Thanks. I also learned today you need a managed switch for link aggregation / port trunking.

Yup you do.

I'm not sure "dual-lan" means what you think it does. Are you talking about putting each of the NICs on the NAS into a separate subnet? Do you have more than one subnet in your LAN? Also, are your switches managed, or just plug and play type switches?

Basically, if everything is on the same subnet, then you'll either only be able to use one of the NAS NICs, or you'll need a managed switch that supports etherchannel/NIC teaming (configuring both NICs to work together as a single, 2-Gig port rather than 2 x 1Gig ports). You won't be able to get that to work over two separate switches.

Putting everything into one big switch is always going to be quicker than daisy-chained switches. That way everything goes over the switch's back-plane rather than wandering around on ethernet links between the switches.

Edit: Cisco do some good layer 3 managed switches for small businesses. Buggered if I can remember their model numbers, though.

Edit edit: what Ken said.

Thanks. Looks like this will do the job for not too much $$$.

Can that do etherchannels and/or trunks, then? Your link mentions VLANs, but not much else.

Yeah, according to the manual:

Fair enough. That should work nicely.

Netgear are not back for switches and are a lot cheaper and easier to configure than Cisco kit.

Something like this will work great on a small network and can easily be extended to another switch using the two fiber channels ports. You can also setup trucking easily using the web interface  using LACP.

http://www.uk.insight.com/en-gb/productinfo/network-switches/0002656863

I do like Cisco kit but its a pain for a quick job that doesn need anything complicated.

Cisco's out of my price range. The one I linked to is a 16-port dlink (appropriately enuf). I'd rather get a 24-port though. Unfortunately the one you linked to (or something like) is also out of my price range http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122600. It seems you pay by the port for these things.

Oh the exchange rate is not on your side. That's $186 of goodness though!

Yeah. :-/