link aggregation 2 vs 3 vs 4

[Enquiries]

Hi there, love your site!
So I just bought the Synology 1522+ and am curious about link aggregation having never used it. I am looking at at the netgear gs308T switch to help offer what I need but have two questions....

a) is it helpful to use 3 or 4 of the ethernet ports on the NAS vs just 2? What would the benefits be?
b) if my computer and the remainder of my network is not setup with link aggregation and other switches in the house with computers are not LA compliant, is it worth the time and money to set it up at all?

I work directly off the nas in graphic design software like photoshop and Illustrator and dreamweaver, along with another computer, as well as will host videos (using Synology Video Station)

Thanks!!!!!!
Again love the site!

[TribalHound]

NAS with multiple LAN ports have several different configuration options.
The simplest is to use 'Virtual Switches' and then bind different services to each port. Giving you multiple channels (and multiple IP addresses for your NAS, but each specific function / application has their own connection. So if you're running a VM you can assign it it's own dedicated LAN at full port speed, and another port for a different VM and maybe you host a website, so that can have it's own - or share with a VM.

When setting up link aggregation it's advisable to keep them in pairs (or multiples of 2). Each pair can be used as above like a single line or there are other options.

Option 1 is to aggregate 'together' as a main line + spare line, so if one fails the other takes over. In a domestic setup, usually if one network line has a problem it tends to be a whole network issue, so this is generally pointless at home.

Option 2 is to link them - now 2x1GBe ports doesn't give you 1x2GBe ports. The NAS is smart, and alternates traffic. If one is busy it uses the other - each request to transmit data (unless it's bound to a port) gets managed by the NAS as to which line to send it. So now you have two requests, getting the same speed, but simultaneously.

You don't need Link aggregation on the rest of the network for this to work, but what you do need is the capacity to handle this extra traffic.

There is no point having two 2.5GBe NAS ports link aggregated to a switch that has a single 1GBe port to your router. The NAS will do as you ask, and even send traffic down each line, but it'll bottleneck further along and backup.

If you're working directly off the NAS, you may get more benefit setting a virtual switch to Ethernet Port 2 and plugging your PC/Mac into that 1GBe direct. Or link aggregate two ports 3 & 4 to a faster switch, then a single 2.5GBe line to your PC/Mac, but only really if you have greater than 1GBe port on your PC/Mac.

Watch this video Robbie posted https://nascompares.com/guide/guide-to-2...-switches/
It might give an additional insight, if you haven't already seen it.

Hope this has been helpful