availability. Lastly, using one NIC configured with the same MAC and IP address on both servers can lead to address conflicts and is not a practical approach for high availability. Therefore, the optimal choice is to configure one NIC per server for load balancing, enhancing both performance and reliability.