Newbie confusion between unmanaged and managed switch speeds

[Exponential]

OK That's megabits per second (Mbps). That is diabolically bad. A Gigabit Ethernet connection is 1000 Mbps and 2.5GbE is 2500 Mbps. While 70 Mbps might be understandable if you're connecting over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi that doesn't explain why you said you were getting 100 Mbps over a wired Ethernet connection.

You still didn't answer my other question, "Is it exactly 100 or is it approximately 100?". If it's exactly 100 Mbps that could imply you have a cable fault and it's only operating at 100BASE-T.

Diabolically bad! hahahaha. Great!! I've spent a small fortune on this and it's diabolically bad!

No, the transfer rate moves up and down quite frequently and is not stuck on 100 Mbps. It tends to fluctuate between 30 - 80 Mbps.

I am clearly out of my depth here guys so I will explain how I'm transferring these MKV's so maybe you will have a better understanding of what is going on here.....

I am using my laptop which is on the 2.4Ghz band and is yet to be hardwired.

The MKV files are being ripped from a Blu-Ray drive which is connected to my laptop via USB.
I have created a shared drive in windows which mirrors the Shared drive in the NAS containing my BluRay rips for PLEX.
I am transferring the MKV file directly from the Blu-Ray reader to the shared Q: drive.
My NAS contains 4 x Toshiba N300 7200rpm NAS HDD's but I also have 2Tb of Read Cache and 2Tb of Read/Write Cache. (if this even makes a difference)?
Does this have anything to do with my WiFi?

I have tried transferring from the BluRay reader to a USB stick then transferring that to the NAS physically but found the transfer rates to be failry similar that I cut out the middle-man and transferred direct to the NAS instead.

This is the perfect case of "all the gear no idea" for sure!!

 

[Exponential]

It looks like Fast Ethernet to me!

I remember LAN speeds like this 15 years ago.

Oh god shoot me now!!

I thought I was great until you stepped in!!!

 

[Exponential]

Oh and I thought I would add that I have the NAS set to 9000 MTU as apparently, both the NAS and QNAP QSW - M2108r - 2c support this but to be honest, there seems to be no difference between 1500 and 9000.

 

[Tech Junky]

there seems to be no difference between 1500 and 9000.

Because you're using 2.4ghz and not wired nor using anything that supports 9k frames or pushed enough data to make a difference yet.

If you switch to 5ghz and push multiple files it should bump things up a bit. With the sabrent rip a few beforehand so you have a good chunk of data to push over to the nas while wired up.

 

[Exponential]

Because you're using 2.4ghz and not wired nor using anything that supports 9k frames or pushed enough data to make a difference yet.

If you switch to 5ghz and push multiple files it should bump things up a bit. With the sabrent rip a few beforehand so you have a good chunk of data to push over to the nas while wired up.

WOW!!! The speed has just quadrupled on 5Ghz!!

 

[Exponential]

Ahhh. I'm starting to understand now. Because I am ripping to the laptop from the reader, the ONLY way for that data to get to my NAS is via WiFi as my laptop is not physically connected to the network.
So it goes from my laptop to my router then through the switch to the NAS so I am never going to get anywhere near high speeds because the bottleneck is the WiFi.

Is that right?

I'm a 44 year old electrical engineer and I don't understand basic internet stuff!!

 

[Exponential]

I have a bit of a confession to make here....getting faster speeds is quite addictive!!

I'm now looking at the layout of my kitchen wondering how I'm going to run ethernet cables everywhere without the wife going mental!

 

[Tech Junky]

bottleneck is the WiFi

Doesn't have to be. If you have a recent ADL/RPL laptop you can use the AX411 WiFi card and hit up to 1.5gbps when combining both bands. That sabrent adapter will make WiFi look like child's play though. 250mbps though is a bit slow for 5ghz unless you're using 40mhz channel width. If you bump it to 160 you would get about 1gbps over WiFi.

WiFi right now until the next release could be enough for now and wired when you really need the speed. The next release will double max speeds to about 3gbps or so.

 

[Tech9]

I'm a 44 year old electrical engineer and I don't understand basic internet stuff!!

You have installed an industrial transformer in your backyard because someone told you it's better.

This is what 10GbE switch with 100Mbps traffic through it is... in electrical engineer friendly language.

 

[Exponential]

You have installed an industrial transformer in your backyard because someone told you it's better.

