--- title: "Multiple Network Interfaces for Servers" canonical: "https://docs.infoblox.com/space/BloxOneInfrastructure/184582963/Multiple%20Network%20Interfaces%20for%20Servers" format: markdown --- You can configure more than one network interface on your NIOS-X server to separate management traffic and data traffic. Management traffic is traffic between the server and the Infoblox Portal while data traffic includes traffic for your Infoblox service such as DNS Forwarding Proxy. By separating management and data traffic, your server will not become a weak point between two networks. Configuring multiple network interfaces is also useful if you are hosting multiple Infoblox services that use the same Ethernet port on the same server. If your server has multiple interfaces, you can select specific interfaces for specific services and view the list of all available interfaces and IP addresses on the server. > ⚠️ Infoblox supports multiple network interfaces on servers that are deployed through NIOS-X physical servers, baremetal Docker deployment, and OVA deployment using the OVA image downloaded from the Infoblox Portal. However, you cannot configure multiple interfaces on a server that has either the DNS or DHCP service enabled. > 📝 If you want to configure an interface other than the primary interface, you must first connect the cable to the respective port and then configure it through the Infoblox Portal. > 📝 NIOS-X supports LAN-to-WAN and WAN-to-LAN role switching only on non-primary interfaces (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.). Role switching is not supported on the primary interface, to ensure management plane stability and uninterrupted connectivity. # Multiple Interface Considerations Before you configure multiple network interfaces for your NIOS-X servers, take the following considerations into account: - On baremetal deployments, if DNS forward proxy is running on the server and a new interface is added and configured, you must restart the DNS Forwarding Proxy service for it to listen on the new interface. - For baremetal deployments, you can configure multiple interface configuration through the Infoblox Portal only after you have changed the service traffic configuration. For example, if you want to change the interface type from WAN to LAN, you must first change the service traffic from ALL to LAN. - The interface mode will be displayed as **Unknown **for baremetal deployments because the data cannot be discovered by the Infoblox Portal. - You can use the Device UI to configure only the primary interface. You should configure the secondary interface through the Infoblox Portal. - We do not support Multiple Interface configuration update for cloud providers. - KVM does not support adding, editing, or deleting network interfaces through the Infoblox Portal. Once a KVM host is deployed, additional interfaces cannot be added. All required interfaces must be configured during the initial deployment. If interfaces are initially added in the KVM manager, they will persist in the Infoblox Portal. Even if they are later deleted from the KVM manager, they will still be visible in the Infoblox Portal. However, this does not affect the functionality of other interfaces. - NIOS-X servers do not support bond interfaces. - A network interface that has been deleted from the NIOS-X server may still appear in the Infoblox Portal. This visual persistence does not affect the performance of the NIOS-X server. Although the interface remains visible in the portal, the system correctly acknowledges that it has been removed. - On NIOS‑X servers with multiple network interfaces, routing behavior is governed by the system routing table. Network traffic may ingress through one interface and egress through another, following the route with the lowest metric. This behavior is consistent with standard asymmetric routing mechanisms. - DHCP services on NIOS‑X servers enforce symmetric routing, ensuring that packets ingress and egress through the same network interface. ## Limitations - Removal of network interfaces is not supported. If a network adapter is physically removed, the corresponding interface Custom Resource (CR) remains in the system and is not automatically deleted. Since the removed interface no longer appears in the output of the `ip link` command, configuration changes will fail, and the system will revert to the previous configuration state. To deactivate an interface, it should be disabled rather than removed. For information about how to configure multiple interfaces or modifying the settings on your servers, see *[Setting IP Interfaces](https://infoblox-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BloxOneInfrastructure/pages/119996611)*.