Switch – Jumbo frames with wireless client

jumboframesnetworkingroutingswitchwifi

I currently have the following network configuration

  • Apple Time Capsule (Gigabit Ethernet router)
  • 2 Windows desktop wired with Gigabit ethernet
  • 1 MacBook Pro in wireless N mode
  • 1 iPhone (obviously wireless)

I bought a NAS and a Gigabit switch to extend my network and the nas asks me if I want to enable jumbo frames for the network connection. So my question, could I?

I think if I do that I will have problems for wireless clients and I need to reconfigure both the desktops and the time capsule to use jumbo frames.

Should I add a router instead of a switch to segment the network in two parts in order to use jumbo frames?

Does this have any sense? Will performance improve with jumbo frames?

Best Answer

Jumbo frames means a larger than normal MTU. Usually the MTU is set as 1500 (or 1492), at least for 802.11 networks.

Each network device will have an MTU size set on it. Any frame that arrives at a device larger than its MTU will get fragmented.

So you would need to make sure the MTU on all your network devices was set at or more than the MTU on the NAS resulting from setting Jumbo Frames (probably 9000, but check your documentation).

Given the size of your network, I doubt whether you will get any noticeable performance increase from setting higher MTUs everywhere. At best, backups might run a little faster.

Update: I answered a question on testing whether jumbo frames are working. The answer might be useful in your research on this.

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