Upgrade to 2.5 GbE over USB worked... but there is a problem...

[TML59]

(I also posted this on other forums but -to date- wasn't able to solve my problem)

In short: I purchased a UGREEN USB-to-2.5Gbe converter, followed instructions on the Internet and was able to install drivers and got the NAS (DSM 7.1) to report a 2500mbps Ethernet connection. My cables are Cat7, my switches 2.5 GbE and so is my Windows desktop Ethernet interface. So all seems fine.
When I measure file transfer speed however, I'm still seeing 70-80Mb/s (= 1GbE). An iPerf3 test reported 133Mb/s (which is low for 2.5 GbE but above 1GbE, indicating that there is a 2.5 GbE capable connection, so it seems that 'hardware-wise' things are correct).
Why am I still seeing a 1GbE network speed then??
Any suggestions?

 

[Birdy]

I can connect the NAS via Ethernet directly to my PC but not sure if that would work

That works, take a normal UTP Cable.
And other ports empty.

 

[TML59]

I connected the cable but I can't connect to my NAS. The 2.5GbE converter has a fixed IP address but my PC doesn't know that and tries to connect via DHCP, should I change that somehow?

 

[Rusty]

Both the PC and the NAS have to be on a static ip address in the same subnet (different IP ofc) and they will be able to communicate.

 

[TML59]

They both have a fixed IP address now but if I connect, the PC still doesn't connect to the IP address for the NAS.
I set my subnet mask on my PC to 255.255.255.0 but I'm not sure what the value is for the NAS.
I made the preferred DNS setting the same as the Gateway om my PC. Also here, I don't know the settings of my NAS (but my NAS was in my network with a fixed IP address before this test)

 

[Birdy]

When you connect the NAS on your PC, the NIC's will communicate with each other and new IP-addresses should be created in the same segment.
So, use Synology Assistant or find.synology.com to find your NAS with the new temporary IP-Address

 

[TML59]

I used find.synology.com, it sees only the device at the fixed IP address my router has set for it but it doesn't connect.
I now realize that as the NAS is connected to my PC directly, the fixed IP my router dictates might not work.
As said however, find.synology.com doesn't find anything else (but the lights in the 2.5 GbE connection are on and flashing)

 

[TML59]

So I couldn't connect my NAS (yet) directly to my PC and -for now- I placed it back where it came from.

Small side step, probably unrelated (but not sure): what happens if I would reconnect the standard 1 GbE Ethernet connection (next to the 2.5 GbE)?

 

[Rusty]

Small side step, probably unrelated (but not sure): what happens if I would reconnect the standard 1 GbE Ethernet connection (next to the 2.5 GbE)?

You would have 2 active NIC adapters on the NAS side. Each with its own IP address.

You can connect 1G to the switch and still try and directly attach 2.5 to your PC with a different network subnet in order to establish communication.

 

[TML59]

The "connect my NAS directly to my PC" part failed as I reported earlier. I tried to do everything that was suggested (i.e. two separate fixed IP addresses, one for NAS, one for PC) but that did not work (yet).
Maybe it's the subnet but it's not clear at this moment in time what I should do (it's starts with finding out maybe what subnet the NAS uses but I can't if it's connected to my PC and the connection doesn't work).

Anyway, my question about connection both ethernet connections on my NAS was a side-step as said. I found that if I would connect to the 'new' 2.5 GbE interface, my \\NasName didn't work anymore on my PC. I fixed that but I think now that if I also connect the 1 GbE interface at the same time, all traffic that uses \\NasName will use the 2.5GbE interface. That would mean that I shouldn't see a difference. What I CAN do in this case is set the 2.5 GbE interface as 'priority' in the NAS, but I don't think that will make a difference.

 

[Dr_Frankenstein]

Hi - I couldn't see in the thread which specific drive models you are using in the NAS?

 

[fredbert]

Chances are that subnet 192.168.50.0/24 isn't used on you LAN, unless you have explicitly used it somewhere. So you could manually assign 192.168.50.1 to the NAS's 2.5 GbE interface and 192.168.50.2 to the PC's 2.5 GbE interface. Connect the too interfaces together using a suitable Cat 6A/7 Ethernet cable. You don't need to assign gateway or DNS addresses for this test to work: only IP address (192.168.50.n) and subnet (255.255.255.0).

From the PC connect to the NAS using SMB with the address \\192.168.50.1 . For the purpose of the test you don't want the PC to be connected to any other network (wired or wireless), just to ensure it is using the 2.5 GbE connection. The \\NASname address is built on top of basic IP addressing so this may not work if the PC has cached connection details.

 

[TML59]

Hi - I couldn't see in the thread which specific drive models you are using in the NAS?

It is in one of my first posts: HD's are WD's, one 3 Gb (WD30EFRX) one 4 Gb (WD40EFZX)

Chances are that subnet 192.168.50.0/24 isn't used on you LAN, unless you have explicitly used it somewhere. So you could manually assign 192.168.50.1 to the NAS's 2.5 GbE interface and 192.168.50.2 to the PC's 2.5 GbE interface. Connect the too interfaces together using a suitable Cat 6A/7 Ethernet cable. You don't need to assign gateway or DNS addresses for this test to work: only IP address (192.168.50.n) and subnet (255.255.255.0).

