JTheNASBuilder
Dabbler
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2014
- Messages
- 28
I've had my FreeNAS setup for about a year now and I've only had a single NIC active on the server. For relevance it may be I'm running a SuperMicro X8DTH-iF board (which has an Intel 82576 dual gigabit NIC onboard).
My question is this: would I derive any benefit at all from using both ports on the NIC if I don't have an advanced managed switch in my house? I did some reading on this subject on and off the forum before posting this question but everything I came across talked about enabling link aggregation and the specialized switch hardware you want to pair it with. What I didn't come across was any info about what happens if run the setup *without* a high-grade switch on your home network.
Is there any point to plugging in both NICs if you don't have a switch that can handle any sort of hardware based link aggregation?
Further, if it *is* the case that there is no point in plugging both NICs into a plain old consumer grade 16-port gigabit router, is it worth upgrading my switch to take advantage of it? The primary (99.99%) use of my FreeNAS unit is serving up HD video to approximately 6 streaming units around the house but rarely more than 2 of them simultaneously.
My question is this: would I derive any benefit at all from using both ports on the NIC if I don't have an advanced managed switch in my house? I did some reading on this subject on and off the forum before posting this question but everything I came across talked about enabling link aggregation and the specialized switch hardware you want to pair it with. What I didn't come across was any info about what happens if run the setup *without* a high-grade switch on your home network.
Is there any point to plugging in both NICs if you don't have a switch that can handle any sort of hardware based link aggregation?
Further, if it *is* the case that there is no point in plugging both NICs into a plain old consumer grade 16-port gigabit router, is it worth upgrading my switch to take advantage of it? The primary (99.99%) use of my FreeNAS unit is serving up HD video to approximately 6 streaming units around the house but rarely more than 2 of them simultaneously.