In this tutorial, we’re going to look at how to setup Synology NAS network.
I believe the three things you will do when you get a Synology NAS are definitely to install the hard drive, plug in the network cable, and connect the power supply. We’ve written about hard drives before, so today we’ll talk about the network. In fact, the network setup of Synology NAS is relatively simple, you only need to plug in the network cable and connect to the router, and then you can start surfing the Internet. However, sometimes, someone will encounter problems because their homes may be large, with more devices and multiple routers involved.
Where is the most scientific place to connect the NAS?
In order to let all the devices in your home can easily access the NAS and avoid the restrictions of the network segment, I recommend that you connect the NAS connected to the first router/optical cat in the broadband home, and then connected the other routers to AP mode access. If your first router network port is not quite enough, you can actually consider another whole switch, but it can solve the interface problem and also break through the router transmission performance bottleneck to improve LAN transmission performance.
After configuring the network, you can start to surf happily, but other problems may appear at this time.
Why does my NAS drop out from time to time?
A: This is likely to happen because the IP address of your NAS is conflicting with other devices. It is known that routers have DHCP service, which can automatically assign IP address to the connected devices. When setting the fixed IP of the NAS, remember to stay away from the DHCP range of the router to avoid conflicts.
Click [Control Panel] > [Network] > [LAN] > [Edit] to set the fixed IP address manually.
After fixing the stable access, a new problem comes up.
What to consider if the LAN transfer speed doesn’t seem to be good
A: NAS is equipped with Gigabit LAN port as standard, so you can follow the tips below to optimize the LAN transfer performance of NAS if the hard disk performance is not a problem.
Tip 1: Configuring a Gigabit Network Environment
A good horse needs a good saddle. To have gigabit speed, the router also needs to have gigabit. In addition, because the router also needs to provide other services at the same time, there are still bottlenecks in transmission performance. If you want to improve, or feel that a new router is not very cost-effective, you can add a separate gigabit switch behind the original optical cat to set up a gigabit network environment quickly.
Tip 2: Choose the right network cable
Another important part of building a network environment is choosing a network cable. A Gigabit network requires at least Cat5+ (Super Category 5) or Cat6 (Category 6) cable.
Tip 3: Link Aggregation
If you have a NAS with two or more ports and often access large files from multiple devices. For example, if you have people streaming HD video at home, but you need to access important files at the same time, the transfer speed is often not as fast as you would like. For better transfer performance, link aggregation is the answer!
What is link aggregation?
Link Aggregation is a computer networking term that refers to the aggregation of multiple physical ports together to form a logical port to achieve load sharing of outgoing/incoming traffic throughput across member ports, with the switch deciding which member port to send network packets from based on a user-configured port load sharing policy.
Functions of link aggregation
1. Link aggregation can increase link bandwidth. In theory, by aggregating several links, the bandwidth of an aggregated port can be extended to the sum of the bandwidth of all member ports, which effectively increases the bandwidth of a logical link.
2. Link aggregation provides that reliability to the network. When link aggregation is configured, if a member interface fails, the physical link of that member interface will switch traffic to another member link.
3. Link aggregation also allows for load balancing on an aggregation port. An aggregation port can spread the traffic over several different member ports and send the traffic to one destination through the member links, minimizing the possibility of congestion generated by the network.
Modes of Link Aggregation
Link aggregation can be divided into manual mode and LACP mode.
1. Manual Mode
In manual mode, the establishment of Eth-Trunk and the joining of member interfaces are configured manually, and LACP is not used for negotiation between systems. Under normal conditions, all links are active links, and all active links participate in data forwarding and share the traffic equally. If an active link fails, the link aggregation group automatically shares the traffic equally among the remaining active links. In manual mode, in order for the link aggregation interface to work properly, it must be ensured that all member interfaces in the local link aggregation interface are joined through the same device on the opposite end. There is no message interaction between devices, so it can only be confirmed manually by the administrator. The device can also only determine whether the peer interface is working properly through the physical layer state.
2.LACP mode
LACP mode is a link aggregation mode using LACP protocol, where devices interact with each other through Link Aggregation Control Protocol data units (LACPDUs) to ensure that the opposite end is the same device and a member interface of the same aggregation interface through protocol negotiation. the LACPDU messages contain system priorities such as device priority, MAC address, interface priority and interface number. In LACP mode, the number of active interfaces selected by both devices must be the same, otherwise the link aggregation group cannot be established, and one end can be made the active end, and the other end (passive end) selects the active interface according to the active end.
How to setup link aggregation on Synology NAS？
To implement link aggregation, you first need to connect the two network ports on the NAS to the two LAN ports on the router or switch. Then select the appropriate aggregation mode on the NAS. Here I recommend two aggregation modes, which you can turn on according to your needs and environment.
1. Adaptive load balancing
It is easy and fast to open, no router support is needed. Just select [Adaptive Balanced Load] in [Control Panel] > [Network] > [LAN] > [Add] > [Create Bond] and follow the wizard to aggregate two paths.
Once done, the NAS will automatically adjust the policy for the traffic, but the shortcoming is that the rate of improvement is more limited.
2. Dynamic Link Aggregation
This mode requires router or switch support, IEEE 802.3ad (dynamic) Link Aggregation (LACP, 802.1AX) in order to achieve. After the corresponding function is enabled on the router or switch, the settings on the NAS are similar to the above, just select [IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation] at the end and follow the wizard to finish.
The effect of Dynamic Link Aggregation can be simply understood as combining two channels into one, forming two gigabit networks into one two-gigabit network and significantly increasing transmission performance.
Conclusion – How To Setup Synology NAS Network
After understanding the tutorial, isn’t it easy to set up a Synology NAS network? I hope this tutorial helped you. Try setting up your Synology NAS network using the tips presented above and let your Synology NAS transfer speed take off.
Enjoyed this tutorial? Then be sure to check out our this guide of the Best 10GbE NAS.
