link aggregation

[mr moose]

Is it possible to use link aggregation with off the shelf network cards and an un-managed switch?

 

The scenario is I have one computer with several 6.7GB folders that occasionally need to be copied to 4 computers at the same time across a bog stock 10/100 switch. I was hoping if I used 4 ports and link aggregation I might be able to get transfers speeds to 4 computers similar as if I was only transfer to one. 

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

 

[JAKEBAB]

I think you need a switch that supports it and even then i think you can only use 2 ports (don't quote me though)

[Darren]

Don't think a 10/100 switch would be capable of LAG. Just go get a Gigabit switch, they're cheap as.

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

No you need a smart or a managed switch.

To have aggregation working you will need a nic that has more than one port.

Link aggregation was designed for high network loads with lots of trafic rather than single file transfers so it's possible you would find that the one transfer will still only go out one port.

Different switches have different Support for this with regards to how many aggregate links it supports and how many ports you can have in an aggregate. If you allready have gigabit nic's in your pc's just get a cheep gigabit switch and leave it at that. You would probably find it more expensive and more effort to setup in the first place for little gain compared to your standard unmanaged gigabit switch.

[flexin1981]

just to add on KTFO.

 

Lag was always designed for multiple host traffic, so most of the time a single host lag will not benefit from the increase number of ports. This is due to the link algorithm only using the source mac to determine which link to use from the bundle and therefore will always only really use the one link anyway.

 

You can find some switches that support IP/port hashing which would give you a more even spread across the links but this is still not true load balancing.   

[mr moose]

cheers guys,  I'll probably just leave it and try to transfer the file to one pc at a time instead.  

[mr moose]

just to add on KTFO.

 

Lag was always designed for multiple host traffic, so most of the time a single host lag will not benefit from the increase number of ports. This is due to the link algorithm only using the source mac to determine which link to use from the bundle and therefore will always only really use the one link anyway.

 

You can find some switches that support IP/port hashing which would give you a more even spread across the links but this is still not true load balancing.   

 

Want to select your answer too but IP board only allows one answer.

 

Just curious why some websites say to connect single servers to switches using lag if it doesn't improve bandwidth?

[flexin1981]

Want to select your answer too but IP board only allows one answer.

 

Just curious why some websites say to connect single servers to switches using lag if it doesn't improve bandwidth?

 

Redundancy would be one answer, also It can improve bandwidth on some switches, like I say it would depend on the switch that you have and the hashing that it uses to calculate the link. This tech was only really for inter switch communication where you have multiple hosts traversing a trunk between switches. 

[mr moose]

Thanks.