SMB3 Multichannel

[Dennis Wood]

Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 now include SMB3 multichannel.

You can now double (or triple, quadruple etc) effective bandwidth, with zero configuration at the switch or the network cards. IF you have dual lan, just plug two cables into any switch. Keep in mind this only works if you're using Windows 8.1, or Server 2012. Samba's implementation of SMB3 does not have this feature set yet, so this won't work with most NAS units, unless they are running 2012 storage server.

It works quite nicely.

You can read more here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/...ature-of-windows-server-2012-and-smb-3-0.aspx

1.1. Benefits

SMB Multichannel allows file servers to use multiple network connections simultaneously and provides the following capabilities:

Increased throughput. The file server can simultaneously transmit more data using multiple connections for high speed network adapters or multiple network adapters.
Network Fault Tolerance. When using multiple network connections at the same time, the clients can continue to work uninterrupted despite the loss of a network connection.
Automatic Configuration: SMB Multichannel automatically discovers the existence of multiple available network paths and dynamically adds connections as required.

 

[azazel1024]

Its been in since Windows 8, not just 8.1.

But, yes, it is very nice. I've been running a pair of Cat5e links between my switch (TP-Link SG2216) and my desktop and switch and server for about a year now. It allows me to push/pull around 240MB/sec between the computers, RAID array allowing.

Pretty seamless. It only works with the same pipes though (you can't do wired and wireless, or GbE and fast ethernet paired up), and there might be additional caveats to that too. I have it working on a pair of Intel Gigabit CT NICs in both machines. I haven't verified running the onboard NICs (realtek in both machines) plus the Intel NICs to see if that'll work. I did try running it with the onboard Realtek GbE NIC in my laptop and a USB3 GbE adapter on the laptop and multichannel was not working, though at the time I was having some USB3 chipset driver issues. I haven't tested it since resolving the driver issues.