MP All Models cMP 802.3ad LACP Configuration to Synology NAS

[theMotoMan]

Hi all.

I have a Synology DS920+ NAS that I have connected to my 2009 Mac Pro. I have a GS308T Netgear Switch connecting the two and both pairs of Ethernet ports are in their own 802.3ad bond. All of that seems good and no errors.

My real question is about obtaining higher throughput from my Mac Pro to the NAS. I really thought I was going to be getting 2x1Gb over the link and would be able to get faster time machine backups, etc. It seems that when I examine the port statistics via the Netgear web interface, that macOS is just sending packets out one port when doing large file copies etc. Is there a way to tweak the macOS port aggregation setup to do a round robin between the two ports when transmitting?

Thanks in advance!

 

[theMotoMan]

I'm going to post this into the networking area to see if there are any suggestions from there.

 

[CptSky]

LACP will not increase the maximum throughput of a link between two endpoints. A SMB connection will still be able to use only one interface at a time. What LACP would allow is for your server to talk with multiple clients without splitting the throughput of one interface because multiple interfaces would be available.

I know recent versions of SMB supports a multichannel feature, but as far as I know, it was still in experimental stage in Samba the last time I checked (and Synology uses Samba).

I have a similar setup (2013 Mac Pro, GS108T Netgear Switch and Synology DS1817+) and although I haven't disabled LACP, I came to the conclusion that for my needs, it was not worth it (at least on the Mac Pro side).

 

[theMotoMan]

LACP will not increase the maximum throughput of a link between two endpoints. A SMB connection will still be able to use only one interface at a time. What LACP would allow is for your server to talk with multiple clients without splitting the throughput of one interface because multiple interfaces would be available.

I know recent versions of SMB supports a multichannel feature, but as far as I know, it was still in experimental stage in Samba the last time I checked (and Synology uses Samba).

I have a similar setup (2013 Mac Pro, GS108T Netgear Switch and Synology DS1817+) and although I haven't disabled LACP, I came to the conclusion that for my needs, it was not worth it (at least on the Mac Pro side).

Yes, that is the conclusion that I am coming to - not worth it on the Mac pro side. Considering returning the switch and go back to my unmanaged switch and use Adaptive Load Balancing on the NAS.

 

[theMotoMan]

LACP will not increase the maximum throughput of a link between two endpoints. A SMB connection will still be able to use only one interface at a time. What LACP would allow is for your server to talk with multiple clients without splitting the throughput of one interface because multiple interfaces would be available.

I know recent versions of SMB supports a multichannel feature, but as far as I know, it was still in experimental stage in Samba the last time I checked (and Synology uses Samba).

I have a similar setup (2013 Mac Pro, GS108T Netgear Switch and Synology DS1817+) and although I haven't disabled LACP, I came to the conclusion that for my needs, it was not worth it (at least on the Mac Pro side).

I did a little testing today. Copying two large files simultaneously, from two different Macs resulted in a max throughput of about 120MB/s. Switched back to the Syno Active Load Balancing setting on the NAS and cabled it to my unmanaged switch and did the same test. This time I got about 240MB/s max and it copied the data in just over half the time. Single file copy was about the same speed. Returning the managed switch and putting $65 back in my pocket.