Need advice on LAG and my router/NAS/switch setup

[ckronengold]

Newbie to setting up a more 'intricate" network than plug-and-play. Sorry if this is a dumber question than it seems.

- Synology 1515+
- TP-Link SG1016DE
- Asus RT-AC88U

I'm looking to maximize throughput on my network. I understand that LAG (static LAG) is the way to do this with my current equipment, as not all of it supports LACP anyway.

- I know I can bond Port 1 & 2 together on the router.

- I know I can bond all 4 ports on the NAS. But I'm unclear if I should use Adaptive Load Balancing or Balance XOR. I don't believe I can use Dynamic Link Aggregation because the switch doesn't support it.

- I can bond up to 4 ports in a "trunk" on the switch.

My question is what is the best way to physically connect these devices to maximize throughput, and what are the best settings?

Since the NAS and the switch can both use 4 ports for LAG, I believe I should run the 4 synology ports directly to the switch, and need to have the LAG set on both sides (trunk on the switch, bonded on the NAS).

Should I leave the router out of the equation? Or is there a benefit to setting up a second trunk between two additional ports on the switch with the two ports of the router? Is that totally redundant? Would that create a loop in the switch that would cause it to fail?

Thanks for your help in understanding this.

-CK

 

[degrub]

unless you have multiple client streams accessing the server at the same time, there is no point with LAG. It was designed to increase server responsiveness under high number of clients not high bandwidth for a single client.

 

[ckronengold]

I do have multiple client streams. The NAS is basically storage for my music and video files that are being shared via Plex Media Server and AssetUPnP and BubbleUPnP throughout my house as well as remotely.

I'm serving 4 Rokus within the house, plus an HTPC, Ubuntu server, two wired desktops, two laptops, and a handful of tablets and phones. Trying to load balance multiple streams coming off the NAS simultaneously.

 

[ckronengold]

Bump? Anyone else?

Just trying to understand how best to set up my network. NAS to the switch? 2 LAN from the NAS to the switch and 2 to the router?

 

[abailey]

How do you use your router? Is it also your wireless AP? If so what speed is it? Do you run any wired clients through the router, or do they connect directly to the switch? What is your internet speed? These questions need to be answered before one could suggest whether LAG to the router would help any. As far as your NAS, it depends. Even if you were using all 4k streams at 50Mbit/s you would have to have 20 simultaneous streams to max out a 1Gbit connection. LAG is not exactly what it seems. It is not a perfect system. It is possible to have two or more devices streaming content from your NAS and they all use the same connection. That's one reason why you don't see many people use LAG in a home environment. In a business environment where you can easily have 20 or more clients simultaneously accessing resources, LAG works well, even if it can't balance things perfectly, with that many clients you can be assured that some of them are using a different link in the LAG group. If you just want to try it, I say go ahead. But you might want to limit your LAG group to 2 connections and not 4. This is simpler overall and much simpler to troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

 

[ckronengold]

How do you use your router? Is it also your wireless AP? If so what speed is it? Do you run any wired clients through the router, or do they connect directly to the switch? What is your internet speed?

- My router handles DHCP and assigns IP addresses to my devices, and acts as my 5G access point. I'm currently using a second router as my 2.4g wi-fi access point because my homerun is the basement of a 3 story house.

- Only 1 outlet is connected directly to the router. Everything else is connected through the switch, but this is part of the question I'm trying to better understand. What makes the most sense to connect to which devices?

- I have Fios Gigabit

As far as your NAS, it depends. Even if you were using all 4k streams at 50Mbit/s you would have to have 20 simultaneous streams to max out a 1Gbit connection. LAG is not exactly what it seems. It is not a perfect system...If you just want to try it, I say go ahead. But you might want to limit your LAG group to 2 connections and not 4. This is simpler overall and much simpler to troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

- Grouping 2 connections is certainly an option. I'm trying to understand if it would matter in my setup, and I appreciate you shedding some light on it. Seems like even in my most active times, I wouldn't really be hitting any technical limits. But you're right. I do want to try it just for the sake of it.

Synology has their own version of LAG, called Adaptive Load Balancing, which doesn't require any setup on any switches. Just turn it on and let it handle itself. So I'm still curious if I should use the ALB vs more traditional LAG.

Lastly, regarding switches in general, when you run a 5-port desktop switch to a single ethernet port on the wall, does that kill any benefit of running LAG on 2 or more of the ports?

Thanks so much for your insight!

 

[coxhaus]

Before you turn on LAG or what ever, setup your network using single ports and get the feel of it, that way you will know if you make improvements or not.

Yes running LAG into a small switch which has only 1 upload port will be defeating the purpose. So you will gain no benefit using LAG. When you use LAG to gain bandwidth it needs to flow all the way.

 

[System Error Message]

Before you turn on LAG or what ever, setup your network using single ports and get the feel of it, that way you will know if you make improvements or not.

Yes running LAG into a small switch which has only 1 upload port will be defeating the purpose. So you will gain no benefit using LAG. When you use LAG to gain bandwidth it needs to flow all the way.

I run LAGG regardless of whether there may be a benefit or not . Truthfully having it ready if you are able to is far better than not. The price at which i get cat6 cables are pretty low.

 

[coxhaus]

I run LAGG regardless of whether there may be a benefit or not . Truthfully having it ready if you are able to is far better than not. The price at which i get cat6 cables are pretty low.

LAGG chews through a lot of switch ports especially if you are using 4x. I think it is better used when it is well planned out.