Network question

Tractor Boy

Tractor Boy

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Nick
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Evening.

Quick network question for you - I have just bought a Zyxel NSA325 NAS but the transfer speeds seem quite slow (it has two Segate Barracuda 2tb drives in). I believe from googling that the bottle neck is probably the BT Home Hub2 so if I was to get a 5 port gigabit switch and connect everything through that with one connection to the home hub for internet will that speed the home network side of things up?

At present everything (NAS, PC and SKY HD) goes through the home hub. I fully appreciate that I wont get gigabit speeds but maybe somtime in the future things will be speeded up :thinking:

Thanks

Nick
Nick
 
Define slow?

In theory that will work fine, have a gigabit switch plugged in to the home hub and run everything from that.

If your still accessing the nas over wireless you probably won't see a difference though.
 
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What does your but home run to? 802.11G? If so I think you need 802.11n.
Increase from 54mbit/s to 600mbit/s
 
neil_g said:
Define slow?

In theory that will work fine, have a gigabit switch plugged in to the home hub and run everything from that.

If your still accessing the nas over wireless you probably won't see a difference though.
Click to expand...

Cheers Neil. I downloaded one of the speed test program's so not 100% confident but was giving about 10 Mbps write speed. I know the zyxel is a low end spec but in benchmarking reports it was giving 60 - 70mbps so I would like to be able to achieve somewhere around 45mbps.

I will only really be using it wired as it is mainly for the backups of my main PC.
 
Have you checked its running the latest firmware
 
As you should be reading 95mb/s and writing 64mb/s
 
Gr8Shot said:
Have you checked its running the latest firmware
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Yep checked the nas was on the latest as I always do with any new piece of kit. Not sure on the home hub though as never really thought about that. It is a few years old so might be due an upgrade sometime soon anyway.
 
Ah got you
Old hubs used to run at 10mb/s
Bet that's your bottleneck
 
When replacing, try to get a switch, not a hub, hubs broadcast traffic to every port, switches are intelligent and know which port you want to talk to
 
The home hub is the name BT use to refer to their router I believe. What is the hub?
 
I have a Sky 10/100 modem and was getting very slow speeds over my network (slower over wifi).

Bought a gigabit 10/100/1000 switch and the speed increase was amazing! Averaging about 100Mb/s read and 40+Mb/s write. Synology NAS but that shouldn't make to much difference and the type of file you copy also makes a difference.
 
Gr8Shot said:
When replacing, try to get a switch, not a hub, hubs broadcast traffic to every port, switches are intelligent and know which port you want to talk to
Click to expand...

You'll struggle to buy a hub nowadays, all the consumer grade network kit is switches now and has been for several years. I keep one because sometimes I need hub functionality.
 
Cheers folks - looks like a 10/100/1000 switch might be worth a try :thumbs:
 
Tractor Boy said:
Cheers folks - looks like a 10/100/1000 switch might be worth a try :thumbs:
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If you're going to go to the trouble of buying a new switch, have a look at the ASUS RT-N66U and just use the HH2 as a modem (or even buy a separate modem - which would be my personal choice).

£110 (from a number of real suppliers) may seem a lot, but really, that router is a class above all other routers at that point and the dual 2.4G/5G wireless is excellent (we went from 1 or 2 bars in the bedroom to 4-5 bars when I upgraded my old router). If you have any devices that can communicate on the 5G band, you will get MUCH better throughput if you live anywhere near to others as the 5GHz channels are relatively uncongested.

For a modem, I run one of my internet connections via a TP-Link TD8816 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002CAVR...3549&ref=asc_df_B002CAVRV2&tag=donations09-20) set in passthrough mode with a router/fireall sat behind that. I've been very happy with the modem TBH (although it can be a little tricky to get at the modem status page depending on what you are connecting it to).
 
arad85 said:
If you're going to go to the trouble of buying a new switch, have a look at the ASUS RT-N66U and just use the HH2 as a modem (or even buy a separate modem - which would be my personal choice).

£110 (from a number of real suppliers) may seem a lot, but really, that router is a class above all other routers at that point and the dual 2.4G/5G wireless is excellent (we went from 1 or 2 bars in the bedroom to 4-5 bars when I upgraded my old router). If you have any devices that can communicate on the 5G band, you will get MUCH better throughput if you live anywhere near to others as the 5GHz channels are relatively uncongested.

For a modem, I run one of my internet connections via a TP-Link TD8816 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002CAVR...3549&ref=asc_df_B002CAVRV2&tag=donations09-20) set in passthrough mode with a router/fireall sat behind that. I've been very happy with the modem TBH (although it can be a little tricky to get at the modem status page depending on what you are connecting it to).
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Hi Andy,

Thanks very much for that - very detailed and much food for thought!!

Just so I have it clear in my slightly befuddled brain (too much googling). You have the TP-Link modem connected to the phone line with a single cable to the Asus Router. Everything else then connects to the Asus hence the increase in performance and wireless.

Does the Asus act as the firewall that you are refering to and so protecting the NAS etc?

Is the TP-Link modem easy to set into passthorugh mode for a simpleton like me :D
 
Tractor Boy said:
Just so I have it clear in my slightly befuddled brain (too much googling). You have the TP-Link modem connected to the phone line with a single cable to the Asus Router. Everything else then connects to the Asus hence the increase in performance and wireless.
Click to expand...
Yes - the modem connects to the WAN port on the Asus (but see *1 below).

