Okay, this may get confusing as I talk about it because I'm a newbie to computers and dont know all the correct terminology and such and just trying my best......

 

So my Unraid server uses motherboard Asus x99 Deluxe II and it has two lan ports which are supposed to be able to used individually. Apparently you can configure one to be incoming and one outgoing, or too different switches, routers, etc. I dont know exactly what all can be done.....but here is what I'd like to do.

 

If possible should it be possible to configure one as incoming and one as outgoing and get a actual switch that my server and shield and router connect into. Then have the outgoing lan point to my Shield so that its more of a direct connection.

 

Is something like that possible? I obviously dont know much about networking  lol

After further reading.....thought 2.....forget a switch. Since I have 2 ethernet cards, can I just hook one up directly to my Shield? I can still connect everything else to the Shield using wifi.  This way since all of the content the Shield plays is on the Unraid, wouldnt this be the best connection and I dont have to worry about my router bogging down because its doing so much. (Often the router cpu is pegged at 100% and it starts choking) Seems like I could eliminate everything elsething else in the house from potentially messing with the Shield/Unraid connection.

 

ALSO - I'm thinking of getting a new router that has link aggregation where you can combine two lan ports and together get 2gb connection then I can connect them to my two ethernet ports and I THINK is basically treats it all as a single ethernet connection that is 2gb. I wouldnt be connecting to the shield directly that way, but I suppose it might be better for when I am additionally serving content/files to other devices besides the shield. I suppose this way might be better but I'm not really sure.

 

Not sure what is best.

 

Edited September 15, 20205 yr by SPOautos