Network Switch vs?

[Nbd508]

I am new to NAS and networking; currently my Airport 2tb just doesn't touch my needs with 25mb transfer speeds and my interest is to use either my current pc or purchase a synology nas in raid 10 to store media for access on and off network. Additionally I am intending to use a portion for my backups and to access files such as video capture from my pc on my macbook for my preferred video editing on Finalcut at better than painful speeds when it comes to accessing files.

My current pc is the Masterbox 5 and as you can see from the image(see TOWER.jpg) I am not sure I can mount a 4 or 5bay hotswap chassis inside with the current set up.  That being said an external option(like the ds418play) may be my best use. Also not to compromise the usage of the cpu without having additional raid controllers.   (as I currently understand it, correct me if I am wrong)

I have been looking at also upgrading from the current g1100 router my ISP so graciously RENTS to me to the ASUS ROGAC5300.  This appears to support 2 port L-A and 2 ports linked as "gaming"

What would be my best options for networking and speeds with using the single motherboard connection?  Would it be wise to invest in a multiple port NIC; use that for both interface from the router to the pc and router to NAS.  Should I daisy chain it from all three? Network switch? 

Being new I can't fully grasp the benefit of redundant connections or the best use for the routers 2 gaming and 2 L-A.  It seems to me that the claim of 2gb transfer for NAS in L-A through the ac5300 doesn't touch the actual speeds I could have using a very basic 10gb switch.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[NelizMastr]

A NAS should always be a separate box. It's really not best practice to combine it with a gaming system. The offerings from Synology and QNAP are the easiest to setup and manage by far. 

 

Network wise, a wired gigabit connection will get you a transfer speed of around 100MB/s, so if that's enough for you, make sure you're running a wired gigabit connection to all systems that need to access the NAS regularly. Wi-Fi is not recommended unless you have a decent AC router with perfect signal strength as speeds deteriorate very quickly.

For instance, I get about 45MB/s in the same room as the router over AC Wi-Fi on my Retina MBP when transferring to and from my Synology NAS. 

 

Now, let's talk RAID. Why are you considering RAID10 (or 1+0, mirrored stripes)? While performance is great, the single gigabit link on the typical NAS is a massive bottleneck. You're also halving the available capacity of your disks effectively as you stripe half of the drives and that volume is mirrored to another set. The best compromise between performance and capacity would be RAID5. 

RAID is NOT a back-up, though! Always have a separate back-up method to back-up your NAS, like external USB disks you change every once in a while so you can keep multiple versions around.

 

 

[Nbd508]

Quote

Network wise, a wired gigabit connection will get you a transfer speed of around 100MB/s, so if that's enough for you, make sure you're running a wired gigabit connection to all systems that need to access the NAS regularly.

The faster the better; which is why I had mentioned a NIC with more ports than my current on board single Ethernet connection to the MOBO. I would then be using one Ethernet connection from the AC5300 to the NIC for Internet access and 2 ports back to the router for the 2 to the NAS.  I don't see why with a NIC and the NAS up to 1gb transfer speeds wouldn't be possible. The DS418play for instance has 2x 1g Ethernet ports, wouldn't the drives be my bottleneck?

Quote

Now, let's talk RAID. Why are you considering RAID10 (or 1+0, mirrored stripes)? While performance is great, the single gigabit link on the typical NAS is a massive bottleneck.

As I understand it RAID 10 has the ability to (yes cut storage by %50) allow up to 2 drive failures and single drive replacements.  It appears to me it has the best of both RAID 0 and 1.  Perhaps I should invest more time in RAID - re|se|ar|ch  (hehe)
 

[NelizMastr]

2 hours ago, Nbd508 said:

The faster the better; which is why I had mentioned a NIC with more ports than my current on board single Ethernet connection to the MOBO. I would then be using one Ethernet connection from the AC5300 to the NIC for Internet access and 2 ports back to the router for the 2 to the NAS.  I don't see why with a NIC and the NAS up to 1gb transfer speeds wouldn't be possible. The DS418play for instance has 2x 1g Ethernet ports, wouldn't the drives be my bottleneck?

