Windows 10 Version 1903 (Build 18362.175) / Intel Core i7-3770K, Asus Maximus V Gene, 16GB DDR3 RAM / Roon 1.6 (build 416)
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
Intel I350-T2 running in Link Aggregation / Netgear JGS524Ev2 Gigabit Switch / Synology DS713+ NAS storing all media files also set up using Link Aggregation
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
iFi Nano iDSD Black Label connected through USB
Description Of Issue
I submitted a ticket on June 12th 2019, about my Roon not loading and just hanging at the animated logo screen. With your help and some troubleshooting of my own, I was able to narrow it down to the Link Aggregation and virtual network card created by Windows. After disabling the LA and Virtual NIC, I was able to get Roon to load up and run normally. Being that I need my LA for other hardware and software, I re-enabled it and Roon continued to work for a brief period of time. Then it would not load again, so I repeated the above steps and got it back.
Now, my issue is, I refuse to continue to have to do this every time, and, I shouldn’t have to. I started using JRiver MediaCenter and it has no issue running through my network setup. Also, all of my other programs such as Premiere Pro, Photoshop, etc… all work accessing files and libraries on my NAS through the Virtual NIC and Link Aggregation.
What can be done to resolve this issue permanently?
I have two NICs in my Windows 10 PC. One is used for connecting to the NAS for SAMBA (file) transfer: Intel X540 (10 gigabit). The other one is an Intel I210 (dual port) gigabit NIC which I use for everything else (like connecting to the router to surf the internet.)
I assume you use LAG to increase your bandwidth for file transfers and not for link redundancy (you say as much). Perhaps then you can use another NIC (I also have an I350-T2 as a PCI NIC in another server, so let me guess that you have more on-board NICS on your Mobo) perhaps without LAG to do your non NAS connectivity? You would get even more free bandwidth for your LAG that way.
Sorry I was away for a couple of weeks, I appreciate your response.
I do have an onboard NIC that I have disabled. If I understand you correctly, I should re-enable it and plug it into my switch. That’s what I think you mean, I’ll give it a shot.
Whether that works or not. I still would like to know why Roon won’t connect through my normal connection. Hopefully they’ll get back to me on that.
I tried it and same thing happened. It will work as long as I don’t have the virtual NIC enabled, the second I re-enable it, Roon refuses to load.
I’m far from being an I.T. expert but I have a basic grasp of home networking and I just don’t understand it. As I stated in my original post, no other program has an issue connecting to my NAS through the virtual NIC.
Once again, I appreciate your help. Hopefully Roon will respond back
what I was suggesting was to have a completely different NIC handle the communication to your Roon core. I do the same thing because I have one NIC that is there for doing file transfers (mounting volumes) and another NIC for talking to the stuff running on my LAN and the internet.
I found it might be an idea for you, because you indicate specifically that Roon has issues with link aggregation going, and you don’t want to turn it off because you need it (the LAG).
So, on my LAN I have one subnet for the 10gigE network (192.168.2.0/24) and another one for normal stuff (192.168.0.0/24). The X540 NIC is on the 192.168.2.0 subnet, and everything else, like Roon core and what have you, it talking on the 192.168.0.0 subnet.
So just turning your second NIC on won’t help much; you want to configure it with a view to having your Roon endpoint talking over your non-LAG NICs…
Now, although you have link aggregation setup on your LAN (which you know, takes some bit of configuration!), you indicate you are a networking novice. So perhaps you don’t want to mess with your LAN, lest you break something and nothing works anymore. However, if you have help, or wanted to experiment more, perhaps it’s something to try.
I should add that I do not know why Roon has an issue with a dual-NIC LAG setup. Possibly if you’re doing active-active connections, it’s getting confused because some packets are coming from one NIC, and some are coming from the other. Hence the idea to have Roon connect only via one and only one NIC.
Once again Chris, Thanks a whole bunch, I really appreciate it.
I must be honest and say you lost me a little, only a little though. I understand the concept that you explained, I just don’t know how to go about doing it. That doesn’t mean I won’t try, I can be a stubborn individual and am willing to learn new things.
First thing. As I said, I understand what you’re suggesting. My first question though, is, how will I get Roon to look at the other NIC, and keep other programs continuing to use my LAG? Are those settings I can adjust in Windows 10 Pro? Also, does this involve setting up a VLAN on my PC and switch?
Just wanted to give you an update. I did some speed tests accessing my NAS from my PC using IEEE802_3adDynamicLinkAggregation and Adaptive Load Balancing. Nothing significant. So I configured my PC NIC to ALB and Roon is working normal and has no issues. So for now I’m just going to keep it like this. I had planned on updating some of my gear in the near future anyway.
Hey Tomaas,
Cool! I was just writing a response to you. =)
But, things working for you now is great!
I have the Gene V motherboard myself BTW, great little uATX board!
Yeah it is. It’s been great for me for the past 5 or 6 years. I’ve been doing some video editing and it’s starting to show it’s age, hence the upgrade.
BTW, I was doing something similar (with Linux) in which I was aggregating two 1gb NICs in hopes of making SAMBA and NFS faster. It was a pain.
My solution was to make it easier: I got 10gb NICs on my workstation and in my NAS, and I just connected them directly, thus avoiding the (at the time a couple years ago) rather expensive 10gbit switches.
These days, 5gb and 10gb ethernet (copper) NICs are much cheaper, and I think the 5gb switches are even almost affordable. So, maybe replace your LAG with just a single 5gb connection, and Roon won’t even complain.
Nice to know. I would love to get into 5gb or 10gb mainly for Premiere Pro. I can’t edit 4k video directly from the NAS, I have to first transfer it to the SSD on my PC. from what I understand I would be able to do it with 10gb. Let’s see what happens. Gotta run all my upgrades through the wifey, so who knows.
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you here, I have been following this thread and I wanted to discuss expected behavior with our technical team.
I am glad to hear that you have been able to get the Link Aggregation to function as expected by using Adaptive Load Balancing and that it works correctly now!
For our records, can you please let me know what kind of link aggregation method you were previously using that was not working properly? Was this configured as Dynamic Link Aggregation?
I originally was using IEEE802_3adDynamicLinkAggregation. If your switch supports it, which mine does, it’s supposed to give you the best performance. The choices Intel gives you for the I350-T2V2 NIC are the following.
