Network Arrangement

Posted by: Bojangle on 05 November 2015

Hi everyone , i,m new around here so go gentle with me. My new Uniti 2 arrives next week along with Spender A6R's. I have my Qnap Nas drive in an upstair bedroom next to my Mac and I have run Cat 5 cable from that room to the lounge where the Uniti 2 will be.

 

My Mac is connected to the router via the house mains electric through Netgear plugs and works fine for my normal purposes. My macbook also links to that network from the same room so I use a Netgear  Fast ethernet switch 10/100 mbs 8 port.

 

So this is my question, What is the best way to connect the uniti 2 to my Nas drive. Can I connect it straight out the back of the Nas to the uniti? Should i do that via the Netgear switch or do i need another arrangement.

 

Thanks

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by juanito

You cannot connect two network clients together directly, they both need to be connected to your router or network switch.

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by garyi

You need to connect both to the network not to each other. Ideally the nas will be away from the music environment.

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by Bojangle

Thanks Juanito and Garyi, this is probably very naive but what will stop the Uniti trying to pick up the data wirelessly between the wireless router and the uniti if they are all networks vis the switch.

 

Thanks Bo

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by juanito

I don't own a Uniti, but I imagine that if you switch it on with a network cable connected, it will use wired instead of wireless.

 

Failing the above, you might be able to disable wireless via a settings menu.

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by Huge

It will try to use the wired Ethernet if it can, failing that it will try using the WiFi.

 

There is an option to turn off the WiFi in the configurations page, and with a wired connection disabling the WiFi is desirable as it gives a degree of improvement to the sound quality by reducing RFI.

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by Solid Air

The optimum approach is:

 

1. Switch off wireless in the Uniti

2. Connect the NAS to an ethernet switch (Netgear cheapy is fine)

3. Connect the Uniti to the same ethernet switch

4a. Connect the switch to a router

(All connections using ethernet cable)

4b. If the router isn't within reach, connect the switch to a wireless extender or mains plug instead, and then go over wireless/mains to the router.

 

This will provide a number of benefits. It ensures you have all-hard-wired ethernet connection between NAS and Uniti, which is more stable generally and won't drop out in UPNP mode. It also puts the wireless problem to the extender or plug rather than the Uniti itself, which makes it much easier to manage. 

 

A few folks have had problems with mains plugs, but I haven't tried them.

 

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by JSH

SolidAir's approach is no doubt optimum.  But if you can't connect the Uniti2 and the NAS to the same switch or want the NAS away from the Uniti as I do, then the helpful people here gave me this solution a few months ago. 

Buy an Apple Airport Express (either a new one or a second hand one for about £20).  Run that into the Uniti with an ethernet cable.  The Uniti then thinks it is wired so you can turn off the wireless.  The Airport will connect to your router but do this as a Bridge (the Airport instructions cover this) and NOT as an extender as this halves the speed with info pinging back and forth.

Since I did this I have rock solid connection and I can stream 24/192 files which I could never before

HTH

Posted on: 05 November 2015 by Bojangle

Thanks guys 

 thanks for the clear instructions, I will set up as you describe

 

regards

Bo