Proper Network Setup for NAS

[ekgajewski]

I am purchasing the Western Digital Sentinel 8TB NAS for my small business. (Unless someone can convince me why I should do something else, for $1125 it seems like a great little machine.) It has 2 Gigabit ports.

I will be using this to store common files for employees to work from as well as access the files remotely, I still do a lot of work from home. At most, there will be 3-4 computers in the office.

My question is this...

My cable internet comes with a modem/router with 4 ports. I am also planning on purchasing an 8 port Gigabit switch by Netgear. Should I connect the NAS directly to the modem/router or to the switch?

Is there anything else I should do for the network to boost performance?

Thank you for your help.

 

[jfreggie]

Your best bet would be to put the NAS and all computers that are in the office on the Gigabit switch. Attach the modem/router to the gigabit switch as well. All computers will be able to communicate with each other and the NAS as full gigabit speeds, and will be able to access the internet at whatever speed you are provided by your cable provider.

 

[ekgajewski]

Thank you for the reply. Do you think that off site access to the NAS will be noticeably affected?

 

[Alabalcho]

Off-site access to the NAS will be limited by the speed of your Internet connection, and unless you have sewer-pipe-size Internet, router-to-switch-to-NAS connection is not going to be a bottleneck.

 

[FireWire2]

You should get a managed Gb switch support IEEE 803-ad.
Configured the NAS as bonding/teaming to double the I/O bandwidth from the NAS

This ensure your NAS has a BIG Pipe for data flow in and out, the rest just connect to Gb E port of the switch

 

[ekgajewski]

Thank you for the input, looking for the right switch now.

 

[ekgajewski]

Would this work???

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150087

 

[FireWire2]

Would this work???

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150087

I look at the manual. It supports LACP (bonding/teaming).

You are good to go 🙂