As I understand it RAID 10 has the ability to (yes cut storage by %50) allow up to 2 drive failures and single drive replacements.  It appears to me it has the best of both RAID 0 and 1.  Perhaps I should invest more time in RAID - re|se|ar|ch  (hehe)
 

Not all NAS devices support trunking or NIC teaming to properly leverage the dual gigabit links. They're mostly used for load balancing. A harddisk can do roughly 150MB/s transfer and in a RAID10 you can expect double for writes and four times reads in an ideal scenario. You can't modify a RAID10 with a single drive unless there's a single failure. Drives need to be installed in pairs with RAID10 ideally.

[Nbd508]

So the ac5300 and the ds418play wouldn't play nicely together with or without a quad nic / network switch set up? 

[Jarsky]

What are you using this for, that you need 2-Gbit speeds, but can give up 50% of your space with only 4 disks? 

Seems you're wanting to do a lot of stuff on this from your OP, but maybe you should consider a RAID5...also why isnt 1Gbps (110MB/s) enough? 

[Nbd508]

To be fair I don't know if it is or isn't fast enough because I haven't ever tried to do This before. I'm just trying to plan out and maximize my benefit. 

 

The ds418play supports 180-220mb/s read write, I'm just looking to support that if possible 

 

[Jarsky]

In that case then if your router already supports IEEE 802.3ad (LACP) then i would use that to do proper Aggregation. But as for disks I would put them in a RAID5 to maximize your space efficiency. 

[Nbd508]

1 hour ago, Jarsky said:

In that case then if your router already supports IEEE 802.3ad (LACP) then i would use that to do proper Aggregation. But as for disks I would put them in a RAID5 to maximize your space efficiency. 

I am looking at  the Rog AC5300; which only has the 2 port L-A.  So what then would be my ideal physical cable/hardware set up?  I imagine I'd need a switch? 

I currently have my ISP G1100 which is complete garbage

[Jarsky]

11 minutes ago, Nbd508 said:

I am looking at  the Rog AC5300; which only has the 2 port L-A.  So what then would be my ideal physical cable/hardware set up?  I imagine I'd need a switch? 

I currently have my ISP G1100 which is complete garbage

 

That ROG AC5300 is a crazy expensive router, but it also has a built in 8 port switch and as you stated it has Link Aggregation (802.3ad) so theres no need for another switch. 

[Nbd508]

44 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

That ROG AC5300 is a crazy expensive router, but it also has a built in 8 port switch and as you stated it has Link Aggregation (802.3ad) so theres no need for another switch. 

Money isn't the issue, I've had some extremely expensive hobbies in the past and computers are still cheaper than women, kids, and nightly trips to the local pub. 

That being said... this is ONE of several TO-DO's on my list.  Where-as I have the WILL POWER! and the FUNDS, not so much the experience and knowledge. lol

ie:here I AM... 

So using the AC5300 L-A would mean two out or two in right? Wouldn't I NEED 4 ports in L-A to connect to another device?

Again...will and money, not knowledge . sorry for stupid questions.

[Jarsky]

3 minutes ago, Nbd508 said:

Money isn't the issue, I've had some extremely expensive hobbies in the past and computers are still cheaper than women, kids, and nightly trips to the local pub. 

That being said... this is ONE of several TO-DO's on my list.  Where-as I have the WILL POWER! and the FUNDS, not so much the experience and knowledge. lol

ie:here I AM... 

So using the AC5300 L-A would mean two out or two in right? Wouldn't I NEED 4 ports in L-A to connect to another device?

Again...will and money, not knowledge . sorry for stupid questions.

 

You connect the 2 ports on the NAS, to 2 ports on the router, and enable Link Aggregation on the NAS.

You'll need to check the documentation with the router on if theres dedicated ports, or you may need to define on the routers ends which ports are part of the port group. 

[Nbd508]

I appreciate your responses;

So this would best exploit the speed capabilities of the NAS and Router in L-A yes? 

[NelizMastr]

3 hours ago, Nbd508 said:

I appreciate your responses;

So this would best exploit the speed capabilities of the NAS and Router in L-A yes? 

Correct. You aggregate the link between the NAS and the router, and then you need another link to your PC, so you'd need a dual GbE NIC and you're set.

 

All of this of course assuming all endpoints support link aggregation.