MikroTik

Hi All,
I've just encountered a really strange issue with a Synology NAS and 3 RB2011 boards. On the Gig ports when I connect the NAS the port either keeps bouncing or is unusable due to FCS errors. I've changed the patch cable and same thing. If I change RB to only advertise 100Mbps Full Duplex then the port comes up and the rate at which the FCS error's go up is still alarming but slower rate. I reset the RB and made sure it was the latest version of ROS and firmware. Thinking it was the NAS I tried it on 2 other 2011's only to find the exact same behavior. I then connected it to an RB951G and no problem at all. I've used the same gig port on the 2011 as an uplink to the 951 with no issue. It's only an issue when the NAS connects directly to the 2011.
Has anyone seen an issue like this before ?
Thanks
Mark

Hi
Yes, I have seen this, and in my case was the network card of the NAS, different chipsets has marginally different signal power levels, it could be enough for one type rig but maybe not for another type.

since you have tested three RB 2011 , and all of them do the same but the 951G works, so I think that the network card of your NAS is dying, the signal is lower than the standard output levels, and may be enough for the chipset that the 951G uses, but not for the RB2011

if there is any hardware mikrotik specialist here will be able to explain better than me (or tell me that i am full of..it... )

I would tend to agree with inductor. So I thought hey just plug in a USB NIC and it will probably work again, but after a quick google search it looks like many people have tried and failed to get a USB NIC to work with Synology hardware. I have 2 DS212j's so I thought I'd give it a try. I tried 3 different USB NICs and couldn't get any of them to show up in the network interface page in DSM. There were slightly different results running dmesg, but all results seemed to indicate a problem with the NICs or loading a driver. At least one of the NICs shows up fine in my Mint 17.3 system. lspci doesn't seem to show anything on my NAS, not sure why (maybe Synology blocked it).

Which model NAS do you have? If it had dual NICs I assume you would have mentioned it..... Some of their higher end models you can add a NIC to......
Any chance you have access to another same model NAS to see if the results are the same?

I've seen this on the lower end Synology's - has to do with the ethernet interface they use in them. I have a 1515+ at home with all 4 interfaces bonded with no issues. But a 212 will bound the port. I don't have an answer, but I think it's something to do with the power management. The interface is trying to reduce the power level to a "green" level, but then can't sustain the signal. Unfortunately, some ethernet PHY's are simply incompatible with others.

This isn't an ideal solution, but if you don't want to buy hardware or much more hardware, if you have a USB NIC you could try using it on the RB2011. If you really need gigabit to your NAS this isn't a good solution, but my NAS doesn't get hit that hard so it would maybe work for some people.

Here's a list of USB NICs/chipsets that might work.
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Supported ... B_Ethernet

Hi All,
Thanks for the info, Atleast I know I'm not the only one who has seen this issue.
For the record and so anyone else who is reading can reference the NAS i'm seeing this with is a Synology DS215j
Thanks
Mark

I don't think that replacing the onboard NIC with a USB one would be a good idea, if markmcn needs gigabit connection then he needs decent throughput, usb nics are slow as F%!/*

At this point, unless you have some values to tune on the synology to disable power management on the NIC to see if it up the signal level a bit (which i don't think it will be possible, hope i am wrong!) the only solution i could think of, is to sacrifice the 951G as a switch because you already know it works, you already have it, and replacing the NAS would be a LOT more expensive than purchasing another 951G.

I would most definitely go with a small gigabit switch in between the router and NAS before using a USB interface.

I've relocated the NAS to connect to the 951G,
Interesting thing is that I've tried it with a few switches and the 2011 is the only device giving this issue.
One interesting point is that both the 951G & 2011 use the same switch chip for the gig ports (Atheros 8327)
Kind Regards
Mark

The switch chip and the PHY are two different parts. the PHY is the physical interface that does the actual connection

Agreed I'll open up to get balun part numbers and compare some evening

I would love some hi-res photos of each board.

I would love some hi-res photos of each board.

i can do that, give me the weekend, i have both rigs, the most critical one is the RB2011 that i have to take it off the rack without leaving everyone without internet hehe.

if both use the same PHY then i will be completely lost