View attachment 48419

This is what 10GbE switch with 100Mbps traffic through it is... in electrical engineer friendly language.

Hehehehe. Tickled me that mate.

I have a tendancy to go "all-in" and then wonder afterwards why things aren't going the way I planned.
Weird thing is that, when planning electrical installations, I am super precise with the final projected outcome for the client so why do I not follow my own rules at home??

 

[Exponential]

Doesn't have to be. If you have a recent ADL/RPL laptop you can use the AX411 WiFi card and hit up to 1.5gbps when combining both bands. That sabrent adapter will make WiFi look like child's play though. 250mbps though is a bit slow for 5ghz unless you're using 40mhz channel width. If you bump it to 160 you would get about 1gbps over WiFi.

WiFi right now until the next release could be enough for now and wired when you really need the speed. The next release will double max speeds to about 3gbps or so.

I think, to optimise my transfer speeds, I will need to run a cat6 to my laptop on the kitchen. Shouldn't be too difficult really.

I will order the Sabrent as I feel it would benefit me for my business and of course for personal reasons.

As far as my 5Ghz band is concerned, these are my current settings:

Should I change the channel bandwidth as most items on the 5Ghz band are modern items.

The future of WiFi is quite exciting really. Extreme speeds are coming for sure!!

 

[eightiescalling]

You have installed an industrial transformer in your backyard because someone told you it's better.

View attachment 48419

This is what 10GbE switch with 100Mbps traffic through it is... in electrical engineer friendly language.

This is just asking for a thread of analogies to suit different experiences and backgrounds!

I like it though!

 

[Exponential]

This is just asking for a thread of analogies to suit different experiences and backgrounds!

I like it though!

 

[Exponential]

Ok, so here's a weird thing.

Yesterday @Tech Junky suggested I switch to using the 5Ghz wifi band for higher speeds during my MKV rips and it worked a charm.
This morning however, I'm on the same 5Ghz band but the speeds are back to the 2.4Ghz levels I was seeing yesterday.

How strange? I havn't moved anywhere so the signal will be the same. Very odd.

 

[Exponential]

And now it's back to over 177Mbps again. Oh well, must just be a network bandwidth thing.........

 

[Tech Junky]

How strange? I havn't moved anywhere so the signal will be the same. Very odd.

Form your router settings capture you're allowing the router to auto pick a channel. It might have picked something different due to signals around you and it's slower. I had the same issues with some channels being slower. When enabling 160mhz on my AP though or automatically goes to manual channel selection.

Grab a WiFi analyzer app for your phone and scan the channels to see what's in use around you. Selecting something other than channel 36 should yield different speeds. I found for me channel 40 works best. I tried all of the lower and higher channels to find the best speed and stability. By default in the auto setting it will use 36/1xx as those are the non overlapping options. Chances are it's floating between the two options and when it's on the higher channels it's going to be slower or less stable.

The other thing that plays into it is the WiFi card in the laptop. If you'd havent upgraded the card there's a good chance it might not do 160mhz bandwidth. If you upgrade to an AX210 card you unlock more speed. For about $30 and 5 minutes of your time to swap it out could get you higher speeds over WiFi.

 

[Exponential]

Form your router settings capture you're allowing the router to auto pick a channel. It might have picked something different due to signals around you and it's slower. I had the same issues with some channels being slower. When enabling 160mhz on my AP though or automatically goes to manual channel selection.

Grab a WiFi analyzer app for your phone and scan the channels to see what's in use around you. Selecting something other than channel 36 should yield different speeds. I found for me channel 40 works best. I tried all of the lower and higher channels to find the best speed and stability. By default in the auto setting it will use 36/1xx as those are the non overlapping options. Chances are it's floating between the two options and when it's on the higher channels it's going to be slower or less stable.

The other thing that plays into it is the WiFi card in the laptop. If you'd havent upgraded the card there's a good chance it might not do 160mhz bandwidth. If you upgrade to an AX210 card you unlock more speed. For about $30 and 5 minutes of your time to swap it out could get you higher speeds over WiFi.

I think I am going to run a spare Cat6 from the router to the kitchen instead with a Sabrent USB ethernet adapter connected to the PC.
This way, I will achieve maximum transfer speeds over a wired connection with the WiFi being the fallback.

I have just watched a review on YouTube by LON.tv where he compared the 5Gbe and 2.5Gbe Sabrent adapters and found that the 2.5Gbe was the better bet as the USB port speed limits the transfer speeds so you cannot fully utilise the full 5Gbe. Makes sense really as the output from the switch is a 2.5Gbe output anyway. The 2.5Gbe is half the price of the 5Gbe and I'll be able to fully utilise the speeds.

