adding a nas

quote:

Originally posted by Dungassin:
Perhaps it's my age, but I'm getting more and more confused by this Ethernet Network thing.
...
I'm confused by whether I could just do this via my HomeHub, or whether I actually need a separate Ethernet switch.

I think what I need is an "Idiot Guide" to see whether I could realistically set all this up myself (plenty of time on my hands), or whether I should just get it done professionally.

Sorry ... all my fault ... I think I need to just shut up!

1) You can connect your UnitiServe and NAS directly to your HomeHub (if it has enough ethernet ports).
2) If you need to connect additional devices (beyond the built in ports), you need to add a Hub or Switch (both look physically the same) to expand the number of ports.
3) If you have to add additional ports then using a Switch is preferable as it can manage your network better - this can eliminate problems which some people find using UPnP AV and streamed audio.

Hope that makes it simpler.

Eloise

quote:

Sorry ... all my fault ... I think I need to just shut up!

1) You can connect your UnitiServe and NAS directly to your HomeHub (if it has enough ethernet ports).
2) If you need to connect additional devices (beyond the built in ports), you need to add a Hub or Switch (both look physically the same) to expand the number of ports.
3) If you have to add additional ports then using a Switch is preferable as it can manage your network better - this can eliminate problems which some people find using UPnP AV and streamed audio.

Hope that makes it simpler.

Thanks. You have answered what I needed to know. Initial setup will just use the Broadband Hub, as you suggest. Initially I only intend to hardwire the laptop, NAS drive and Unitiserve together (when I eventually get the Unitiserve, of course!).

Should I get problems, then I would purchase the switch instead, and will look into it further.

Thank you very much for your help, all of you. I would never have thought of myself as a technophobe, but this time I just couldn't seem to get my head round it. I still intend to read the suggested link, BTW.

quote:

Originally posted by Dungassin:
I'm still sorting all this out in my own mind. Currently using BT Home Hub (wifi/broadband).

If I understand it correctly, I could connect a 2TB Buffalo linkstation pro to my hub by Ethernet cable, and then all the other devices logging into my router could "see" this device, even via their wifi connection?

Exactly as mine is set up with a ReadyNAS Duo. Works like a dream.

Get rid of the homehub and get a proper device.

(Someone please make this a sticky)

quote:

Get rid of the homehub and get a proper device

I hear what you say. Presumably your suggesting to just use a switch. But then how would I also access my broadband via wifi? Not really practical to hard wire all the things which potentially connect (wii, XBox 360, guests' laptops), so would need wifi functionality as well as Ethernet for those things which must have it (such as Unitiserve and NAS drive)

I think what Gary is suggesting is get a better specified and more powerfull router. The thinking being You can get one with WiFi as standard aswell as typically 4 wired LAN ports.

However looking at the BT Home Hub if you have a version 2.0 it looks to be pretty well specified already with up to 802.11n wireless and 4 wired ports.

If your BT Hub is an older version with less capability then Gary's suggestion is a good idea.
regards
geoff

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Get rid of the homehub and get a proper device.

(Someone please make this a sticky)

You keep saying this, but what is the alternative?

How is the alternative setup?

There are plenty of people out here that don't have any knowledge of alternative solutions, and go for a plug and play , add stuff but don't really have clue of what they are doing.

Myself I have a BT HH2 + hub phone, a hard wired Time Capsule, (I couldn't get it to work wirelessly), iMAC wireless connection , 2 laptops and a PC also wirelessly connected.
iMAC is hard wired from headphone socket to 82 pre amp.

What should I be doing if I use a "proper" device, and how would it work?

It seems Geoff has a more realistic view of the BT HH2, are the alternatives really that much better?

Howard / Dungassin

FYI if you go to this web link ( assuming Richard lets me keep it up here):

http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub.html

They seem to be bursting to help folks get the best from their Home Hub and provide usefull info etc. Might be worth checking out if you don't know it already.

Regards
geoff

PS if the link is banned 'google' BT Home Hub and choose a company called Frequency Cast that should come up in the list.

Thanks, Geoff. I've bookmarked it and will read it later. Still haven't been in the loft yet to get the newer router ...

This BT Home Hub thing must be a UK special.

I have seen this product mentioned all over the place in this forum. I never knew what you were talking about.

So I googled it just now.

