Link Aggregation in Windows 10 Pro

Discussion in 'Network questions and troubleshooting' started by Lavcat, Apr 2, 2022.

  1. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    Link Aggregation, better known as Link Aggravation: I have two QNAP Intel based 2 port 10Gb NIC's on order. The idea was to pair two ports between my Windows 10 computer and my QNAP NAS. Now I learn that link aggregation is apparently not supported in Windows 10 Pro.

    I have read that Intel offers a workaround for link aggregation in Windows 10, but Intel's workaround is not at all straightforward.

    Does anyone have experience with this?
     
  2. 386SX

    386SX Ancient Guru

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    I do not understand what is linked to what.

    How many LAN ports does your W10 computer have?
    How many LAN ports on the NAS?
    What switch is used and does it understand LACP / 802.3ad?
     
  3. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    So, two QNAP 10Gb NICs. Each one has 2 ports.
    So, on the W10 Pro computer one NIC is installed, those 2 ports configured as one (Link Aggregation), and the same configuration on the QNAP NAS.
    Is this correct?
     
  4. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    There are two existing ports on the Windows 10 computer and two existing ports on the NAS. However the ports I wish to aggregate are on two new dual 10Gb NIC's that I am adding to the Windows 10 machine and to the NAS.

    There will be no switch. This is a direct connection.
     
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  5. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    Yes, thanks, correct.
     
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  6. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    Under QTS Link Aggregation is 1,2,3 done.
    Wasn't aware that under W10 Pro is such a chore
     
  7. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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  8. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    As @386SX rightfully pointed out, what switch you use and what features does it have ?
     
  9. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    As I've said, there is no switch involved. The QNAP cards are joined by two CAT8 cables.
     
  10. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    Not usual, but it's done because of having the best possible speed transfer between two machines and segregate the traffic on its own "crossover" cable/trunk connection?
    Am I assuming this correctly?
    If I'm missing something, pray tell.
     

  11. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    The other reason is I don't have a 10Gb managed switch.
     
  12. insp1re2600

    insp1re2600 Ancient Guru

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    do you have drives fast enough to appreciate 20gb aggregate? seems a waste of time.
     
  13. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    One of the drives is a Samsung 950 Pro.

    However my main concern is I want to make the remote console more responsive and run it at higher resolution.
     
  14. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    Maybe running a RAID-O with two or more NVMe SSD PCI-E gen 4 could really take full advantage of the network input data.
    Because you'll find quickly that your storage speed is the bottleneck, as @insp1re2600 suggested.
     
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  15. insp1re2600

    insp1re2600 Ancient Guru

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    would think you could do 4k res on a 100mb - 1gig connection easy.
     

  16. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    Time will tell. Meanwhile I managed to get the first NIC installed in the NAS without breaking anything. Only dropped one screw inside the chassis.
     
  17. Lavcat

    Lavcat Master Guru

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    There's an old saying: "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

    I used to have a nice working NAS. Anyhow I managed to get the second NIC installed in my Windows 10 computer. I had forgotten the slot was disabled when an M.2 drive was installed. I ended up having to remove my seldom used firewire card to install the NIC.

    Then I could talk to the NAS over the new NIC's. I was using just one 10Gb link to start with. No link aggregation. Unfortunately somewhere in the mess my iSCSI target disappeared and I lost the corresponding iSCSI drive on my Windows 10 computer.

    When I run the iSCSI app on the NAS, the app hangs and doesn't do anything. It can't even be closed.

    I thought to use a snapshot to revert to the state before I added the new NIC's but when I go to Storage/Snapshots all I get is an infinite hourglass. At least the Storage & Snapshots app can be closed. (Unlike the iSCSI app.)

    On the bright side, my Windows 11 VM is running just fine.
     
  18. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    Learning and experience happen outside the comfort zone.
    I have a homelab, which I manage to break and rebuild from scratch. Always with a new lesson learned.
     
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  19. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    And what I mean by homelab is a Dell Micro repurposed as a Proxmox server, a Synology NAS and a HP Proliant Micro Gen8 as a FreeNAS .
    All those for less money than a regular GPU.;)
     
  20. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    . double post.
     

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