How to make the most of 2 NICs?

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kiwifidget

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#273266 13-Aug-2020 15:11

Hello.

I have installed Win10 on a PC that has 2 gigabit NIC's on the motherboard.

I also have a Drobo 5N2 NAS with 2 gigabit NIC's.

The NAS has been set up so that it's 2 NICs look like 1, with 1 IP address.

The WIN10 PC has had Intel ANS installed, and it's 2 NIC's set up as an IEEE something Dynamic Aggregated Link.

All 4 ethernet cables are plugged into the same switch, a TP-LINK TL-SG108.

I was hoping to see increased throughput when using the PC to move files from one folder on the NAS to another, but alas, not to be.

It was about 60MB/s before I set up the NIC-team on the PC and it is no different after.

Do I need a better switch? Or did I have the wrong idea from the outset?

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#2540280 13-Aug-2020 15:14

You typically won't see any performance improvement unless you're multi threading file transfers, or if both devices support SMB 3 multichannel

You will probably also be limited by the drives in your drobo

A switch will make no difference

mentalinc

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#2540283 13-Aug-2020 15:16

if you setup a "team" it will use LAC? i think but, you can move two files faster, but not 1 file faster.

you still only have 1 gigabit. each file gets sent via one NIC basically.

Want faster files, need to move to 2.5, 5 or preferable 10Gbit nics.

Plus unless you have SSD in the NAS or lots of RAID then not going to be much faster than 120MB/s

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kiwifidget

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#2540289 13-Aug-2020 15:22

So.... I need a program that does multi-threaded file transfers?

I'm just using File Explorer.

It is painful having to wait for one file to finish moving before I can kick off the next one, and there are hundreds of files that need to go into their own dedicated folder, so can't just CTRL-A and move enmasse.

Is there at least anything that lets me "queue up" a bunch of cut and pastes and then let rip while I do something a tad more productive?

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hio77

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#2540296 13-Aug-2020 15:34

TL-SG108 is a standard dumb switch, so it won't support any link aggregation. Would not surprise me if your actually creating a little broadcast swarm there.

If your already peaking at 60MB/s then even 1Gbit is plenty.... the limit is before you even get to the number of ports.

SMB3 Multichannel is still pretty buggy on non linux systems last i checked too.

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kiwifidget

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#2540302 13-Aug-2020 15:44

Thanks everyone.

Pretty clear I will not be able to move files any faster than I currently am.

Now looking to work smarter....any ideas?

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Jase2985

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#2540306 13-Aug-2020 15:48

remove the 2 extra network cables

create the folders on your computer., move the files to them, and when you are done just copy all the files to the NAS and walk away.

kiwifidget

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#2540317 13-Aug-2020 15:58

@jase2985 Thanks, I shall give that a go, so tedious at first but may save time in the long run?

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#2540319 13-Aug-2020 16:03

you should be able to copy all your files more quickly on the local computer then doing a bulk transfer means you only have to do it once to the NAS

nztim

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#2540357 13-Aug-2020 17:12

With out a properly configured Trunk Group / LACP / LAG you are opening yourself up to a world of pain

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kiwifidget

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#2540359 13-Aug-2020 17:16

@nztim thanks, this already feels like a frying pan - fire situation 😆

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networkn

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#2540363 13-Aug-2020 17:36

Jase2985:

remove the 2 extra network cables

create the folders on your computer., move the files to them, and when you are done just copy all the files to the NAS and walk away.

This, 100 times this :)

Teracopy allows you to queue jobs as well.

shanes

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#2540433 13-Aug-2020 18:35

nztim:

With out a properly configured Trunk Group / LACP / LAG you are opening yourself up to a world of pain

I get ~112MB/s between my NAS and desktop over Gigabit, the OP's 60MB/s will either be a subsystem that is a bit lacking, or maybe something to do with the network.

It will be interesting to see if his speed improves with a single link setup.

kiwifidget

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#2540448 13-Aug-2020 19:16

If I am transferring a file from PC to NAS or vice versa, then yes I get about 110MB/s.

But in this situation I am using the PC to move files from one folder on the NAS to another folder on the NAS.

So am I right in saying the file path is actually NAS - PC - NAS which is why the speed is reduced?

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cyril7

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#2540453 13-Aug-2020 19:24

Hi, if you do the transfer within the NAS's web file manager then surely its all internal.

On another note, wrt to Static or LACP Lags, depending on the number of devices, the best way to improve performance and get best lag traffic distribution is to use layer4 hashing on both the switch and the NAS itself. This will show up wiht SMB3 multistream transfers that use multiple streams via multiple ports to move stuff, but you need both the switch and NAS to use L4 hashing that may/will include MAC/IP/Ports or in some cases just IP/Ports into the hashing algorithm.

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#2540543 13-Aug-2020 21:07

kiwifidget:

If I am transferring a file from PC to NAS or vice versa, then yes I get about 110MB/s.

But in this situation I am using the PC to move files from one folder on the NAS to another folder on the NAS.

So am I right in saying the file path is actually NAS - PC - NAS which is why the speed is reduced?

If you're just copying files on the NAS using the NAS explorer then files will stay local on the NAS. Obviously your constraint reading and writing at the same time on the same drives or array will be drive throughput which is not unlimited.

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