Specs:
2 PC on Windows Server 2019
Each PC have 1g Nic + 4x 1g Nic on Realtek chips
2x ports on each PC in LACP, 2x ports with DHCP Enabled, not Teamed. 1x port disabled currently.
Managed Switch with LACP
pfSense VM on separate node with Proxmox
As I understand SMB Multichannel, it requires multiple IP, which LACP can’t provide.
So, that’s why I have 2x ports with LACP and 2x w/o teaming on both sides (switch, Windows Server machines).
I wanted to use those non LACP ports to get increased speed via SMB multichannel, but it just doesn’t work.
I tried route smb server IP on client via “route ADD (ip of SMB Server) MASK 255.255.255.255 (gateway) METRIC 1 IF (non teamed interface index)”. However, based on Task Manager, traffic still goes through Teamed LACP interface.
I tried different combinations, but nothing worked out. Then, I thought about moving 2x non teamed interface on each PC to another VLAN, but in the end traffic still goes through Teamed interface. (Maybe some smb caching, I don’t know.)
I tried to set domain name for SMB server non teamed NICs, via pfSense DNS Resolver, even tried to attach 2 A records. But, overall it even decreases speed to like 800 mbps, and ofc, no SMB Multichannel in action. However, traffic goes via another NIC.
If I assign those 2 non LACP ports to Hyper-V Windows Server VM and use it as SMB client, no issues, SMB multichannel working as expected, download speed like 160 MB/s, which is over 1g.
What I want exactly?
- I want to have 2x LACP ports for everything except SMB, on both PC.
- Also, 2x non Teamed ports for just SMB and SMB Multichannel. (On separate, VLAN, or main subnet, doesn’t matter.)
- SMB clients with just 1 NIC, must be able to reach SMB server via LACP interface as they do at the moment.