Dual LAN port question

[OuterMarker]

First off, I know very little about networking. I have two PCs each with dual LAN ports and an 80TB server with 2 LAN ports. Each port is connected to a 24 port switch. I know using 2 ethernet ports will not increase my bandwidth, but is there any benefit to file transferring within my home network? Will connecting the server and PCs with 2 ethernet cables allow me to transfer files between them any faster or am I simply wasting cables?

[Xanthe_2871]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there is no benefit unless you use special software...

 

Something like this?

 

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

If you set them up right, using both of them will indeed increase your bandwidth. What it will not do is increase the bandwidth for single session/transfers. So, it could allow you to have two 1Gbps transfers going at once, but it wouldn't give you 2Gbps of bandwidth for a single transfer. 

 

This changes though if you're using software that is compatible with SMB Multichannel, in which case using both of them can give you 2Gbps of bandwidth for a single session/transfer. SMB Multichannel, if enabled and supported, should technically work automatically as long as you have both of them plugged in. So far though, it's not really well supported and getting it to work is a bit hit and miss. You'd need to check if the software on your PC and the server support it. 

 

The most common way of using multiple ports at once is Link Aggregation, normally through LACP (link aggregation control protocol). This requires a managed switch in order to work, as you need to set LACP pairing for the ports on the switch. There's loads of guides around for setting up LACP. It will likely be most benefitial on your server, as it would allow for multiple 1Gbps transfers between different PCs. 

 

Even if you're not doing it for performance. using two ports can be useful for redundancy. If you set them up in a failover mode, if one of the ports or cables breaks, it will automatically switch over to the other one and keep working. 

[bcguru9384]

30 minutes ago, OuterMarker said:

First off, I know very little about networking. I have two PCs each with dual LAN ports and an 80TB server with 2 LAN ports. Each port is connected to a 24 port switch. I know using 2 ethernet ports will not increase my bandwidth, but is there any benefit to file transferring within my home network? Will connecting the server and PCs with 2 ethernet cables allow me to transfer files between them any faster or am I simply wasting cables?

have you bridged the lans?

this help with data latency if multiple users/files are transfered 

[bcguru9384]

3 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

If you set them up right, using both of them will indeed increase your bandwidth. What it will not do is increase the bandwidth for single session/transfers. So, it could allow you to have two 1Gbps transfers going at once, but it wouldn't give you 2Gbps of bandwidth for a single transfer. 

 

This changes though if you're using software that is compatible with SMB Multichannel, in which case using both of them can give you 2Gbps of bandwidth for a single session/transfer. SMB Multichannel, if enabled and supported, should technically work automatically as long as you have both of them plugged in. So far though, it's not really well supported and getting it to work is a bit hit and miss. You'd need to check if the software on your PC and the server support it. 

 

The most common way of using multiple ports at once is Link Aggregation, normally through LACP (link aggregation control protocol). This requires a managed switch in order to work, as you need to set LACP pairing for the ports on the switch. There's loads of guides around for setting up LACP. It will likely be most benefitial on your server, as it would allow for multiple 1Gbps transfers between different PCs. 

 

Even if you're not doing it for performance. using two ports can be useful for redundancy. If you set them up in a failover mode, if one of the ports or cables breaks, it will automatically switch over to the other one and keep working. 

if your using windows likely you need install smb service

add programs then add components

should be under network if click details

 

[IrwinAllen13]

Before enabling any of these features, i do strongly encourage that you read more about LACP and SMB Multichannel.

 

Here are two great links that can get you started (simple wiki page)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Message_Block

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn610980(v=ws.11)

 

As stated above, these are not simple tasks and can require a bit of work to get up and running. Linus just makes it look easy when he does it.