Adaptive Load Balancing is used when a Switch has no support for Link Aggregation. It can be used without the need of supporting hardware.   Most Switches in a lower price-range only offer Static Link Aggregation. Static Link Aggregation can cause problems on a Synology NAS when you need to use Virtual Switch on them. That's the case if you want to run Containers on them or a small Virtual Machine.   What I learned back then, if you want to have a Switch supporting Dynamic Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad), you have to dive deep into their specs before you buy them.  ... View more