NAS (DNS-323) directly to Mac Mini with Crossover Cable

[JonHimself]

So I have a DNS-323 set-up to store my itunes library. It's fine if I'm just watching on my computer (not as fast as a USB drive, but that's understandable) but I find that when I stream to my AppleTV it's not reliable/slow. There is a mixture of wireless and wired connections to get there and understand that it's a less than ideal set-up.
I have read that it is possible to connect the DNS-323 directly to a computer and figure that might help with the speed. I have the latest firmware and have set the NAS to a static IP. When I connect it directly to my computer, the NAS recognizes a network connection (the network icon lights up on the DNS-323) but I am unable to connect to it. I have tried 192.168.1.x from 1-200 and none of them work. I installed a Bonjour add-on to the NAS and using a program called Bonjour Browser am able to see the NAS with it's associated IP. I cannot connect to it still.
Is anyone able to help me out with this? I have tried SMB and FTP connections and when it's connected to my router there are no problems, when connected to my computer it is unable to connect.
If more information is needed, I'll do my best to provide it.

 

[belvdr]

You will need to assign a static IP, along with an identical subnet mask, on both units (Mini and the NAS). The subnet should _not_ overlap with your wireless subnet.

'd guess that 172.16.1.1 and 172.16.1.2 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 will not overlap. You do not need to assign a default gateway on either unit.

Once you do this, you can map the share over the 172.16.1.x IP of the NAS.

 

[JonHimself]

Thanks, I'm going to try that tonight. Currently, every device on my network is assigned a static ip by my time capsule using their MAC address. I'll take a look at the subnet but I'm pretty sure that they're the same on both the Mini and the NAS but will have to confirm.
The weird thing is that after I installed the Bonjour plug-in and plug the NAS directly into my Mini it shows up with an IP address (192.168.1.9) but I am still unable to actually connect to it. It does not show up in Finder and using command+k and typing in the address (smb://192....) it says it cannot find the NAS. It's probably a minor detail I'm missing, but I'll check the subnet.
When you say "172.16.1.1" is that just an example of an IP address or should I actually use that? I'm guessing it's just an example.
With regards to the overlap, the Mini is .1.6 and the NAS is .1.9 so I think I have that covered.. we'll see. Thanks again though! Hopefully it works.

 

[JonHimself]

I lied, it does have the same subnet (the NAS and my Mini) but when plugged into my Mini it does not show up in the Bonjour Browser.
Would it have anything to do with sharing my internet connection over the ethernet port TO the NAS? Just throwing things out there because even with static IPs and being on the same subnet, the NAS does not show up when connected to my Mini.

 

[zhenya]

Do you have any interest in troubleshooting why it is having trouble streaming to the AppleTV directly? It shouldn't be a problem - so if it is, there is likely something else going on with your network - something that we can probably help you to sort out. If so, try to explain your network layout as clearly as possible.

I'm not clear on how connecting it directly to the mini is going to help with streaming to the AppleTV - it will still have to traverse the network to get to the AppleTV.

 

[JonHimself]

I blame not truly understanding and just pretending that I do know how networks work for thinking it's a problem with the streaming. I figured to stream from my computer to the AppleTV the request was going from my Macmini wirelessly to the router, wired to the NAS, back to the router, back to the Macmini then back to the router and out to the AppleTV... as you can see, that's the explanation someone would get if they sketched out a picture and made arrows to describe what was happening... probably isn't what's actually happening haha
My network is pretty simple. DSL to Time Capsule as my router. I have the Time Capsule set-up as the DHCP distributor (or whatever) and have assigned all of my devices a static IP address based on their MAC address. On the network there is a Mac Mini (wireless), Macbook Pro (wireless), DNS-323 (wired), AppleTV, iPad, 2 iphone 4s and an older ipod touch. There will be an xbox eventually but I don't even think that'll connect to the router.
I don't have a guest network set-up (thought I would like to) and have a few ports forwarded to the Mac Mini (VNC, Transmission, some media streaming etc). I haven't changed any other settings (at least not intentionally) and am thinking that I may just have unrealistic expectations for the speed. When I'm using iTunes I find it takes a few seconds for album/tv show artwork to show up and moving around iTunes screens seems to be delayed. Even starting up videos on the Mac Mini isn't exactly "quick". Please let me know if this is just something that I'd have to deal with as a result of storing my iTunes on the NAS or, as you mentioned, if there are ways to improve the set-up. It will sometimes stutter during videos or even while playing songs. I know that it won't be as fast as a USB drive or anything like that but suppose I assumed it "should" be better.
I'm not at home so I can't exactly post much detail about stuff if you need it now (I realized my new ISP doesn't give me a static IP so I have to request that so I can use VNC and whatnot) but could get more information later.

