Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Load balancing over LAN/OPT ports

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    2 Posts 2 Posters 405 Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • J
      jdcnosse
      last edited by

      So I do have a question, and I'm not sure if it's even possible or if it's worth it. I have two Intel NICs, one single port and one dual port. The single is the WAN, double is the LAN/OPT. What I'd like to do is to be able to connect both LAN and OPT to a switch and then connect devices to the switch, thereby (theoretically in my head) giving me twice as much bandwith to work with, within the LAN itself.

      I also don't know if this would be necessary for intra-LAN communication or not.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • DerelictD
        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
        last edited by

        You can't get twice the bandwidth (meaning one stream/connection will get 2Gbit/sec) but you can LACP to your switch and it will put some traffic on one and some on another so if there are lots of hosts/states it will use both links effectively.

        But that will only affect connections to the firewall. LAN-to-LAN connections through the switch will still be at switch speed and, thus, unaffected.

        If you don't have gigabit+ WAN you're probably not going to see any benefit for the added complexity other than link redundancy to the firewall.

        Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
        A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
        DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
        Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • First post
          Last post
        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.