Configurating dual Ethernet connections simultaneously.
Configurating dual Ethernet connections simultaneously.
I have a switch linking my desktop and NAS. My internet speed is 1Gbps. Yes, it's 1Gbps—I can download from Google Drive at roughly 70-90MB/s. The issue is that my single Ethernet port on the motherboard is limiting me while I'm downloading torrents and copying files to/from the NAS. I'm curious if my NIC card has two 1Gbps ports. Will the card be able to handle one port for torrent downloads and another for copying files to the NAS, or could both streams end up using just one port?
With a managed switch, you can configure LACP to manage incoming data and distribute it evenly between the two ports. Pair it with OS NIC teaming so outgoing traffic also gets balanced, delivering up to 2Gbps capacity. On an unmanaged switch, NIC teaming works for independent load balancing on the device itself, but traffic not started by your PC might not balance correctly.
Thanks for the prompt reply. @Windows7ge I'm running a standard Synology NAS with two bays and a single 1Gbps connection. After learning about LACP, it looks like I can handle two transfers at 1Gbit each, but not a single transfer at 2Gbits. Since I only have an unmanaged switch, the decision comes down to saving money and effort versus investing in a managed switch with LACP support, or upgrading to a 10Gbps NIC and switch.
Bear in mind that in the best case scenario, you'll get the switch to hash the PC<-->NAS over one of the PC's GigE links, and the PC<-->Intardwebz over the other GigE link. There's no guarantee that the switch will actually hash that way though, and you could be left with one of the GigE links in the bundle getting no traffic while the other is full. 802.3ad bundles are best used with a many-to-one. Those scenarios provide the switch far more to hash over and it's more likely you'll get an even distro across the links. Single 10GigE is the better solution. Mikrotic 5 x 10GigE switches are stupid-cheap, you'll just need to add some SFPs.
After careful thought, I’ll begin with the MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN at roughly $125. The SFP+ transceiver is a bit tricky for me right now. I see options for RJ45, fiber (multimode/single mode), and DAC. Generally, the RJ45 tends to be the priciest of the three. Another factor is the NIC—I’m leaning toward an SFP+ model since I’ll already have an SFP transceiver.