Switch-to-router link aggregation 4 ports

Status
Not open for further replies.

jazzop

Distinguished
May 21, 2009
17
0
18,510
Equipment:
HP Procurve 4000M managed switch with multiple GbE modules
Linksys CG6300 Cable gateway with 4 GbE ports
(I don't think it's relevant to mention anything else connected to the switch, but I have multiple servers each with highly capable/configurable dual NICs)

Questions:
1. Since the gateway router is consumer-grade and has limited configurability, can I use switch-side configuration settings to bond/aggregate/trunk 4 ports to the router's 4 ports? In other words, is trunking/aggregation possible without the router also having this configuration option?

2. Can someone point me toward the right protocols and terminology that will let me conduct meaningful research on the web? The lexicon of port aggregation is very fragmented and inconsistent, and I'm getting frustrated with dead-end searches. My switch manual uses the term "port trunking", and it supports SA/DA, SA-trunk, and FEC. I suspect that SA-trunk is my only option with this basic router.

Why do I want to do this?

1. To learn more about advanced networking in the process.
2. To minimize all bottlenecks in my network, just because.
 
The industry standard is called 802.3ad.

Both ends really need to have the feature to make any use of it.

Still in a home environment it is likely a waste of time.

First the only reason traffic would go to the router would be to go to the internet. Even if the router could handle that much traffic you will be extremely lucky to get a internet connection that even runs 1g. Now if you were to use the switch to run to your servers you could for example run 2 servers with 2 bonded nics. The problem is because link aggregation does not load balance by packet you will still be limited to using a single connection between the servers even though they have 2.

What this feature is really used for is a central server that has many different client machines connecting to it. Just out of pure luck it will load balance over both connections. Because 10g does a much better job you do not see link aggregation even being used in commercial installation...other than for a high speed link backup protection.

Still unless you have actual servers built to transfer data quickly your disk subsystems will likely not be able to put out more than 1g of traffic anyway.
 
The Linksys is there to provide you Internet access does it not? If you don't have a 10gb ISP service, there is no need for it to talk to the switch with a bigger pipe. There is no bottleneck here.

That kind of bandwidth is usually needed WITHIN your LAN and specifically say between a file server and the switch because you may have a bunch of users hitting that server simultaneously. But yeah you need BOTH ends of the connection talking 802.3ad.
 

Kewlx25

Distinguished
You're not going to gain anything having a connection to your router that is faster than your Internet connection. Well, there are situations, but only when your Internet connection because a substantial portion for your LAN speed.
 

jazzop

Distinguished
May 21, 2009
17
0
18,510
Come on, folks. Why is the default response to advanced questions always something like "You don't need to do this. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along, now."? I never said I expected bandwidth gains from my ISP; I'm not that stupid. Is it not sufficient to say that I want to do this as a learning experience? Fine, I'll give you two more reasons:

1. The router has direct-attached storage.
2. All wireless connections are made to the router.

There is heavy network traffic involving multimedia, both internet-based and locally hosted. I also plan to host applications over the LAN. Some clients connect only wirelessly, which makes the router a critical node for LAN traffic.

Yes, I plan to acquire more WAPs and run ethernet to other rooms in order to shift traffic to copper vice wifi, but until the money tree has another crop, I get to play with the toys I have.

I have learned since my OP that HP uses the term "trunking" in a different way from other manufacturers; basically this is "port aggregation" without VLANs. The switch documentation describes a trunking option called "SA-trunk", which only uses the source address to assign the physical link. They also describe this as a less efficient method, but useful for connecting to appliances that do not support trunking. This is pre-802.3ad device, so there may be some oddities in the implementation.
 

dijkstrajim

Honorable
Aug 4, 2018
2
0
10,510
Hi Folks.
Is there anyone knowing more about, and has info detailed knowledge on link aggregation ...without... usage of the 802.1ad standard.
This is what the one starting this topic is asking about....after all, before (official) release of the 802.1ad standard (not the wifi standard obviously) there where already possibilities to combine ports on LAN to increase bandwidth...
Would someone be so kind to provide insights and into details info to this?
How does it work, what does it do, how does it connect in the backend...what are the pros and cons to using this vs 802.1ad (one that was made clear...likely no balancing on package level)


Also, a wrap up with how to setup explanations would be apriciated.



Side note, inventory and related info. (If ya know what I got you likely are better capable to provide advice and setup which likely help others in here)
For me, I am looking into setting up 2 and 4 port bonding on my network....same deal, limited or no 802.1ad availability.
Limited on funds(other stuff to buy goes first like storage for 4 port NAS TVS-873e, 1-2x m.2 SATA 2280/2260(storage acceleration/cache, 1-3x 3.5/2.5 10TB or larger fastest possible HDD drives, 16TB preferred(4Kn, 512Kn or regulairs? and what is the difference in regards to performance, care for high IOPS/database file speed the most...feeling dumb on this one, one used to know the answer), already got (to be checked formatted and setup) 2x2TB HDD.
Will soon have a 4 port cable modem/router, own a Cisco linksys E4200 v1 (which will likely become a bridged access point for wifi (and LAN) or guest wifi access point/network.
NAS will eventually be setup and practiced with to direct connect 3 USB ports to be setup as storage devices to 2 routers....still need to buy 1 router...can't decide which one. (Which will allow spread of computational load of device storage and networking bandwith limitations thus more bandwidth availability on the LAN, next to server and possible router, a NAS is a storage device after all)
1 TV, 1 tablet, 1 phone, ROG gaming PC...fastest one...10 years ago Haha.
If possible...the router FTP trough USB will be setup as LAN some how. (Not sure yet how they would be used, idea is more bandwith and computational power utilized with limited hardware, use what I got, and not waste what is already sitting there...routers, modems/routers, mobile devices and NAS are more power efficient then an old gaming PC after all)



Irrelevant...just wondering...PM or start new post.
One thing I have been wondering forever, why does only the internet became the place for mining data.....
Why did consumers not get the availability and access to computing acceleration by sharing it across available devices (on) LAN....the internet would benefit because everyone would want to have faster internet and LAN connections....leading to a global growth spur of the WWW and the global networking infrastructure.
Not to mention...having the availability of computational acceleration across power efficient devices already active and online...would on global scale increase power efficiency as well.....
What is the point of mining on a global scale if home users cant take this to there advantage on there own devices and network.
Add GPU memory to each SSD and HDD...
Add OpenGL and other standards to a combined new one....
Utilize it for computational acceleration on any available consumer device.
And we all get to enjoy more out of less.
After all,...in the end this could benefit AI implementation due to the need for GUI provided QoS and prioritization and problem analysis and solutions.

BACK TO TOPIC.


Thanks in advance, would love to learn more and setup RJ45 LAN connection bonding. (Info on connection bonding with non 802.1ad devices are VERY welcome)
Same goes for off topic(in PM ofcourse) internet connection bonding possibilities with Gb/s webhosting/VPN setups. (Got 2...possibly up to 6 or even 8 local connections available in the future)


BTW;
Dont see myself using 10Gbit/s...NAS has 2x USB C 3.1 type A connectors on PCIe card tho.
More likely add card with OpenGL/Computational or CPU. PCIe 3.0 Card, with either 2xNIC or 2-4x NVMe storage. (Yet to find a card with 1-2x RJ45, CPU/OpenGL acceleration ...like the Intel cards... and 1-2x NVMe storage capability combined)


Greeting gaming and computational geek.


Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.