Tractor Boy said:
Does the Asus act as the firewall that you are refering to and so protecting the NAS etc?
Click to expand...
Yes (but see *1 below)

Tractor Boy said:
Is the TP-Link modem easy to set into passthorugh mode for a simpleton like me :D
Click to expand...
Fairly easy. You have to connect to it and set it up in pass through mode which isn't a problem, but if you don't know what pass through (aka bridge) mode is and why you would use it, it may be a bit confusing. For BT (which is how I ended up setting it up) you just have to set 4 things correctly in the UI, but you have to find them based on the documentation that comes with it.

Something like the Dlink 320B may be a little easier to setup (I've never tried it, but it appears to be easier from the descriptions).

*1). I actually use the Asus as an access point - not as a router. The two networks I manage (two locations) have PCs that have 2 network cards in that sit between the network and the outside world. I run dedicated firewall software on the PCs rather than use a router like the Asus - simply to allow me a little more flexibility (and pain when things don't work!!) in how I run my network. Having said that, in more normal configurations the Asus acts as the firewall. The modem does the comms with the network, the Asus does all the non-analogue stuff - i.e. it does everything apart from talk with the phone line. I have to say I have been supremely impressed by the Asus in both features and performance and think it is one of the star consumer networking buys - even at £110.
 
arad85 said:
Yes - the modem connects to the WAN port on the Asus (but see *1 below).

Yes (but see *1 below)

Fairly easy. You have to connect to it and set it up in pass through mode which isn't a problem, but if you don't know what pass through (aka bridge) mode is and why you would use it, it may be a bit confusing. For BT (which is how I ended up setting it up) you just have to set 4 things correctly in the UI, but you have to find them based on the documentation that comes with it.

Something like the Dlink 320B may be a little easier to setup (I've never tried it, but it appears to be easier from the descriptions).

*1). I actually use the Asus as an access point - not as a router. The two networks I manage (two locations) have PCs that have 2 network cards in that sit between the network and the outside world. I run dedicated firewall software on the PCs rather than use a router like the Asus - simply to allow me a little more flexibility (and pain when things don't work!!) in how I run my network. Having said that, in more normal configurations the Asus acts as the firewall. The modem does the comms with the network, the Asus does all the non-analogue stuff - i.e. it does everything apart from talk with the phone line. I have to say I have been supremely impressed by the Asus in both features and performance and think it is one of the star consumer networking buys - even at £110.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy :thumbs:

I am thinking this may well be the way to go. Our wireless, even though it does work in every room, is patchy towards the front edge of the bungalow (1930's solid walls) and so this might be the answer to update and improve the equipment and hopefully increase the wireless at the front of the bungalow.
Having a son with autism does cause issues when the wireless network is patchy where he wants to be!!!!!
 
The other advantage of separate modem/router is if you ever go BT Infinity, you just replace the modem (in fact, BT supply this anyway). Everything else (apart from login information if you switch providers) stays the same so no figuring out how to redo all the settings on the router as it gets swapped out.
 
Tractor Boy said:
I will only really be using it wired as it is mainly for the backups of my main PC.
Click to expand...

But its not a backup its just a copy, if you have 4 tb of data I would seriously give some thought to a real backup solution.

Jd
 
jd.smith said:
But its not a backup its just a copy, if you have 4 tb of data I would seriously give some thought to a real backup solution.

Jd
Click to expand...


It backs up whats on my PC in Raid 1 (so only 2TB) giving me two copies at home with a third copy done regularly of site. I thinkk that is fairly robust as a backup solution :shrug:
 
Offsite remote to the original data ;) otherwise it is just a copy. Now the OP has both but we didn't know that hence my comment.
 
jd.smith said:
But its not a backup its just a copy
Click to expand...
No... it's a backup (which is defined as a copy of data intended to replace the original data whether the loss is through deletion or fire/theft). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup

What you are referring to is an offsite backup. What we have here is an onsite/online backup. An onsite backup is probably better than 80% of the population anyway (I know the point is moot given the OP has offsite but if you're going to be a pedant, then so am I ;) :p)
 
Not trying to be padantic or clever just trying to stop people losing data, I was brought up believeing a copy isnt a backup until its offsite and would recomened that definition to anyone its far better than searching through a burnt out building looking for an online copy.
 
yep a fireproof safe is a great idea so long as its off site to :)

Waiting to be given access to the burn out building and finding a suitable contractor to dig through the rubble your business could have gone under.

Cant find the stat now but the chamber of commerce did some research 2-3 years ago and something like 75% off small businesses never recover from a fire.
 
Thread resurection time but wanted to say a mahoosive thanks to Andy (arad85) for pointing me in the right direction and answering stuipid questions last night!!!

Have now installed a TP-Link 8816 modem into an ASUS RT-N66U Router and wired with Cat6 - wow what a difference to the old network!!!

Took a bit of head scratching to set up but well worth it. Wireless much stronger and a gigabit network behind the modem linking all the wired stuff in the house (Sky HD, NAS, PC, PS3).
 
No problems. :) Glad you have it all sorted and you are pleased with the router.
 
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