LAGG / LACP / 802.11ad (?) ?

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,200
126
How does this work, exactly?

I haven't done it before. I was thinking of buying a consumer "Smart Switch", maybe a D-Link, maybe a Zyzel rack-sized. The D-link is 8 GbE ports for $40, the Zyzel is 24 GbE + 2x SFP GbE for $120.

Anyways, I think that my two main NAS units (TS-431 and TS-451), both have dual GbE jacks, and can be configured for teaming or a LAGG group.

Does the configuration happen,
1) On the device, and the device informs the switch what it wants, or
2) On the switch, or
3) Have to configure a "LAGG group" of those ports on the switch, AND configure LAGG on the device.

Which is the usual arrangement?

Edit: This all came about, because I was researching the new QNAP NAS units, the "affordable 10GbE", namely, the TVS-951X units, for $700, plus needing a 10GbE switch, 8 ports for a minimum of $600, then $300 for a 32GB DDR4 RAM upgrade for the NAS, then a mobo upgrade to a X470 Taichi Ultimate with Aquantia 10GbE built-in, and then some 10GbE Asus cards for the rest of my desktops ($100 a pop). Basically looking at dropping $3K on a 10GbE upgrade.

When I realized, I could probably just get some managed switches, and drop in some LAGG groups, to both my NAS units, and between my two main switches, and get a 2Gbit/sec upgrade for minimal cost. ($120 x2 for switches, $7-12 ea. for a bunch of 25' CAT6 cables, maybe another power strip for the extra power brick(s).)
 

PliotronX

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 1999
8,883
107
106
Qnap makes it easy and yes both the switchports and device need to be configured. The Qnap has many modes and it will have to match settings on the LAG group with the switch. Layer 2+3 offers the best performance so check first to see if the switch you end up with has this mode. I had to use 802.3ad Layer 2+3 for example to work with a UniFi switch because the UniFi switch has no option nor mention of this setting, only that ports can be aggregated (LOL).

I only use this for multiuser environments so that no single workstation can saturate the NAS, when you have a single computer in use, it will only use one of the links so you will max out at 1Gb. You would need a dual or quad NIC also aggregated to see any faster on the computer (I think).
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
Realize session data will stick to a single interface. Meaning while you have increases your theoretical bandwidth to 2Gbps or 10Gbps depending on port speed. Do not expect more bandwidth than a single port can deliver.

However SMB 3.0 and MPIO are load balancing technologies that can utilize the full bandwidth of the bonded ports.

I suggest using LACP when bonding the ports if possible.
 
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