So I recently picked up an Intel 4 x 1 Gbit NIC off eBay and I was wanting to start using it instead of the Realtek NIC on my motherboard.

I'd really appreciate some guidance on the steps I should take, and the order in which to do things (which I suspect is critical) so I end up with a two port LAG from Unraid to my Netgear managed switch.

 

Is it preferable to just go with setting a new known static IP address for the new NIC or try to re-assign the existing static IP address - which is obviously associated with password managers for multiple docker logins etc. and possibly multiple system settings in Unraid which might (?) get broken if I change it?

 

Obviously I need to somehow try to retain a connection to the Unraid Web UI through the process of making the change.

 

This is as far as I've got:

 

1) Set up a LAG on two currently unused ports on the switch - just RTFM'd the Netgear GS116Ev2 re LAG and learned: "The switch does not support IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation or Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) groups but supports manual static LAGs only" -

 

I've seen mention of IEEE 802.3ad and LACP in other forum threads, but I don't understand what NOT having them means to me?

 

2) In Unraid network settings where eth0 is the Realtek motherboard NIC, I create a bond between eth1 and eth2 on the Intel 4 port NIC and also enable bridging.

 

3) Connect the eth1 and eth2 ports on the Intel NIC to the switch ports defined in the LAG (which happen to be ports 13 and 14 for my reference) with a couple of cables . . .

 

I assume at this point my router will assign via DHCP an IP address to this LAG as if it were one interface. (?) Also that because it obviously won't be the IP I access the Web UI through which is tied to the MAC address of eth0 that at this point I'm still able to access Unraid WebUI

 

4) No idea what to do next ? . . .

 

I just deleted three paragraphs of speculation about what might go wrong before realising it was pointless!

 

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

Just struck me that with so many having viewed this thread and no replies you're probably all thinking, "just figure it out with a bit of trial and error" - which is fair and in normal circumstances it's exactly what I'd do. However, my partner is severely disabled and very reliant on our media server for distraction from chronic pain. She can manage without for a half hour or so with a bit of forewarning, but she can't manage with me borking the whole thing for hours or days because I've done something dumb, especially if there's something I can do to avoid it - which is why I asked for help in advance here.

Hope someone can offer some guidance.

Thanks

 

Apologies in advance if this is not to your liking.

 

Let’s just say that link aggregation is messy. I have it on my old server, a quad connection to a GS1900 or something like that. It took a lot of trial and error. I did it mostly for fun, I had the hardware, my homelab did not really benefit from it and I knew that beforehand. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but based on your questions it is not entirely obvious that you know if link aggregation will benefit you enough to warrant the trouble. Just switching to the Intel NIC from the Realtek NIC would be nice now that you have it.

 

Why do you want link aggregation? Which problem/problems do you think it will solve? What will it improve?

 

In the meantime, if you insist on going through with it — How about getting a free trial of some streaming service with content your partner is happy with to buy some time to tinker with the switch and your server?

 

If you make a backup of the configuration you can go back to the current state of affairs with ease, no borking the whole thing for days. If you can’t get it working in 20 minutes, just revert to the previous configuration and use what you’ve learned to prepare for a new attempt some other time.

 

If you can use GUI mode on the server things should go smoother during trial and error.

Edited August 28, 20232 yr by gubbgnutten

Thank you very much for both your suggestions and sharing your experience with LAGs

 

I have no idea whether I need a LAG or not. Part of it is just that I have these ports doing nothing so thought to put them to some use. The other part is that, with my partner streaming from the server, and possibly a couple of other family members doing so, simultaneously with me footling about with unraid, I thought a LAG would just provide the extra bandwidth to help everything go smoothly. It's very likely that with everything now connected by ethernet instead of the crappy wifi we've been dealing with since we moved house last year a LAG would be overkill.

 

Also since I first posted the question I've realised that it probably makes more sense to do something even further beyond my current understanding, which is to use the different ports on the Intel PCIe card for different roles instead of aggregating them, by creating VLANs: One for regular internet access, Plex streaming and SMB shares to family PCs, one for my admin access (so my admin access to Unraid, the switch and my router are all on the same VLAN to be more secure) and one to pass through to a VM.

 

This of course begs the question as to how one PC (mine) can access multiple VLANs and I think that's possible without a Layer 3 switch if my PC goes direct to a router running pfsense instead of the current off the shelf router or the layer 2 switch.

 

Much more to learn and research!