So far, all the switches I've seen that support 802.3ad ALSO have management. There is a protocol in nic bonding that provides for automatic switch detection of bonded lines but I have not used it. <br><br>The short answer is yes, you will need to manually setup which ports are the bonded ports on the switch. However, there are bonding protocols that don't require a special switch mode. Modes 5 and 6 don't require a switch with 802.3ad.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:29 PM, Greg Freemyer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:greg.freemyer@gmail.com">greg.freemyer@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
>From what I think I hearing / reading:<br>
<br>
The NAS could have 2 Gbit NICs connected to a switch and in turn that<br>
switch could be connected to a single NIC on a client machine.<br>
<br>
At that point the single NIC becomes the bottleneck, but if it is a<br>
good NIC it should be able to run faster than 60MB/sec.<br>
<br>
But if the PC has 2 NICs, they two could be connected in a bonded mode<br>
(ie 802.3ad) and possibly run even faster.<br>
<br>
==> Question: Then do all relatively new gigabit switches support<br>
802.3ad bonding, or do I need to get a managed one, etc?<br>
<br>
If a managed one is required, do I have to manually setup the ports to<br>
do bonding, or is it automatic once it is enabled for the whole<br>
switch?<br>
<br>
Thanks<br>
<font color="#888888">Greg<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 1:07 PM, Greg Freemyer <<a href="mailto:greg.freemyer@gmail.com">greg.freemyer@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Network Guru,<br>
><br>
> I've done lots of work with 100 Mbit, but not much performance testing<br>
> with 1Gbit/sec Ethernet.<br>
><br>
> I'm looking at the QNAP TS509 NAS unit (reviewed at<br>
> <a href="http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30549/75/1/1/" target="_blank">http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30549/75/1/1/</a>).<br>
><br>
> It is running Ubuntu internally (customized I'm sure).<br>
><br>
> Per the last page of the review, it shows max. read throughput at<br>
> about 56 MB/sec. (via what client?)<br>
><br>
> But one gets the impression, that it is the Ethenet link that is<br>
> limiting the speed, not the disks/CPU.<br>
><br>
> And from the post <a href="http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=492" target="_blank">http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=492</a><br>
><br>
> One reads that load balancing via LACL (802.3ad) allowed at least one<br>
> TS509 user to get 87 MB/sec with a single client workstation.<br>
><br>
> And with two clients, the user is claiming 62 MB/sec per client simultaneously.<br>
><br>
> == questions<br>
><br>
> 1) With a single socket, does 1 Gigabit ethernet tend to max out at<br>
> only 60MB/sec or so? Or is that more likely a limitation of a Windows<br>
> client PC?<br>
><br>
> 2) If I get a LACL (802.3ad) compliant switch, do I just need 2 cat5<br>
> cables from it to my NAS and my client machines get accelerated via a<br>
> single gigabit connection? Is the answer OS dependent?<br>
><br>
> 3.1) In particular, I have a Fedora box I want to connect and get as<br>
> much throughput to/from the NAS as possible. Will I also need to<br>
> implement load-balancing on it via LACL?<br>
><br>
> 3.2) And what about XP? Vista?<br>
><br>
> 4) For my Fedora box, do any of the performance tests even mean<br>
> anything for this NAS, since they were testing via Windows clients.<br>
><br>
> Thanks<br>
> --<br>
> Greg Freemyer<br>
> Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist<br>
> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer</a><br>
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<br>
--<br>
Greg Freemyer<br>
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