Recommendation for a NAS-centric 5G home network setup

[vomoto]

I'm planning to upgrade my home network now that I'm finally using NAS. Going from a simple MacBook with a bunch of external drives, I'm on the market for a reliable, next-gen wireless, NAS-centric home network setup:

- Dual band or more (simultaneous) wireless AC with 4-6 port Gigabit network switch
- consistent downlink/uplink throughput.
- secure & stable.

Usage scenario:

- centralized data storage for massive photo library (hundreds of aperture/Lightroom library)
- backup (Time Machine)
- decent media collection (file serving only, no transcoding)
- 3-4 portable devices (iPhones. iPads, android tv box), 2-3 Macs.
- Macs will connect on 5Ghz ac network, portables on 2.4Ghz.

Environment:

- walled single floor landed housing with little walls of about 12 x 12m (40x40ft) coverage area.
- many other APs in the neighborhood
- yard in front and back of house.

Current choices:

- Combined switch + AP, e.g. Linksys WRT1900AC/similar.
- Dedicated Gigabit (or 10Gigabit?) switch, with a separate wireless ac AP (e.g. Ubiquiti Unifi API).

My question:

- based on my usage scenario, what kind of setup would you recommend?
- what's your current setup, and if you were to do it all over again, what will you change?

Thank you for your time and wisdom.

 

[stevech]

First .. coverage.
Square footage?
# floors
Special situation - lath/plaster? Drywall? Masonry walls?
Outdoor spaces?

These lead to how many if any supplemental access points are needed.

Opinion: Don't spend $$$ on 802.11ac. Esp. for handhelds.

 

[claykin]

How large is your space? Single floor, multi floor? Will the Wifi AP/Router be centrally located? Are you in an urban environment with lots of competing wifi APs? If you don't know, install inSSIDER on your laptop or phone and scan for other networks. Basically, tell us more about your environment...

Regardless, I wouldn't choose the Linksys WRT1900AC. Personal preference. I'd say go with Asus since there's active firmware development. Its also one of your best throughput/range options. The Asus AC models can be used as either a router or AP.

Uniquiti Unifi is great, but probably not your best choice if you only need a single AP. The controller runs on a PC/Mac and is required for certain features (such as Guest LAN), web based management, etc. The good thing about Unifi is that it supports VLANs. Then again, you could get VLAN support on the Asus using DDWRT firmware....

As far as the NAS is concerned, personally I'd say go for a QNAP model such as the TS-453Pro. I like a NAS with an LCD to provide messaging, plus this model is their latest, its fast, fairly future proof and supports a ton of options. Alternatively you can choose a similar Synology model but few Synology models have an LCD on the NAS. Not a deal breaker, but I find them handy for some troubleshooting or eyeballing status.

 

[mdgm]

10G is still likely too expensive for most home users. Unless you are getting a NAS with 10G and expect to access it from multiple devices over a wired gigabit ethernet connection at the same time then you don't need a 10G switch. If you did get a NAS with 10G you'd be better off getting a gigabit switch with a few 10G ports than a switch with just 10G ports.

An option would be to get a smart gigabit switch and use LACP teaming. Not as good performance wise as 10G but much more affordable for the home. Again this would only really be useful if using multiple clients over wired connections. Using wireless, the wireless connection is going to be the bottleneck.

10G is good, but unless you will be making significant income from your use of the NAS I would think you would be best to not get 10G now and reconsider it when it comes time to replace the NAS you intend to purchase soon.

As for centralised data storage that depends on how well the software you are using supports that. You may find this doesn't work as well as you expected. There are different options with their own pros and cons such as ordinary network shares or iSCSI. Especially with iSCSI I would recommend using a wired gigabit ethernet connection.

If the NAS will be used for primary storage of important data then you also need to consider backing up the data on the NAS. Photos are a good example of data that is irreplaceable. Think how you would feel if you only have one copy of a photo and e.g. you have multiple disk failures in your NAS...

 

[vomoto]

Thanks guys. Post updated with the environment parameters.

I know the wireless is going to be the bottleneck, but since my main machine is a MacBook Pro, I don't see any reason to wire up, except for some special connection. I live in a relatively humid but quiet windy tropical city, near the sea, so I'm housing all my gears in a wooden cabinet for safety, if there's a special case, it would be this. The wireless will be inside a wooden cabinet (well-ventilated & temperature controlled).

 

[stevech]

old addage

Wireless is hard.. due to laws of physics.

If you can run wire, do so!

 

[azazel1024]

Deffinitely. From the sounds of it, you are looking for extremely high performance. Sticking it in a wooden cabinet is going to kill that, especially if it is a thick wooden cabinet. Oh, sure, it won't impact things too much, but 5GHz doesn't take much to be disturbed and you seem to be going for max performance. I'd wire what you can. Its a laptop, sure, but based on what is sounds like you do (amateur/professional photographer), you probably do a lot of your work at a desk. Run a wire to the desk and connect up your Mac Book Pro whenever you are at your desk.

At best, same room, you are probably looking at 65-80MB/sec over wireless from a Mac Book Pro to a good AC1750/1900 router. Stuck in a wooden cabinet, figure you can probably knock 10-15% off that figure. If you are a room away from it, figure you can drop that down to 30-40MB/sec range. Across the house (figuring 2x4 construction, not masonry/concrete) for a 40x40ft house and figure more like 5-10MB/sec on 5GHz even if only a couple of walls in the way. 2.4GHz would perform a lot better across a house like that (but not resonably close to the router).

Gigabit wired on the other hand, 115-118MB/sec, which is a HECK of a lot better. Maybe only modestly better than same room and close to the router, but start getting distance and obstacles in the way and the performance difference is huge.

It does not sound like you have a need for 10GbE. Other than possibly buying a NAS that is, you have no devices that can do that and 10GbE is NOT on the cusp of being a wide spread and common thing. Ask again in 5 years and the answer might be different.

Also from the sounds of what you are doing, backups, backups, backups. At a minimum external storage connected to the NAS and backing up to the external storage frequently. Better yet would be a second NAS physically isolated from the first one, with external storage connected to that, with backups done from the 1st NAS to the 2nd NAS and then periodically to the externally connected storage.

3 copies of everything, ESPECIALLY if it is stuff you derive an income from is really a necessary thing.

 

[stevech]

sage advise. The 3-2-1 rule for backups.

http://www.40tech.com/2012/06/12/follow-the-3-2-1-backup-rule-to-safeguard-your-files/

I would add to the argument for automated extensive backup, these causes

human error (deleted folder. formatted drive.

• Theft of all your home PC goodies
• corrupted file system (power glitch, virus)

and then the usual list of hardware failures...