XGS1210-12 Link aggregation with Synology DX-513

jw2k_fr
jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
First Comment Friend Collector
in Switch
I picked up the XGS1210-12 as I liked the specs - the 2.5GbE ports, plus the SFP+ sockets and, (most importantly), the option of link aggregation in the latest firmware.

I connected things up and booted my Synology with it connected to ports 1-4 on the XGS.  I've tried to get link aggregation configured to give me more than 1Gbps throughput (I'm not interested in redundancy.)

I've done a fair bit of reading on aggregation on the XGS1250-12, and found this posting where @Zyxel_Melen says the following:
However, one traffic flow goes one physical port and the maximum speed on one physical port is 1Gbps, so the maximum speed you see on the screen when sending the files will still be 1 Gbps.
As I understand it, one of two aims of link aggregation is to be able to increase bandwidth for file transfers.  Hence, 4x1Gbps links aggregated should be able to deliver more than 1Gbps transfer speed.

The Synology offers the following link aggregation options:
 - adaptive load balancing (no support needed on switch)
 - IEEE802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation
 - Balance XOR (802.3ad v1)
 - Active/Standby (fault tolerance only)

With the latest firmware {V1.00(ABTY.6)C0} there appear to have been some updates to Zyxel's link aggregation functionality.  However, I have not been able to get it to offer any more than 1Gbps transfer speed.

Is it possible to do what I am looking for, or do I need to send this switch back?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Accepted Solution

  • jw2k_fr
    jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
    First Comment Friend Collector
    Answer ✓
    I connected three of the NAS Ethernet ports to the XGS1210 in ports 1-3 (port 4 empty) and connected the fourth NAS port to my security gateway so that I have failover connectivity to the NAS.

    When I try - IEEE802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation with either DA or SA the NAS reports:
    1000 Mbps, Full duplex, MTU 1500, Failed to establish IEEE 802.3ad connection.

    When I try - Balance XOR (802.3ad v1) with SA the NAS reports:

    3000 Mbps, Full duplex, MTU 1500
    ... however, there is no change to throughput, transfers still max out at 113mbps

All Replies

  • Zyxel_Melen
    Zyxel_Melen Posts: 2,654  Zyxel Employee
    Zyxel Certified Network Engineer Level 1 - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Administrator - Switch Zyxel Certified Network Administrator - Nebula Zyxel Certified Sales Associate
    Hi @jw2k_fr,

    Welcome to the Zyxel community!


    The NAS may deliver more than 1Gbps transfer speed because of the Round-Robin, which is the protocol normally be seen in Linux OS (ex. NAS, PC). It uses load balance to split one flow into different interfaces to increase the throughput. But for the network environment, the packets should transmit by orders. To split the packet flow may result in out-of-order packets, which in turn can cause a lot of traffic to drop. The bandwidth result might not be as expected. For NAS or PC, maybe it is not a big issue. But for switch, to integrate more interfaces will make the issue worse.

     

    To avoid this kind of issue, the link aggregation of switch uses load-sharing to split the traffic by source/destination, to insure the completion of packet transmission. When transmitting from multiple clients through switch to NAS at the same time, switch will also allocate them to different interfaces, to share the whole LAG bandwidth, to really achieve the aggregated throughput. So for your scenario, we suggest using LAG with SA option in XGS1210 to increase the upload throughput from PCs.

     

    If there is any unclear or questions, please feel free to let us know.


    Zyxel Melen


  • jw2k_fr
    jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
    First Comment Friend Collector
    Zyxel_Melen said:

    So for your scenario, we suggest using LAG with SA option in XGS1210 to increase the upload throughput from PCs.

    Thank you.  Which of the four modes on the NAS is likely to work with that?

    I'm guessing either:
     - IEEE802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation
    or
     - Balance XOR (802.3ad v1)

    Thanks
  • jw2k_fr
    jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
    First Comment Friend Collector
    Answer ✓
    I connected three of the NAS Ethernet ports to the XGS1210 in ports 1-3 (port 4 empty) and connected the fourth NAS port to my security gateway so that I have failover connectivity to the NAS.

    When I try - IEEE802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation with either DA or SA the NAS reports:
    1000 Mbps, Full duplex, MTU 1500, Failed to establish IEEE 802.3ad connection.

    When I try - Balance XOR (802.3ad v1) with SA the NAS reports:

    3000 Mbps, Full duplex, MTU 1500
    ... however, there is no change to throughput, transfers still max out at 113mbps
  • jw2k_fr
    jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
    First Comment Friend Collector
    Secondary issue...

    I'm seeing intermittent but regular failures for one or more ports on the NAS to pick up a DHCP address through the Zyxel switch - I often get a 169.x.x.x autoconfiguration address. 

    If I connect all NAS ports via another switch or directly to my UniFi Dream Machine Pro, they pull an IPv4 DHCP address every time.
  • jw2k_fr
    jw2k_fr Posts: 8  Freshman Member
    First Comment Friend Collector
    No need to dig into this any further, I ended up returning the switch and have gone all UniFi to make management easier

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