 

[Tech Junky]

USB port speed limits the transfer speed

If you have a 5gbps port sure but, if you have a 10gbps C port it works at full speed. Without knowing all of the specs of your laptop it's just spit balling of options.

 

[Exponential]

Hi bud. I see what you're saying and, on the strength of what you've said, I've cancelled the 2.5gbe Sabrent order in favour of the 5Gbe version but there's a shortage of stock everywhere (and I don't trust Ebay) so it's going to be a 2-3 week wait. In the meantime, I will install the Cat6 to the laptop in preparation for it arriving.

If you have the time, can you go over my current and proposed set up so I don't go spending a load more money on something that won't work!!

My router is an Asus AX GT6000 and is fed from the ONT FTTP provided by BT.
It has 4 x 1Gbe ports - 1 x 2.5Gbe WAN - 1 x 2,5Gbe LAN
ONT feeds the WAN port
Current set up is LAG from ports 1 & 2 to ports 9 & 10 (Multigig ports) of the switch at 1Gbe per port.
NAS is in a LAG from ports 7 & 8 (2.5Gbe Ports) at the switch to ports 1 & 2 of the NAS.
All other devices are fed as we've previously discussed.

My plan is as follows:

Remove all LAG's from all devices.
Feed the switch (any of the free 2.5Gbe ports) from the LAN port of the router (2.5Gbe port)
Feed the NAS from port 9 of the switch (mulitgig) - Purchase a QNAP 10Gbe internal expansion card for this purpose.
Possibly utilise the other CAT6 at the NAS into port 1 of the NAS for failover??
Feed the PC from port 10 of the switch (multigig) - To the 5Gbe Sabrent USB adapter.
All other devices connected as discussed.

Yes I lose the benefit of LAG but I gain the speed in all other areas. Does this sound right to you or would you do something different??

 

[Tech Junky]

Sounds fine. You'll see what works and what doesn't once everything is hooked up. 2.5 between the switch / router makes sense to feed the laptop the best possible speeds out to the internet. It also gives you room for other traffic since your ISP speed isn't 2.5 or maybe it is / don't recall.

ONT <2.5> AX6000
AX600 <2.5> switch
Switch <10> NAS
Switch <2.5> NAS
Switch <5> Laptop

LAG's can be useful for redundancy and higher speeds but, you're wasting time / ports considering the changes you're making already to make the best use of the switch ports. Considering the port speed of the ax6000 you're making the best decision until you decide you need a faster router down the road with a 10GE port W/L.

5GE will make quick work of the transfers though to the NAS w/o the higher expense of a 10GE dongle for the laptop. Now, the only thing that I don't think we discussed is the drives and how you set them up in the NAS. Whether you went JBOD / Riad 0 / Riad 1 / Riad 10 or Raid 5. 5 won't get you a huge amount of speed but, offers more space than R1. R0 gives you tons of space and speed but, not redundancy. Raid 10 gives you a blend of both.

Looking at the specs the next potential bottleneck would be the NAS itself but, looking at https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/ts-464 shows the potential for 1.6GB/s using M2 NVME drives. For 4 x HDD though in R10 you should be about 1/4 of that somewhere in the 450MB/s range or slightly higher since they're 7200 drives. Now, that still leaves you room for adding M2's if you really need more speed but, the limiting factor is the laptop drive speed. If it's a SSD it should be plenty fast but, would cap out at ~550MB/s and even an early NVME would still be able to push 1.5GB/s though more recent drives like Gen4 can hit 5GB/s and Gen5 10GB/s.

It's a bit of a slippery slope though if you keep yearning for faster data. Like the photo of a substation you could easily end up there in the pursuit of speed. It's possible to do anything you want if your bank account supports it. There are even NAS devices that are all NVME based and then the issue becomes the network speed and you have to get creative with 40gbps cards and DAC cables. In the case of a laptop I don't think that's possible w/o using something like an external GPU enclosure to put the NIC into it for the DAC to plug in. It gets kind of silly unless you're using a desktop PC that has more expansion options. At this point you'd want to go DIY to max out the speeds you can achieve with a custom build. Rolling up the functions inside a single box breaks away from the restrictions of a "router" / NAS and opens the data bandwidth to the extent of your imagination.