I have an ASUS Pro WS W680-ACE IPMI with Intel i7-14700. Onboard dual 2.5GB Nic's (Intel I225/I226 chipset). Currently bonded in-correctly as Bonding mode: Mode 1 (active-backup) - default

I would like the most input/output possible.

 

What do I choose?

 

Currently connected to a Unifi USW-Flex-XG 5 port while doing setups. Will live it's life on a USW Pro Max 48 PoE which I think supports port Aggregating (not sure).

 

Any insight to this would be helpful too.

I would not spend much efford on port aggregation, you will be disappointed by the outcome.

It does NOT speed up anything, it just ballances the connection between the two cards. This is only noticeable if using dozens or hundreds of clients that concurrently are transferring data.

"active backup" is the only "sane" setting, but it also jut helps against "dog ate the cable" or "housecleaning stripped a cable out of the wall" problems.

 

Or maybe the "its there, so why dont I activate it?" urge-to-play-around problem.

 

In short words: forget it!

 

If you really want more speed, get 10G cards&switches.

Edited March 11, 20251 yr by MAM59

Thanks for replying @MAM59. You alluded to the real reason for the question, guess I was not clear enough for my intentions.

I have no desire to go from 2.5GB to 5GB never mind 10GB even though I have the switches and card.

Ballance is the goal; going from a two lane path to 4 lane. If speed was the goal I would've went with an all flash Nas, with 10-20GB.

As for active backup of a Nic/Nas, why bother? It uses a different IP so not as easy to find. 10GB on spinning rust is a waste of money, as for port aggregation I'm not even sure what it is and what it does other than uses two ports.

 

I like your tag line and may steal it, kinda!

 

"- English is my ONLY language, so please forgive me any typos or maybe too hard words now and then..."