 

[zhenya]

It actually sounds like you have a pretty good handle on how traffic is flowing. Let me just make sure I understand:
-Time Capsule connected to DSL
-Mac Mini connected wirelessly
-Macbook Pro connected wirelessly
-AppleTv (wired or wireless??)
-DNS-323 wired to Time Capsule

The mini is the iTunes control center, but the actual content is stored on the DNS-323, correct?

If the above is correct, then yes, in fact what is happening is that to play a video on the AppleTV, the AppleTV must send a request to the Mini, the Mini must fetch the data from the DNS-323, which must then send it back to the Mini, which then relays it to the AppleTV. If your devices are connected over 802.11g, then there may not be enough bandwidth to do this smoothly.

Options that should help considerably:
- Can you connect the Mac Mini and/or the AppleTV to the router via Ethernet?
- Can you move the iTunes library to the Mini?

For years I too had my iTunes library on a NAS, but I eventually realized that I wasn't gaining much from it. I was rarely accessing that content directly from other computers, and with Home Sharing built-in to the new versions of iTunes, you can copy content directly to the other computers in the house if you like. Now, I keep the iTunes library on my iMac which 'serves' it to the rest of the devices in the house, and I use the NAS primarily as a backup location, and as a catch-all for other content that I want to be available to any client.

 

[JonHimself]

I could connect the Mini via ethernet, that would probably help things. The library cannot be stored on the Mini, my iTunes library currently is around 3 TB. I was trying to avoid getting something like a Drobo or even a USB attachment with two drive bays that I could combine in a JBOD because of the cost. I suppose it might be worth it though. As it stands I have all of the content backed up on a number of various USB drives that I've collected over the past few years (mostly 500GB ones) so having a JBOD set-up on the DNS-323 is more about maximizing space than it is redundancy (since I do that manually).
The AppleTV is wireless and will continue to be wireless (no option to wire that). Would my network not be on 802.11n since the router is dual-band? I'm not entirely sure I understand how that works but I'm pretty sure the only G device is the iPod Touch, even if the dual-band doesn't work as I think it does, if I turned that off I would think all of my devices would be on N.

 

[zhenya]

It would certainly be worth investigating the wifi to make sure you are in fact operating in N mode. That said, wiring the Mini directly will probably do the trick - as that would remove 2 of the three wireless hops that are currently necessary to stream content to the AppleTV.

 

[DoFoT9]

It would certainly be worth investigating the wifi to make sure you are in fact operating in N mode. That said, wiring the Mini directly will probably do the trick - as that would remove 2 of the three wireless hops that are currently necessary to stream content to the AppleTV.

this seems to be an important factor of the problem - also, we need some more information about what bitrates, resolution and quality the media is that is being played on the appleTV. it is also important to state what appleTV you have - if its the newest appleTV, the probem is likely with it then anything else.

802.11g will hit 3MB/s throughput max, not much more. that basically only rules out ripped BD movies (which the appleTV cannot play anyway).

its also important to download kismac and scan your area for wireless AP (access points) - maybe there is LOADS of interference.?

 

[JonHimself]

It would certainly be worth investigating the wifi to make sure you are in fact operating in N mode. That said, wiring the Mini directly will probably do the trick - as that would remove 2 of the three wireless hops that are currently necessary to stream content to the AppleTV.

I will try that and see if makes a difference, thanks again!

this seems to be an important factor of the problem - also, we need some more information about what bitrates, resolution and quality the media is that is being played on the appleTV. it is also important to state what appleTV you have - if its the newest appleTV, the probem is likely with it then anything else.

802.11g will hit 3MB/s throughput max, not much more. that basically only rules out ripped BD movies (which the appleTV cannot play anyway).

its also important to download kismac and scan your area for wireless AP (access points) - maybe there is LOADS of interference.?

So a large portion of it is DVDs/TV shows from DVDs converted with the AppleTV preset in Handbrake. The rest of the video either from a Bluray ripped myself or 720p MKVs. I use Handbrake and have changed the AppleTV preset to keep the resolution at 720p and bumped up the bitrate 3000kbps.
The AppleTV is the old one but plan on adding the new one around christmas, what is it that makes you think that would be the culprit?
Is there a way to check if my network is running on N or G? I would think there could be some kind of speed test or something for internal transfers that would give me a good idea.
I was reading about that app, I'll take a look at it and see what else is out there. I can see a number of networks in the airport menu so it's possible there is a good amount of interference. Perhaps I could change the router channel (or something like that, right?) if a lot of other networks are using the same? Would kismac help determine that as well or should I use something like the wifi stumbler web site? Thanks for your help as well!