Could I team 2 switches? IDK idk if thats the right term

Networking Networking Hardware
1

So what I was wondering if I have a 100 m/bit switch could I plug 2 cables into a gigabit switch would that make 200 m/bit?

Thanks,
Maxamus456

2

Nope, because the switches maximum transfer speed is 100Mbit.

3

Even if there are 2 100 m/bit connections?

4

Yep.

5

Darn... Now I have to upgrade my router

6

You can if they are both managed or smart switches which support link aggregation.

1 Like
7

the basics of networking for this specific area of concern:

ethernet is what is called star topology. imagine a star with the "rays" each going to some other device. some of those devices can be other switches connected to other computers and switches, et cetra, so long as it NEVER, EVER forms a loop or circle anywhere. stars and rays only. To go beyond this you need:

either a switch with a couple special faster ports, which you can find on ebay cheap from companies that upgraded, example 24 port 100Mbps switches with 2 gigabit ports, OR

layer two switches, which include something called teaming. This allows you to use two or more parallel network cables/ports as if they were a single faster link. These are expensive, but are getting cheaper as time goes on, through the same source as above, off lease inventory being sold by resellers on ebay.

8

If they support LACP then you could configure link aggregation between the two switches, which would allow for up to 2x100mb streams depending on the hashing algorithm.

9

If the 100 Mbps switch supports it, you can aggregate the connection. It would need to be configured manually, so if you have a non-configurable switch then you're out of luck.

Keep in mind that this would only increase the throughput to the higher device. Communication between ports on the switch would still remain at 100 Mbps. Basically, if you have one computer on the switch and you attempted to communicate with the next higher device (over the aggregate connection) you would still max out at 100 Mbps because the port that the computer is attached to couldn't go any faster. You would only gain throughput when you have multiple devices trying to communicate to the higher device at the same time.

I'm curious why you said that you need a new router. Why does not being able to aggregate the connection of two switches lead to a new router?

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aaaaand I just noticed the original post date. Feel free to ignore.

11

I want to upgrade to a gigabit network so my NAS can be downstairs and still be gigabit.