Help With SG-200-08 LAG/LACP Settings!

[CrazyJumpinJack]

Hello Cisco Folk:  I hate to admit it, but the fact is that I am IT Challenged when to comes to trying to figure out the LAG /LACP settings on the SG-200-08 Switch.  Can any of you help me on how to correctly configure the LAG Settings Table and the LACP Interface Table?

I currently have a Gigabyte GA-45P-UD3P Board (rev 1.6) with 2 NIC cables coming out of that baby.  Under Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit, I have created the 2GB virtual LAN and I have the Cisco SG-200-08 Switch up and running.  I have one NIC cable going into port 1 and the other into port 2.  Ports 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are cabled with runs to 5 Unmanaged 1GB Switches throughout the house. Each one of those Switch’s host 3-5 different devices, none of which are 802.3ad complaint (nor are the unmanaged Switches).  Port 8 goes to the Router, which is in front of the Switch.  The router is not 802.3ad compliant either.   Both the appropriate Comcast IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are showing up in the Switch and in the Windows Local Area Network Properties.   Everything seems to be running fine on the network.  But the Help Section for the SG-200 Switch is a little thin on how exactly you configure the LAG Table. 

Going into the Switch’s firmware, at the LAG Management Table, I placed both NIC cables into ch1 (and named it TEAMING), set it as Static and have both g1 and g2 as the only members.    Ch1 shows its Link State as Up, with g1 and g2 as the Active Members.  There are no Standby Members.  I have done nothing as to any other port assignments.  I have left all the original default settings for the LACP Interface Table, with all 8 of the LACP Modes as Enabled. 

So, is this the right way to do all of this?  If not, could anyone tell me what is?  Will doing this help “balance” internal network traffic even though the other Switches are not ad complaint?

ANY assistance would be GREATLY APPRECIATED, trust me on that!

Crazy Jumpin Jack

Marietta, GA

(Crazy Jumpin Jack) GREGORY
Latest Problems That I've Caused at:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jumpin-jack-gregory/27/452/b80       

[Tom Watts · Accepted solution]

Hi Jack, there is not necessarily a wrong way to set up the LAG provided that the connecting devices match up. If using a static LAG then LACP would not be used (meaning both the switch ports and NIC have been manually defined for the link aggregation).

I am guessing  GA-45P-UD3P is a NIC with some cool features. If that being the case, essentially what you're doing is sending/receiving traffic on 2 links going in to that machine. This is okay and well assuming that those other computers are pulling data from that machine so it will allow that server to be 2x more efficient with data transfers.

If the LAN hosts aren't do anything with that server with the LAG then it would seem pointless to me since your router is not double-duty on the links so it would only operate at the slowest link anyway.

-Tom
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[CrazyJumpinJack]

Tom:  THANK YOU so much for taking your time to reply to this.  So, as I understand, If I leave the LAG Group as I outlined above, the Switch will do the requisite load balancing for the LAN?  You are correct in your assumtion that the 2 Mother Board NIC's come from a server that is both sending and recieving one heck of a lot of data from other computers and network devices. Back on the LAN side, Windows 7 has created a virtual single port NIC from the 2 physical ones going into the 2 Switch ports, and it is that IP and MAC address that the Switch and E6900 Router recognize.

Jack

(Crazy Jumpin Jack) GREGORY
Latest Problems That I've Caused At:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jumpin-jack-gregory/27/452/b80

[Tom Watts · Accepted solution]

Hi Jack, correct, the LAG will load balance the communication between the server box and the requesting clients. That should work in the favor of your server box.

-Tom
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