From the PC connect to the NAS using SMB with the address \\192.168.50.1 . For the purpose of the test you don't want the PC to be connected to any other network (wired or wireless), just to ensure it is using the 2.5 GbE connection. The \\NASname address is built on top of basic IP addressing so this may not work if the PC has cached connection details.

Thanks, appreciate the tips, not sure if this is all something I can follow 100%. I'm willing to give it a try of course, but before I do so, I had already Googled a few hours back and founds this... Would that be OK as well?

How to Directly Connect with a NAS Drive - No Router or Switch

Connecting DIRECTLY With Your NAS without Using a Switch or Router Let's all be honest for a second about one of the biggest advantages and disadvantages of network-attached storage, namely the speed, external security and method with which you can access your data. Having secure yet unlimited acce

nascompares.com

 

[TML59]

I connected the NAS with two Ethernet interfaces. Weirdly enough, both are called "LAN". Can't I rename them to indicate what they are?

 

[fredbert]

I connected the NAS with two Ethernet interfaces. Weirdly enough, both are called "LAN". Can't I rename them to indicate what they are?

So you still have both interfaces connected to the same LAN? Renaming them is a distraction at the moment, and probably not possible (at least not in the GUI), you can determine which interface is which by clicking on the v icon at the right hand end of each LAN row. The 2.5 GbE 'LAN' will say it is 2500 Mbps.

I just wondered if you have done a speed test to a USB drive connected to the DS216j's USB 3 port? Might be that they aren't overly quick, even if stated to be USB 3. If you have a SSD external drive to test it?

I had already Googled a few hours back and founds this... Would that be OK as well?

Not sure, I don't do Windows.

 

[TML59]

So you still have both interfaces connected to the same LAN? Renaming them is a distraction at the moment, and probably not possible (at least not in the GUI), you can determine which interface is which by clicking on the v icon at the right hand end of each LAN row. The 2.5 GbE 'LAN' will say it is 2500 Mbps.

I just wondered if you have done a speed test to a USB drive connected to the DS216j's USB 3 port? Might be that they aren't overly quick, even if stated to be USB 3. If you have a SSD external drive to test it?

I have them both connected because I wanted to change the "Service Order" and make my 2.5GbE the default (top) one. It seems that with two identical names I can drag them in a different order but I don't see that change anything.

Speed test USB NAS. Yes, I could do that. Let me try

 

[Birdy]

How to Directly Connect with a NAS Drive - No Router or Switch

Connecting DIRECTLY With Your NAS without Using a Switch or Router Let's all be honest for a second about one of the biggest advantages and disadvantages of network-attached storage, namely the speed, external security and method with which you can access your data. Having secure yet unlimited acce

nascompares.com

I always use my methode: https://www.synoforum.com/threads/upgrade-to-2-5-gbe-over-usb-worked-but-there-is-a-problem.13727/post-68796?ref=2QDLQ and that's working always so, I don't understand why it's not working for you.

 

[TML59]

I just wondered if you have done a speed test to a USB drive connected to the DS216j's USB 3 port? Might be that they aren't overly quick, even if stated to be USB 3. If you have a SSD external drive to test it?

I connected an external drive with an SSD to my NAS USB port. Then I copied a file from a folder on my NAS to that external drive (I did that using file explorer in Windows, not sure how the copying is actually done). Sustained speed was max. 55MB/s...

 

[TML59]

I always use my methode: https://www.synoforum.com/threads/upgrade-to-2-5-gbe-over-usb-worked-but-there-is-a-problem.13727/post-68796?ref=2QDLQ and that's working always so, I don't understand why it's not working for you.

I just tried again... set my PC and NAS to non-fixed IP addresses. It seemed that I had to stop and restart the 2.5GbE on the NAS to get a connection. This time with Synology Assistant it worked a speedtest gave me 115 MB/s write and 100 read. Better but far from what I expect still.
I'll move the NAS back to it's original spot and with measure again from there (after starting and stopping the driver there as well)

Update (original spot):
with 1GbE connection 83 write, 98 read
with 2.5GbE connection 104 write, 100 read

My conclusions so far:

• Direct connection to PC slightly faster but well below 2.5 GbE 'normal' speeds (but above max 1GbE speeds)
• Normal connection to my network well below 2.5 GbE 'normal' speeds (but above max 1GbE speeds)
• Normal connection to my network with 1GbE default is reasonably high for 1GbE speeds
• So 2.5GbE works and is faster than an 1GbE connection but the difference is minor and normal 2.5GbE speeds are far from what they should be

 

[TML59]

New and interesting (?) observation... My "Minimum SMB protocol" was set to SMB1.
I changed that to SMB2 and my file transfer speed almost halved.... (read 50MB/s write 30 MB/s)
When I put SMB1 back as minimum, the previously reported values came back again

 

[fredbert]

I connected an external drive with an SSD to my NAS USB port. Then I copied a file from a folder on my NAS to that external drive (I did that using file explorer in Windows, not sure how the copying is actually done). Sustained speed was max. 55MB/s...

Can you do that using File Station within DSM? The idea was to test the USB interface itself, but by using your WIndows machine and Windows Explorer you are still using the network.