Setting up a NAS pretty soon...

[Oberon.Smite]

Hi. I want to setup a PC dedicated to hosting files on my home network. I want to be able to store videos and games on this NAS and have them readily available. I have a spare PC that I want to use but unfortunately it only has 4Gb of RAM  so FreeNAS is a no-go. I have Windows 7 Pro installed on it at the moment, and was wondering if having a network mapped folder is enough for my needs.  Also, if I have a 100mb router, but a gigabit switch, will the router bottlneck the switch when transferring files between the PCs if both are connected to the switch?

[Moderateshadow]

your network is as fast as the weakest link

 

therefore the 100mb router would definitely bottleneck the switch

id invest in a new router. 

 

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Oberon.Smite said:

Hi. I want to setup a PC dedicated to hosting files on my home network. I want to be able to store videos and games on this NAS and have them readily available. I have a spare PC that I want to use but unfortunately it only has 4Gb of RAM  so FreeNAS is a no-go. I have Windows 7 Pro installed on it at the moment, and was wondering if having a network mapped folder is enough for my needs.  Also, if I have a 100mb router, but a gigabit switch, will the router bottlneck the switch when transferring files between the PCs if both are connected to the switch?

That'll be enough. You can use FreeNAS with less than 8GB. You won't have access to ZFS though. The router won't bottleneck anything unless you're going to use the NAS outside of your house.

[Oberon.Smite]

1 minute ago, Moderateshadow said:

your network is as fast as the weakest link

 

therefore the 100mb router would definitely bottleneck the switch

id invest in a new router. 

 

Can data not flow through the switch only though?

[Moderateshadow]

Just now, Oberon.Smite said:

Can data not flow through the switch only though?

anything connected to the router will be 100mb. 

[Moderateshadow]

"  A gigabit switch used in tandem with a gigabit router will allow you to use your local network at speeds up to ten times greater than the previous generation, 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. If either of these components, however, are not gigabit, the entire network will be limited to 10/100 speeds. So, in order to use the maximum amount of speed your network can pump out, you need every single component in your network (including you computers) to be gigabit compliant.  " - tom's hardware post here - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/32924-42-what-purpose-gigabit-ethernet-switch

[Oberon.Smite]

2 minutes ago, Moderateshadow said:

"  A gigabit switch used in tandem with a gigabit router will allow you to use your local network at speeds up to ten times greater than the previous generation, 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. If either of these components, however, are not gigabit, the entire network will be limited to 10/100 speeds. So, in order to use the maximum amount of speed your network can pump out, you need every single component in your network (including you computers) to be gigabit compliant.  " - tom's hardware post here - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/32924-42-what-purpose-gigabit-ethernet-switch

Thanks for the information, but just found out this is irrelevant to me lol. Turns out my ISP-provided router is not complete shit and is actually gigabit. http://www.cox.com/residential/support/internet/article.cox?articleId=a99b4d50-64f5-11e4-f4b9-000000000000

[Oberon.Smite]

12 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

That'll be enough. You can use FreeNAS with less than 8GB. You won't have access to ZFS though. The router won't bottleneck anything unless you're going to use the NAS outside of your house.

If I go ahead and install FreeNAS as a dual boot on another partition, go another file system other than ZFS, and set it up will it give me any complications?

[2FA]

1 minute ago, Moderateshadow said:

"  A gigabit switch used in tandem with a gigabit router will allow you to use your local network at speeds up to ten times greater than the previous generation, 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. If either of these components, however, are not gigabit, the entire network will be limited to 10/100 speeds. So, in order to use the maximum amount of speed your network can pump out, you need every single component in your network (including you computers) to be gigabit compliant.  " - tom's hardware post here - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/32924-42-what-purpose-gigabit-ethernet-switch

That actually isn't the case when you use layer 3/managed switches. You can manually set speeds on different ports so if only the switch is connected to the router and all traffic has to go through the switch first, then you can just set the port that is connected to the router as 10/100 while the rest can 1Gbps. At work we have 10Gbps connecting the switches together, all of the other connections run at 1Gbps. Also, our incoming line doesn't support 10Gbps. It's setup up that way to reduce congestion between switches as we have about 10 servers and 300 clients.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Oberon.Smite said:

If I go ahead and install FreeNAS as a dual boot on another partition, go another file system other than ZFS, and set it up will it give me any complications?

I wouldn't use it on a hard disk. Using a USB flash drive is better for FreeNAS.

[2FA]

7 minutes ago, Moderateshadow said:

"  A gigabit switch used in tandem with a gigabit router will allow you to use your local network at speeds up to ten times greater than the previous generation, 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. If either of these components, however, are not gigabit, the entire network will be limited to 10/100 speeds. So, in order to use the maximum amount of speed your network can pump out, you need every single component in your network (including you computers) to be gigabit compliant.  " - tom's hardware post here - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/32924-42-what-purpose-gigabit-ethernet-switch

Also, I think the guy in that forum post was talking explicitly about a connection made to an outside network instead of just a LAN connection.

[2FA]

17 minutes ago, Oberon.Smite said:

Can data not flow through the switch only though?

The data will only flow through the switch for internal connections. Don't listen to him.

[Oberon.Smite]

1 minute ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

The data will only flow through the switch for internal connections. Don't listen to him.

I guess I'll take your word for it until I can test it out on my own.

[Oberon.Smite]

6 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I wouldn't use it on a hard disk. Using a USB flash drive is better for FreeNAS.

Alright, after installing it on the USB drive I should have no big issues right?

[2FA]

Just now, Oberon.Smite said:

I guess I'll take your word for it until I can test it out on my own.

Considering I do this sort of stuff all the time for a living, I'm pretty confident that it is correct. Regardless of whether it's a Layer 2 or 3 switch, it still won't go through the router.

[2FA]

2 minutes ago, Oberon.Smite said:

Alright, after installing it on the USB drive I should have no big issues right?

As long as the USB drive doesn't die, there shouldn't be issues.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Oberon.Smite said:

Alright, after installing it on the USB drive I should have no big issues right?

No. As long as your LAN chip is on the supported list it should work.

[ARikozuM]

11 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

The data will only flow through the switch for internal connections. Don't listen to him.

I agree. There's no reason for the switch to talk to the router when the connection is intranet/in-network.

[Oberon.Smite]

7 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

As long as the USB drive doesn't die, there shouldn't be issues.

 

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

No. As long as your LAN chip is on the supported list it should work.

Thanks a lot!

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, Oberon.Smite said:

 

Thanks a lot!

No problem. I would set best answer to @DeadEyePsycho's post that includes a quote and lines of text specifically this one.

24 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

That actually isn't the case when you use layer 3/managed switches. You can manually set speeds on different ports so if only the switch is connected to the router and all traffic has to go through the switch first, then you can just set the port that is connected to the router as 10/100 while the rest can 1Gbps. At work we have 10Gbps connecting the switches together, all of the other connections run at 1Gbps. Also, our incoming line doesn't support 10Gbps. It's setup up that way to reduce congestion between switches as we have about 10 servers and 300 clients.

That way anyone who sees this will have the best answer as something more helpful.

[Moderateshadow]

Just now, Oberon.Smite said:

Thanks for the information, but just found out this is irrelevant to me lol. Turns out my ISP-provided router is not complete shit and is actually gigabit. http://www.cox.com/residential/support/internet/article.cox?articleId=a99b4d50-64f5-11e4-f4b9-000000000000

lol well than . perfect