Network Interface Card question

[StormEye]

I have recently gotten a network switch, and I would like to use link aggregation to boost my speed to connect to the NAS that is capable of doing 4 port link aggregation.

 

I was looking into getting something like Intel E1G44HTBLK Server Adapter I340-T4, but I have not idea whether this is actually even compatible with my PC as it's name says server adapter.

 

I hope someone can give me some pointer on what to get for a NIC to use in my scenario.

 

Thank you.

[SnafuPossum]

Yes as long as you have a pci-e slot open it will go into your computer. even though you can use link aggregation, is the nas setup to a point where the network is the bottleneck and not the drives inside themselves or the drives on your computer if you plan on copying files back in forth?

[tt2468]

That nic will work just fine. The question is, does your switch support LAG? Usually if it is labeled 'smart' or 'managed' it will support LAG. When setting up LAG, the switch needs to be configured too.

[StormEye]

Yes, both my NAS and Switch are capable of Link Aggregation.

 

NAS is QNAP TS-853 Pro

Switch is Linksys LGS318

 

The max read/write seems to max out at about the 1gbps, which is what the ethernet port of my PC is capable of (I think its for most people anyway, unless those with 10gbps port). So I am trying to see what I can do to get over the bottleneck.

[SnafuPossum]

What kind of raid do you have, because if the raid is setup for redundency instead of speed, you will not gain to much considering the drives write speed is probably sitting around 120-160MB/s and a 1gbit port nets 125MB/s so are you willing to spend hundreds of dollars just for a little gain? 

 

Now if you are running a ssd nas or raid 0 or similar raid that adds speed on top of redundency its a different story

[StormEye]

~snip~

Currently I have populated my NAS with 4 X Western Digital 6TB NAS, and will be adding in more as I go. With 4 drives running at RAID 6, its giving me around 110~120MB/s write to the NAS.

 

So I think there should be some more improvements if I fully populate my NAS with drives in the future. I have read somewhere that with 8 bays, I should be able to get somewhere around 300+'ish write speed to the NAS. Of course, this may be completely wrong, and feel free to give me a correct answer on this one.

 

Also, the NAS I got has a feature to add SSD to use as a cache, so if there is absolutely no way to add additional speed significantly over my current state, I can go that route.

 

I am just looking into options to better utilize all my equipment to best of its potential. And I can spare extra budget on tech hardware, so I am not restraint much on hardware budget.