Really? Having problem streaming wireless music with that thing?

Yes BigH. Get a proper router.... Netgear Rangemax comes to mind.

quote:

This BT Home Hub thing must be a UK special.

I have seen this product mentioned all over the place in this forum. I never knew what you were talking about.

So I googled it just now.

Really? Having problem streaming wireless music with that thing?

Haven't actually tried streaming music with it yet, so can't comment on how well it does. Look a little closer at my posts and you will realise that what I am doing is trying to get the infrastructure right BEFORE I add the streamer (probably Unitiserve)

I always knew an enormous amount about my own chosen career (now retired), but almost everything else has always been on the "know enough to do the job, but very rarely any more" basis, and this applies to my networking knowledge.

Whats a proper router against the HH2 (I thought that was a router), what more will I get if I was say to buy a Netgear Rangemax?.

Personally I don't have a problem with the HH2, it seems every one else does.
OK time capsule is unreliable if set up wirelessly , but works OK wired.



Where does a NAS fit in and do I need one?
I have about 168 Gb of music on iTunes.

Are we talking Rangemax DG 834G?

DA music is the tertiary source in my case.

quote:

Where does a NAS fit in and do I need one?
I have about 168 Gb of music on iTunes.

All I can say is that I want (and have ordered) NAS, because I intend to buy the Unitiserve SSD later on this year (provided OK when I audition, of course). 1TB storage on the Hard Drive of the other version of the Unitiserve sounds a lot, but I have a LOT of CDs, and would probably want to store HD audio files as well - providing I can track down enough of them that are actually musically worth listening to!

I have ripped approxm 2,300 CDs to my NAS as WAVE files ( simply because I can then convert them 'down' to any other format if I choose). That took up about 1 TB without duplication. I personally am making a duplicate copy of all this music on a 2nd disc ( my NAS has 4) so have used about 2 TB for music in total so far.

regards
Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Whats a proper router

A proper router

Juniper SRX100 seems to work OK.

quote:

I have about 168 Gb of music on iTunes.

If I were you then I'd get a 1TB USB disk like the Toshiba 1TB USB 3.5" External Desktop Hard Drive (it is around £60) or the Toshiba PX1524K-1HK0 1.5TB 3.5" External USB Hard drive (£78) - very quiet and has a nice blue LED to match the Radikal you're thinking of buying

unless you've got multiple computers that want to share files or you want to stick it in another room then I can't see why you need a NAS

quote:

unless you've got multiple computers that want to share files or you want to stick it in another room then I can't see why you need a NAS

If you want a Unitiserve, then you have either rip to the internal HD (if you have that version) or to NAS. That answer your question?

See this link for Naim's reply when I asked them this question :

https://forums.naimaudio.com/ev...552919237#5552919237

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Whats a proper router

This is my proper router: DLink DIR-855 Xtreme N Duo Media Router


-
aleg

I recommend one router to every one here Draytek:

Specifically this one for the price concerned. Although I find it highly amusing you are happy to spend 2 grand on a receiving streaming device but don't want to pay £100 for the router delivering that stream

http://draytek.com/user/PdInfoDetail.php?Id=83

BT homehub is what it is, cheap shit delivered free to the home of bt customers. As its 'free' they are not going to overly spec it are they?

Homehub = shit. Get this through to yourselves and your distributed audio lives will become a lot sweeter

I have the draytek 2820n which has not been rebooted or otherwise touched in well in excess of 6 months.

quote:

This is my proper router: DLink DIR-855 Xtreme N Duo Media Router

..I have that one aswell. Music on the wired ports. Other stuff wireless or thru an old router now being used as a 'switch' for the TV and BR player etc..

The intelligent prioritisation of media file traffic is a nice feature I think.

Working well no hiccups at all.

Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff P:

quote:

This is my proper router: DLink DIR-855 Xtreme N Duo Media Router

..I have that one aswell. Music on the wired ports. Other stuff wireless or thru an old router now being used as a 'switch' for the TV and BR player etc..

The intelligent prioritisation of media file traffic is a nice feature I think.

Working well no hiccups at all.

Geoff

I have my music / video streaming over 5GHz (bridged connection to my streamer due to impossible wiring) and the control of that over 2.4 GHz (iPod) and the regular internet over wired connections.

