Zixi's network bonding feature enables you to divide a stream into several network channels by utilizing multiple NICs and links and then subsequently reuniting them at the Zixi Broadcaster side. For example, a 5 Mbps stream can be streamed using two links, one 2 Mbps link that uses a mobile network and another 3 Mbps Wifi network. The stream is automatically bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster side without any special configuration (as long as the Push input is defined and the two NICs are setup in the machine running the Zixi Broadcaster). Network Bonding can be used for load balancing between multiple links in the following configurations:
- Zixi Feeder with Multiple NICs to a single Zixi Broadcaster NIC - the stream is divided at the Zixi Feeder end and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end.
- Zixi Feeder with Multiple NICs to multiple Zixi Broadcaster NICs - the stream is divided at the Zixi Feeder end, sent to multiple IP addresses (each Zixi Broadcaster NIC has a separate IP address), and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end.
- Zixi Feeder with single NIC to Multiple Zixi Broadcaster NICs - the stream is sent to multiple IP addresses (each Zixi Broadcaster NIC has a separate IP address), and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end.
Using Network Bonding for Hitless Failover