Cheapest I have found is twice that. [edit - I'm looking at next day delivery]
Alan
July 4, 2024
57
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yep, with free delivery to the UK I just saw 29,99 pounds
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Found one for £23. I got delivered today. Now I just need to lay wires around the place 😁
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So, I tried what you suggested, FP33, but it did not work. As soon as i connected two wires between the two switches, I lost all connectivitiy from my PC - that was without connecting anything else. So, I removed the second one and it all sprang into life.
I persevered and put the second network card in and connected a second cable. My PC picked another IP address. No issues. So, I connected the second switch-switch cable again. Lost connection.
These are netgear 8 port unmanaged switches.
So, that didn't work!!!
Alan
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This is a diagram of the relevant bits of my network. The red line connected causes the PC to not see anything (and think there is no network connected).
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Full marks for the brilliant diagram, Alan! BUT, as I am obviously a bit thick, I‘d be interested to know why you need two switches.
David
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Oh dear !
Did you enable the SMB 3.0 multichannel in the NAS ?
Maybe that helps ? The SMB sorts out the splitting of the transferred data into the two channels, but I'm guessing a bit here.
I read somewhere that the ports used on the switches should be next to each other, like 1&2 or 2&3.
My switches are "managed switches" but I did not have to adjust or manage anthing to get the SMB working.
Did you use the 2 ports of the dual NIC , that's what I did. ( as compared to one cable connected to the old NIC and the second cable connected to the new NIC)It's normal that you get 2 IP adresses when there are 2 LAN cables connected to the Dual NIC in the PC
I let the router assign the appropriate IP's for the PC automatically. Worked for me without further adjustments
Good luck -
There is a lot more connected than I am showing you, plus the two switches are in two different rooms.
I don't think that has anything to do with it. I lost connection from my PC to all network services. But I did go back to one link, enable SMB3 on the NAS and then put the second cable back in - same results.
I ddn't have that - but I don't have that many spare ports (like only 1 in the switch connected to my PC) and I am loathe to start pulling cables as I have things (like cameras) accessing a second NAS all the time. But I may try it sometime.
No, I didn't. But I don't see why that should make a difference. But once again, I may try it out.
Here's a better diagram of what's around. Still not complete (it doesn't cover stuff in the lounge, kitchen or garage or any devices connected by wireless)
Alan
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What netgear model exactly? If they are truly unmanaged (no external access), then most likely you can't link them by more than one cable.
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I'm not sure, but they are just basic switches. No external access at all.
Alan
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I think I'll just send the card back. It was an interesting exercise.
Alan
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Pity it didn't work for you, looking at the complexity of the network you have I can see why you don't want to mess with it further,... "never touch a runnning system" as they say :-)
I have different hardware, but I saw other reports of people getting a Synology NAS working with SMB 3.0 to a PC through a switch and doubling their speed too. Maybe having two switches is a different case?
...at least it was interesting ;-) -
I sympathise with Alan. As I remarked earlier, this topic is an excellent example of the rabbit hole syndrome, and I am reminded of a newspaper cartoon that I found pinned to the wall of my office when I started a new job 40 years ago. This shows a man standing in a deep pool of water, with the immortal caption: When you are up to your arse in alligators, it is hard to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp.
In my recent case, it was not a question of the multiplication of switches, but of having to rebuild from scratch the maze of mains leads in a single room, complicated by the fact that I have only two available outlets, and a 1kVA transformer that feeds a separate 110v network of a printer, a scanner, a multichannel audio receiver/power amplifier, an NTSC VHS player, and several nTB had drives. At this point I am proud to announce that the addition of a UPS has enabled me to liberate two dis-boards; but I still have to connect four major A-V components. I am getting there, and have hoovered up a lot of detritus in the process, for which the name dust would be a euphemism.
If Alan would let me know what software he uses to draw his superb diagrams, I might record my network for my future reference.
David
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Thinking a bit more about this,... for SMB multichannel to work you need two (or more) separate paths for the data from the NAS to the PC. Your situation is complicated because there are 2 switches on route. The suggestion to connect two cables bewteen them seemed clear but that obviously doesn't work :-( ... apparently it creates data loops and the switches can't handle that.
A nicer solution would be to use only one switch with longer cables, but there are good reasons why that soloution is not doable in your case, which leads to a third alternative, if you haven't sent the NIC back already.
---> adding a small third switch to provide those 2 needed data paths like this:
You have the cables already installed, the new switch avoids any data "looping" problems and you'd then have two equal paths for the multi channel connection.
Maybe you even have an old 1G swicth laying around ?
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Hi David,
Working on computer networks certainly does seem like going down the rabbit hole. When I started to improve my network about a month ago, I soon found that the little knowldge I had gained when I set mine up last time, several years ago had been superseeded by technolgy advances and I'd forgotten most of it anyway. The NAS was something completely new for me. I also had a few setbacks in that month but solved them all in the end, step by step.
Reminds me of the cartoon asking "How do you eat an elephant?",....with the answer "One bite at a time" :-) -
It's just Visio.
Alan -
Oops - too late. And yes, I do have a third switch (I have 3 spares in case one dies). But not the dual port NIC -that went back about an hour ago.
Alan
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shame. I should have got up earlier today ;-)
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Thanks. I see it is part of MS Office, which I dont have. There is alao competitor, Lucidchart, which claims to be even better. I shall investigate.
David
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How about this dia-installer.de/
Alan
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Just reading through all the threads that I don't normally check and this one brought back an old memory.
My first network, to connect a tower case I had bought to retire spinning drives to (~ 750MB - 16GB), was the old 10Mbs coax. I was quite proud to get it working and be able to seamlessly transfer / back up files which I had previously done with 1.44MB floppies... I am sure some of you have been there...
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Yes. When I worked at DEC, we had 10mb/sec ethernet running over co-ax and then thin wire ethernet with make before break connections. I had 3 vaxes at home (don't ask!) and my own thin wire home network.
No wireless in those days, of course. That came much later.
Alan
