NAS -> 2 ports link aggregation - connected LAN

[RamSense]

I have Opnsense running for about 5 months now, and really loving it.
Setup is basic:
LAN - igb1
WAN - igb0

On my LAN port (igb1) I have connected my wifi router (with 4 ports) and 2 ports (link aggregation) of the router connected to my NAS.

Now I would like to change this and make use of the other ports on my opnsense and making use of link aggregation also, I think it is called LAGG.
I would like to have igb2 and igb3 as link aggregation and connect those to my NAS (instead as current to my wifi router).
igb2 and igb3 should all be on the same LAN als igb1. (one home LAN network with Igb1,2 and 3 being able to connect on lan)

Is this possible, and how can I achieve this step by step?

Help is really appreciated!

[Maurice]

Yes, it's possible.

- Create a LAGG (igb2 + igb3).
- Add a new interface assignment for lagg0 and enable it.
- Create a bridge (member interfaces: only the LAGG at this point).
- Change the LAN interface assignment from igb1 to bridge0.
- Add a new interface assignment for igb1 and enable it.
- Make this new interface a member of the bridge.

You also may have to change some tunables as explained in the docs: https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/how-tos/lan_bridge.html

Bridges in FreeBSD are not as good as a real switch though, so your mileage may vary.

Cheers

Maurice

[RamSense]

Dear Maurice,

Thank you for explaining and good to hear it is possible!
When Switching lan from igb1 to bridge0, can I attach my wireless router to that bridge0 port directly after that change to being able to connect again to opnsense?

And "mileage may vary" is a little spooky :-). So this link aggregation and lan bridge won't get a great speed?
Or is this depending on the cpu running opnsense? I'm running on i5-7500.

thanks again for your help and hope my cpu can get full speed running this...

[Maurice]

When Switching lan from igb1 to bridge0, can I attach my wireless router to that bridge0 port directly after that change to being able to connect again to opnsense?

Correct, and then move it back to igb1 after you've made that a bridge member. But make sure you have local console access, just in case...

So this link aggregation and lan bridge won't get a great speed?

Link Aggregation is fine, but a software bridge is not as reliable and low-latency as a switch. In a typical "wireless router", all Ethernet ports are internally connected to a real switch. So your existing setup makes more sense to me. What's your motivation for changing this?

[RamSense]

thanks for explaining further.

What's your motivation for changing this?

My main thinking was that connecting the NAS directly to the 2 ports on opnsense (link aggregation) would be faster (in theory) than the current setting with another device in between: opnsense - wifi router - 2 ports to the nas.

But I understand that I should better leave the config as it is, for a more stable connection/network.