Link Aggregation on Synology NAS: Performance vs Reality

Many people think that link aggregation on a Synology NAS is an easy way to double or triple network performance by combining several Ethernet ports into one logical connection. In real life, though, the results depend a lot on how the network is set up, what kind of workload it is, and how the switches are set up. If your business relies on centralized storage, backups, and virtualization, you need to know how the real performance impact works.

Link aggregation, which is also known as network bonding, is set up on Synology systems through DSM. It usually uses IEEE 802.3ad (LACP) or balance-based modes. These technologies are meant to make throughput more even and add redundancy, but they don’t always make individual connections faster.

What Link Aggregation Really Does

Link aggregation takes several physical network interfaces and combines them into one bonded interface. The main benefits are:

• Higher total throughput for many clients
• Better fault tolerance if a port or network cable goes down
• Better distribution of traffic in environments with more than one user

But link aggregation doesn’t automatically speed up the transfer of one file. Explore Synology NAS business file server solutions and benefits. A single client session is usually limited to the bandwidth of one physical interface. However, this is not the case when advanced protocols or multiple parallel connections are used.

What You Expect vs. What Happens in Real Life

A lot of businesses think that connecting two 1GbE ports will give them 2Gbps performance for everything. This assumption often leads to disappointment when single-user transfers stay at about 1Gbps.

What Really Happened

Link aggregation makes it easier for multiple users to access the same link at the same time, but it doesn’t speed up individual sessions. You can see real performance gains when:

• Several people can use the NAS at the same time
• Backup jobs run at the same time
• Virtual machines or containers make multiple I/O happen at the same time
• There are many services running at the same time, such as file sharing, snapshots, and replication

For workloads with only one stream, like copying a single SMB file, aggregation adds redundancy but doesn’t speed things up very much.

Link Aggregation Modes that Synology Supports

Synology DSM has a number of bonding modes, each of which is best for a different situation:

• IEEE 802.3ad (LACP) is the best choice for managed switches and business networks
• Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB) doesn’t need switch support
• Balance XOR: a static distribution based on hashing MAC/IP
• Active/Standby: This mode is more about redundancy than throughput.

LACP is the most popular choice in business settings, but it needs the right switch settings to work right.

When Link Aggregation Is a Good Idea

Link aggregation is useful when used in the right way:

• File servers for offices or creative teams with more than one user
• Backup targets that get data from a lot of endpoints
• Storage virtualization for more than one hypervisor
• Workloads for hybrid cloud sync and replication, Understand hybrid cloud integration for improved NAS performance.

In these cases, aggregation stops bottlenecks and makes the system more responsive overall, even if the individual sessions stay the same.

When Link Aggregation Doesn’t Work

Link aggregation alone is not always the best answer in these situations:

• Fast file transfers for one user
• Workloads that are sensitive to latency
• Places where managed switches aren’t used
• Modern workloads that need a steady stream of multi-gigabit data

For these situations, 10GbE or multi-gig Ethernet upgrades often give more clear and reliable performance improvements.

Things to think about when it comes to security, resilience, and backups

Link aggregation improves availability from a data protection point of view. Traffic keeps going over the other links even if a network path fails during a backup or replication job. See our Hyper Backup guide for stronger NAS data protection. This is especially important for:

• Planning for business continuity
• Synchronization of backups in the cloud and offsite
• Replication of snapshots between Synology systems

But to keep cybersecurity strong, aggregation should be used with the right network segmentation, firewall rules, and encrypted backup workflows. Learn secure NVR backups and offsite solutions with Epis Technology.

Making the Right Network Architecture

To get the most out of a Synology NAS, you need to do more than just turn on bonding in DSM. Follow the full DSM 7.2 setup and optimization guide. To get the right results, you need:

• Managed switches set up for LACP
• Planning the right MTU and VLAN
• Alignment with workloads for backup and storage
• Knowing how SMB, NFS, and iSCSI work

Without this planning, link aggregation could make things more complicated without making a big difference in performance.

About the Technology of Epis

Epis Technology is an expert in enterprise IT infrastructure, data protection, and Synology consulting. The company helps businesses create storage environments that can grow, improve the performance of NAS, and set up secure backup solutions for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and endpoint systems. Epis Technology makes sure that features like link aggregation are set up correctly and in line with real-world performance and reliability goals. They do this by using their extensive knowledge of Synology deployment, network architecture, and business continuity planning.