RT-AX86U Pro personalize 2.5 port

[tshephard]

OK - one of my 5 year upgrades....

I am getting a RT-AX86U Pro.
Ports seem to be ID'd as 2.5, WAN, 4xLAN (1st 'Game')
I'm reading on the 2.5 port, to some confusion.

My usage is:
Not a gamer, buy cheap Fios (300M), an elder couple that ONLY ever watches a single stream together (I've seen 100M).
So, our 'outside to inside' data rate demands are rather low.

HOWEVER, I do perform LARGE (50G) file/directory backups, internal to the house, through a 'server' that has multiple 1G NICs.

I am confused that the 2.5 is NOT MARKED 'WAN'.
Does that mean that I can 'assign' it to either the WAN side or the LAN side?
(I want to assume that the 2.5 could be as I hope, otherwise why not mark it WAN?)

If I can assign it to LAN, can I then aggregate it with another LAN (as they describe for the WAN connection...)
I could see: 2 cables from my Router (aggregated 2.5 and a LAN) going to the 'server' (with 2 NICs aggregated) getting close to the max Wifi speed.

Is this a valid use, and why the 2.5 is not marked WAN?

THX guys

 

[ColinTaylor]

I am confused that the 2.5 is NOT MARKED 'WAN'.
Does that mean that I can 'assign' it to either the WAN side or the LAN side?

Yes.

If I can assign it to LAN, can I then aggregate it with another LAN (as they describe for the WAN connection...)
I could see: 2 cables from my Router (aggregated 2.5 and a LAN) going to the 'server' (with 2 NICs aggregated) getting close to the max Wifi speed.

No. Link aggregation is only possible with two connections of the same speed. Therefore you can only combine two 1GbE LAN ports.

RT-AX86U Pro - Tech Specs｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS Global

AX5700 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gaming Router, Mobile Game Mode, AiProtection Pro, WPA3, Parental Control, Mesh WiFi support, 2.5G Port, Gaming Port, Adaptive QoS, Port Forwarding

www.asus.com

I/O Ports
RJ45 for 10/100/1000 BaseT for WAN x 1
RJ45 for 10/100/1000 BaseT for LAN x 4
Five (5) 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports + one (1)
2.5G/1Gbps multi-Gig port (configurable)
-- LAN: 4xGbE (2x port aggregation LAN)
-- WAN: 1 GbE
-- WAN/LAN: 2.5G/1Gbps multi-Gig port (configurable)
-- Multi-Gig: Ability to aggregate two Gigabit LAN ports and two Gigabit WAN ports (configurable) concurrently.
USB 3.2 Gen1 x1, 2.0 x1

 

[OzarkEdge]

OK - one of my 5 year upgrades....

I am getting a RT-AX86U Pro.
Ports seem to be ID'd as 2.5, WAN, 4xLAN (1st 'Game')
I'm reading on the 2.5 port, to some confusion.

My usage is:
Not a gamer, buy cheap Fios (300M), an elder couple that ONLY ever watches a single stream together (I've seen 100M).
So, our 'outside to inside' data rate demands are rather low.

HOWEVER, I do perform LARGE (50G) file/directory backups, internal to the house, through a 'server' that has multiple 1G NICs.

I am confused that the 2.5 is NOT MARKED 'WAN'.
Does that mean that I can 'assign' it to either the WAN side or the LAN side?
(I want to assume that the 2.5 could be as I hope, otherwise why not mark it WAN?)

If I can assign it to LAN, can I then aggregate it with another LAN (as they describe for the WAN connection...)
I could see: 2 cables from my Router (aggregated 2.5 and a LAN) going to the 'server' (with 2 NICs aggregated) getting close to the max Wifi speed.

Is this a valid use, and why the 2.5 is not marked WAN?

THX guys

The Primary WAN defaults to 1G WAN. The 2.5G port defaults to LAN5 after Quick Internet Setup (QIS), or to WAN on a node with a wired backhaul.

Otherwise, set Primary WAN to 2.5G port; wire 2.5G port to modem (default WAN becomes LAN5 after reboot).

OE

 

[bennor]

Does that mean that I can 'assign' it to either the WAN side or the LAN side?

Yes it can be configured for either WAN or for LAN. Asus support has a document detailing how to configure the 2.5Gb port for WAN use:
[Wireless Router] How to set 2.5G port as WAN type?

As to your question about trying to get link aggregation or faster speed to the LAN device connected to the 2.5Gb port, see the other replies above. Generally if the LAN client doesn't have a 2.5Gb (or faster) Ethernet port then one can look into other options, like using a USB 2.5Gb ethernet port adapter if one's LAN client supports USB 3.0 (or faster) to try and get faster than 1Gb speed from the router.

Personally I have a NAS connected to my RT-AX86U Pro's 2.5Gb port even though the NAS doesn't have a 2.5Gb or faster Ethernet port.