Network Aggregation on a Home Built NAS

[Macfox38]

Hello,

Im currently going through the process of working out a build for a NAS that im making out of a 12th gen Intel system and i need some help picturing the connection to my home router. I have a Netgear RAX 120 that does support aggregate ethernet connections on 2 of its 1Gbps ports and i would like to take advantage of it. My MOBO has a 1GB LAN connection already built in. I will be using TrueNAS and i know it will support the aggregation on that end. 

 

So here is the question:

Since im gonna be using TrueNAS is it a matter of just adding a single 1Gbps expansion card or should i be adding a card with 2x1Gbps ports? 

 

Or am I missing something entirely. I am new to this so i do not have the highest of confidence level in my own skill

[Electronics Wizardy]

If your goal is to speed up file transfers I'd use smb multichannel. Then don't need switch support and can speed up a single transfer. You should be able to just add a second nic on both device then setup in software.

 

But with 2.5g getting cheap I'd be tempted to just go 2.5/10gbe 

[Macfox38]

14 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If your goal is to speed up file transfers I'd use smb multichannel. Then don't need switch support and can speed up a single transfer. 

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with SMB multichannel. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Macfox38 said:

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with SMB multichannel. 

It basically lets you have multiple network interfaces that send streams of data to increase the transfers speeds. Each interface gets its own IP and you don't need any setup on network switches.

[Macfox38]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

It basically lets you have multiple network interfaces that send streams of data to increase the transfers speeds. Each interface gets its own IP and you don't need any setup on network switches.

Ok so if I'm understanding this right. I would need to add an additional NIC on both my main PC and on the NAS.

 

Would I need to do anything in my router setup?

[FloRolf]

tbh Link aggregation is always shit. I tried it a hundred times and never got a decent result. 
SMB Multichannel is much easier or just get a 2,5/5/10G NIC and Switch directly for both NAS and PC. 

[Macfox38]

19 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

tbh Link aggregation is always shit. I tried it a hundred times and never got a decent result. 
SMB Multichannel is much easier or just get a 2,5/5/10G NIC and Switch directly for both NAS and PC. 

So the switch needs to be isolated from the router or just between the NAS and PC and the router?

Sorry for the million questions but im just trying to get the clear picture as it were

[Electronics Wizardy]

53 minutes ago, Macfox38 said:

So the switch needs to be isolated from the router or just between the NAS and PC and the router?

Sorry for the million questions but im just trying to get the clear picture as it were

Really depends on your network layout. You can run a 10gbe connection directly. Or you can get a 2.5gbit switch and connection both devices to the switch and the switch to the rest of the network.

[Macfox38]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Really depends on your network layout. You can run a 10gbe connection directly. Or you can get a 2.5gbit switch and connection both devices to the switch and the switch to the rest of the network.

And i would want this connected to the rest of the network. Im planning to store media on the NAS aswell

[LIGISTX]

10 hours ago, Macfox38 said:

And i would want this connected to the rest of the network. Im planning to store media on the NAS aswell

What do you “need” faster then gigabit for? What is the use case of this NAS, and what drives will be in it? 
 

For reference, I run a TrueNAS box with gigabit to my network, and a direct 10gig fiber link from it to my PC which is where I do photo editing and light video work. This allows me to grab or dump data to and from the NAS as fast as possible, I see peak transfer rates of about 2.5-5ish gigabit over SMB. Thats about as fast as my 10x4TB z2 array can go… and that’s with 50GB of RAM for ARC, with ARC only spanning ~6TB of my data which theoretically helps the hit rate % as a large chunk of my data is never accessed and is entirely sequential and doesn’t need speed at all. 
 

All this to say, your use case and your hardware will drive a lot of these choices. I ran my NAS on gigabit from 2015 until earlier this year, and honestly it wasn’t that big of a difference for me since my use case isn’t all that complex and I don’t do photo work super often. Gigabit is mostly fine, but I wanted to play around with some fiber. You likely don’t need faster then gigabit to your entire network, but that is just a generalization based on what most folks are doing with their home NAS’s. 

[Macfox38]

10 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

What do you “need” faster then gigabit for? What is the use case of this NAS, and what drives will be in it? 
 

For reference, I run a TrueNAS box with gigabit to my network, and a direct 10gig fiber link from it to my PC which is where I do photo editing and light video work. This allows me to grab or dump data to and from the NAS as fast as possible, I see peak transfer rates of about 2.5-5ish gigabit over SMB. Thats about as fast as my 10x4TB z2 array can go… and that’s with 50GB of RAM for ARC, with ARC only spanning ~6TB of my data which theoretically helps the hit rate % as a large chunk of my data is never accessed and is entirely sequential and doesn’t need speed at all. 
 

All this to say, your use case and your hardware will drive a lot of these choices. I ran my NAS on gigabit from 2015 until earlier this year, and honestly it wasn’t that big of a difference for me since my use case isn’t all that complex and I don’t do photo work super often. Gigabit is mostly fine, but I wanted to play around with some fiber. You likely don’t need faster then gigabit to your entire network, but that is just a generalization based on what most folks are doing with their home NAS’s. 

To be honest, do i really need the extra speed? No. Am i curious about this kind of stuff and like to tinker? Yes.

 

I know i don't really need the super speed. My main intension of this NAS is back up and media server, and gigabit speed is more than sufficient, but at the same time I love to mess with this kind stuff and its things like this that make me love tech soo much. 

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, Macfox38 said:

I know i don't really need the super speed. My main intension of this NAS is back up and media server, and gigabit speed is more than sufficient, but at the same time I love to mess with this kind stuff and its things like this that make me love tech soo much.

Thats a totally fair reason, and that’s good attitude to have regarding homelab. But worrying about networking speed, imo at least, is pretty far down the list of things that are meaningful from a NAS. I would spend that energy on learning how to virtualize things, or at a minimum run containers and or VM’s in truenas (scale, don’t try core for this), get into home automation, or managed networking, etc. 

 

Those are all things that will likely have more day to day impact on your life then faster then gigabit networking. Obviously to each their own, which is why homelab is so great, but I think some of those things are way better value both from a learning perspective, but also from a tinkering and hobby perspective. Google “home assistant”, and you can be busy tinkering endlessly