As you say no hiccups at all and I don't even have to use the prioritisation feature. So there is plenty of bandwidth (my network is now all gigabit except for 1 device).
-
aleg

quote:

Specifically this one for the price concerned. Although I find it highly amusing you are happy to spend 2 grand on a receiving streaming device but don't want to pay £100 for the router delivering that stream

Ah, the abuse starts ...

I am not wedded to my BT Home Hub, but have no problems with wifi when using it. The one in the loft has 4 LAN ports, so other than the firewall built into the device you describe, what else would I gain?

I note that the reviews on Amazon mention less than easy setup - hardly suitable for Network tyros such as myself.

I also note that the specs mention a firewall. Why would I need yet another firewall when I already have the one supplied with Norton?

Um, because its a proper firewall?

Fact is if you are happy with a bt homehub and it works for you, think yourself lucky.

For eneryone else scratching there heads because of drop outs etc. Its the homehub, they are rubbish. Remember them USB speedtouch pieces of crap they used to supply? Well the BT homehub is the latest version of that.

I am not trying to be offensive, no one to date has given sufficient explanation to spending 2 grand on hifi that needs a router then won;t spend money on the router.

People claim to tell the differences between music coming off a different nases (no seriously) and between USB leads. So if those sorts of pretend stats rock your world, then consider that poor old homehub trying to do the job, it would be like buying phono leads from maplin at 2.99 to put on your 252.

quote:

I am not trying to be offensive, no one to date has given sufficient explanation to spending 2 grand on hifi that needs a router then won;t spend money on the router.

Any piece of apparatus that require complicated setup is probably a non-starter for many of us "chronologically challenged", who don't really want to spend days reading up on the subject - life is too short.

As I have already said, I have no objection whatever to paying more for reliable connection. If necessary I will even pay for a professional to do it for me - as long as they explain to me what they are doing, and how to reconnect it and reconfigure any software should that be necessary in the future, such as my current laptop giving up the ghost.

I also haven't noticed that anyone here seems concerned about the cost of doing it. All we want is simple, easy to understand, reliable connection. Cost is not a particularly significant factor in achieving this.

No you have got me there.

Did you ask how easy it is to set on of these devices up?

Its really easy. In the case of BT perhaps not as easy because BT use your phone number to ascertain your credentials. However they will have supplied a user name and password when you signed up to their broadband. Type these into the relevant boxes on the router home page. Thats you on the web.

From there on it can be as easy or complex as you like.

I have some ddns stuff set on mine so I can access my nas whilst at work, other than that its pretty much stock configuration. Because I have wired the whole house with multiple ethernet points I do have a gigabit switch in the loft as well.

Draytek build routers, its what they do. The result is a rock solid product which will deliver your packets with no issues what so ever both wired and wireless. If you find yourself ever turning the homehub off and on again to fix problems that is not how it 'is' that is a homehub. (If you have not had to do this you are seriously very lucky)

If you experience any of the following: Dropouts, weird pauses in internet access, not able sometimes to print to network printers, Cannot access your shared drives for a while, have to restart your lappy when you bring it home 'cause it won't connect etc, this is all the homehub.

I am passionate about this because I know streamed music can be a real joy and mostly people get pissed because of the 'drop outs' typically its the router.

quote:

Um, because its a proper firewall?

What's a proper firewall? I think my Juniper could be classed as just about a proper firewall, but what do the others do. Most router based firewalls block all TCP/UDP ports except the ones you allow - generally you would allow outgoing connection on port 80 and 443 for http (the web) and http/ssl (secure web for on-line shopping/banking and so on). Guess what - most the nasty stuff also uses these ports. True a firewall stops outsiders coming in, but most routers network address translate so that happens anyway (outsiders cannot route to anything behind your router). So most firewalls do precious little - that said if you've got one turn it on to stop some idiots on the Internet.

My router can do things to check the integrity of return traffic and block dodgy URLs (so if I were stupid enough to go phising then it would save my bacon), its intrusion prevention system stops lots of nastiness by inspecting the packets for potential malicious stuff; it could also run AV it I bought the service. I can divide my home network in to zones and lock down what can go from one zone to another.

But despite all this it is not mind boggling secure - just adequate.

I have this because of job. It's dead easy to set-up, which is useful.

I can't help feeling that you shouldn't need all this - just to play a few songs.