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Forum Discussion
Adaptive Load Balancing with GS728TP, is it possible?
I work for a company installing mostly access control, but I recently was given a job to perform using a couple dozen IP cameras, three workstations, and three recording servers. I have two Netgear ProSafe GS728TP to use on the site, and I was wondering if I should use adaptive load balancing? The recording servers and workstations all have dual NIC, and I believe there will be enough unused ports to use both NICs on all devices.
Is it possible, and is it recommended?
If so, is there instructions somewhere I could follow? I am not a sysadmin, or IT pro at all, but I would like to learn a few things along the way.
I downloaded Netgear Smart Control Center, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Is this the correct software to use for setting up these switches?
4 Replies
Hi ProofOfLife
Welcome to the Community!
Answer is yes, for sure: you are well inspired on that one. Adaptive Load Balancing can be the result of well thought Link Aggregation, or Port Channeling in other terminologies.
If your workstations and servers have multiple NICs, you can bind them - if possible, try to select LACP for best performance and failover.
Simultaneously you want to configure your Smart Managed Switch GS728TP with same Dynamic (LACP) LAGs: link aggregation groups. You will find how-to in the Software User Manual starting page 77.
LAGs are Static by default on Smart Managed Switches: if you have selected LACP on workstations and servers side, remember to select LACP as well on the switch side (LAG Type in Switching --> LAG --> Basic --> LAG Configuration).
Then you will be able to connect each workstation and each server across a LAG using two ports. Load Balancing will be effective, based on Destination MAC address hashing. This is how Port Channeling works on Smart Managed switches. This should be all right for your application, provided you don't have routing enabled on the switch with cameras, servers and access worskstations in different subnets.
Just in case and for the record: if that's the case (Routing enabled on the switch, with cameras, recording servers and viewers worstations in different subnets), then load balancing might not be effective. Packets would all have same destination MAC address, that is the Switch's routing interface MAC address. Hence, only one link would be used across the LAG. In that case, a Fully Managed switch would be needed - any switch starting M4100 cost effective series. With a managed switch, LAG hashing can be tuned using source/destination MAC address, source/destination IP address and source/destination TCP-UDP port. This way, load-balancing is effective across all links even when all packets reach the switch routing interface MAC address.
I hope this helps, let us know how it goes!
Regards,
Awesome, thanks!
Unfortunately, I have a new difficulty, which is that I cannot reach the setup page for the switch. I put my laptop in range (192.168.1.10 is what I assigned) but can neither ping the switch, or see it using the Smart Control Center.
Can anyone offer a suggestion for what I might be doing wrong? I have installed SCC on two different laptops, and have same result.
Ah, I see that I have been assuming the wrong IP address.
If, after approximately one minute, the switch does not receive an IP address from the DHCP server (or does not find a DHCP server), the switch will turn off DHCP and use the default static IP address of 192.168.0.239.
However, it still doesn't appear in SCC.
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