Combine wifi and lan for better performance

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mintydroid

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Was wondering about something. I have a linux mint server that is connected to a router with wired gigabits ports.

Is it possible to get better performance by adding a usb wifi dongle and combining and using both if possible? I believe it is possible in terms of load balancing according to Google but there are not many articles about it.

I sometimes have multiple clients connected to my server and would not like my gigabit nearly completely saturated when in use when I have wifi available if this makes sense.

Basically something like the graph below which I got off Tom's Hardware.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers...bond-wifi-connection-ethernet-connection.html

uploadfromtaptalk1411496038585.jpg
 
Do you want the clients to connect to your server over both wifi and wired connections at the same time? Or do you want some users to connect via wired and some via wifi?
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Do you want the clients to connect to your server over both wifi and wired connections at the same time? Or do you want some users to connect via wired and some via wifi?
Click to expand...
Clients to connect to both wifi and wired to optimize overall connections. Not selective connections.
 
Tbh it's really not worth it. You're introducing complexity to the system for very little extra benefit. I would rather look at upgrading the wired network to handle the load.
 
Nee china...something here is very wrong.

Assuming I understand the situation right (hosting a server on home ADSL)...that is never going to happen. Gigabit ethernet is faster than your ADSL router can push so there is no risk of that being a bottle neck.

NB watch that router...those evil fkin things tends to limit things to the lowest common denominator...so double check that you're getting true gigabit. (e.g. I've had ones that limit overall speed to wifi speed...so you get 2.5mb instead of 10mb)

In summary...you're not saturating a well configured gigabit link with a ADSL router. Not in a million years.

So...post more info...your post is 10x too low on info (I'm already guessing wildly [e.g. assuming ADSL] & I dare say I'm one of the more clued up people here). As for wifi & Lan split...personally I'd avoid it like the plague. Actually plague sounds preferable.
 
HavocXphere said:
Nee china...something here is very wrong.

Assuming I understand the situation right (hosting a server on home ADSL)...that is never going to happen. Gigabit ethernet is faster than your ADSL router can push so there is no risk of that being a bottle neck.

NB watch that router...those evil fkin things tends to limit things to the lowest common denominator...so double check that you're getting true gigabit. (e.g. I've had ones that limit overall speed to wifi speed...so you get 2.5mb instead of 10mb)

In summary...you're not saturating a well configured gigabit link with a ADSL router. Not in a million years.

So...post more info...your post is 10x too low on info (I'm already guessing wildly [e.g. assuming ADSL] & I dare say I'm one of the more clued up people here). As for wifi & Lan split...personally I'd avoid it like the plague. Actually plague sounds preferable.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming he means the clients are copying stuff over the network from the server.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I'm assuming he means the clients are copying stuff over the network from the server.
Click to expand...
ah...good catch Zoid. I was assuming internet server. Forgive my ignorance.

If its a local file sharing server then that changes things. Personally I'd drop the wifi idea and rather add another NIC...thats like 200 bucks and saves you a bunch of wireless grief (do not want). From what I've seen on LANs dual wired NICs are also somewhat manageable....though you do need to put the clients onto different subnet/ip ranges/whatever....i.e. you need to configure the clients to hit different NICs. That might make things complicated though depending on the exact details.

edit...I'm not even sure running true dual connections under windows is possible...but personally I'd not even attempt it with anything short of a hardcore linux routing distro. The clean split by client I described above might be more feasible. If you want to load balance it on a windows box...well let me know if you succeed.

Also...still think we're shooting at shadows here till OP gives rock solid info.
 
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HavocXphere said:
ah...good catch Zoid. I was assuming internet server. Forgive my ignorance.

If its a local file sharing server then that changes things. Personally I'd drop the wifi idea and rather add another NIC...thats like 200 bucks and saves you a bunch of wireless grief (do not want). From what I've seen on LANs dual wired NICs are also somewhat manageable....though you do need to put the clients onto different subnet/ip ranges/whatever....i.e. you need to configure the clients to hit different NICs. That might make things complicated though depending on the exact details.

edit...I'm not even sure running true dual connections under windows is possible...but personally I'd not even attempt it with anything short of a hardcore linux routing distro. The clean split by client I described above might be more feasible. If you want to load balance it on a windows box...well let me know if you succeed.

Also...still think we're shooting at shadows here till OP gives rock solid info.
Click to expand...

Yep, adding another network card will help things along.

On the Mint server you can do interface bonding and set it to round-robin.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBonding
 
I think you are underestimating a gigabit link. I've successfully ran a 200 user network across a 2Gbps link to multiple servers without anyone notice any speed issues.

How many users do you have?
 
TheGuy said:
I think you are underestimating a gigabit link. I've successfully ran a 200 user network across a 2Gbps link to multiple servers without anyone notice any speed issues.

How many users do you have?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to achieve as you say but with ethernet and wireless lan.

This weekend I had 4 devices connected to the server, two copy and two browsing and stuff. There was a noticeable slowdown in the network even though different drives were accessed (I've got 4 drives but no raid).

Setup is a TP link TL-WR1043ND router with gigabit ports and 300 megabit wifi. Server is a N54l microserver connected with cat5e to gigabit ports. I've got a gpu on one pcie and the other is empty but in planning to get a usb 3 card in there, hence bonding wireless and wired.
 
I found that windows clients that connect to LAN over both wireless and wired, favoured their wireless connection for some reason (if anyone knows why please enlighten me!). Do 'route print' in command shell on your clients and check the metric values assigned to the interfaces.

We've got 6 users and +/- 20 devices on our LAN served over a gigabit port - no noticeable slow down.
 
The solution you're looking at is not really worth it...

Rather get a 2nd NIC and bond them, it will give you better performance, you will come closer to maxing out the actual server, and it will cost you less money.

Why (out of interest) are you having people copy stuff off the server and maxing out the NIC anyway? surely they should be streaming the stuff, and then a Gigabit NIC will be more than adequate to handle 4 or even 8 clients.
 
ToxicBunny said:
The solution you're looking at is not really worth it...

Rather get a 2nd NIC and bond them, it will give you better performance, you will come closer to maxing out the actual server, and it will cost you less money.

Why (out of interest) are you having people copy stuff off the server and maxing out the NIC anyway? surely they should be streaming the stuff, and then a Gigabit NIC will be more than adequate to handle 4 or even 8 clients.
Click to expand...

Copying music and stuff of my drive. The copying is getting close to maxing out the gigabit.
 
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