Need help - what equipment to buy?

[grit]

I need some equipment suggestions. My biggest concern is being able to stream media off the WHS (or NAS) AND backup speeds across the network (both wired and wireless). I want all wired gigabit capable.

So, media box in garage will have five CAT6 cables:
1 goes to - entertainment center (includes TiVo x2, Sonos, Oppo Blu-Ray, and Pioneer tv)
2 goes to - office (includes printer, desktop computer)
3 goes to - WHS box (on shelf above box)
4 goes to - unused outlet (may be used for LAN parties or other occasional use)
5 goes to - wireless access point in the attic (connects to Wii, 2 laptops, smart phone, etc)

#1 & 2 will need switches (obviously).
I need a router in the media box.
I need a wireless access point in the attic. I do not need dual band, but do not mind if dual band is included.

I want to make sure the hardware isn't slowing stuff down at all.

My current router is a D-Link 655.
My current switches are D-Link "green" gigabit switches.

I need either a new wireless router or a wireless access point (and I should be able to use the D-Link 655 as the other, right?).

My biggest concern previously was VERY SLOW bare metal restore times off my WHS box (which is running 2 GB ram on an old Intel Core 2 duo CPU). It took over 8 hours to restore a 200GB SSD!!!

So, can someone please point out the weak spots in my network and suggest some new equipment to fix it?

Thanks!
__________________
- Garrett

 

[thiggins]

Gigabit Ethernet is what you need for fast NAS access. Even 802.11n will give you best case around 80 Mbps which is 10 MB/s, and typically half that. Both are slower than 100 Mbps Ethernet.

 

[grit]

I should have clarified... I was using gigabit for the bare metal restore.

When I look at the router charts, i can't figure out which measurement is showing the speed with which the router operates. Also, there are not many WAPs listed, so i was wondering if anyone could recommend one, if it it was more effective to buy a wireless router and disable the router and just use it as an access point.

 

[thiggins]

I calculate around 7 MB/s for the restore, not unreasonable for reading of many files and folders.

All Router Charts benchmarks show wired routing performance.

You'll have more selection using a wireless router converted to an AP.

 

[grit]

I don't get it... most of the NAS charts show directory copy from/to speeds (at the top) well over double that. And the average read/write speeds up in the 70's to 100's of MB/sec. In the 70's to 100's of MB/sec range, a full restore of 200 GB should take about 45 minutes. What's the limiting factor here? The WHS? Gigabit? The router?

I'll happily replace whatever hardware is necessary to not have to sit through another 8 hour bare metal restore...

 

[thiggins]

I don't get it... most of the NAS charts show directory copy from/to speeds (at the top) well over double that. And the average read/write speeds up in the 70's to 100's of MB/sec. In the 70's to 100's of MB/sec range, a full restore of 200 GB should take about 45 minutes. What's the limiting factor here? The WHS? Gigabit? The router?

I'll happily replace whatever hardware is necessary to not have to sit through another 8 hour bare metal restore...

The Read/Write tests use > 1 GB files and primarily test sequential read/write performance. Once you start moving folders of mixed size files, then performance drops dramatically due to drive head seek time.

Run a quick test yourself and download the restore file from your NAS to the PC that was restored and see what the transfer rate is.

 

[grit]

I've done the same thing with a HDD connected directly to my computer (internal). In that case, the restore took about 1 hour, roughly 10x faster. I figured the only difference here was the network connection vs controller. I assume it has to do with overhead of sending data via network? If so, is there any way to speed that up (or rather, cut down the overhead)?

I've read about "jumbo packets", both that it makes a big difference and that it makes no difference. If that's the answer, is there somewhere I can read about how to set it up successfully? I have 2 wireless computers, 1 wired computer, 1 WHS, several different wireless devices, and a wired 10/100 printer, all on the same network, and I doubt they all support jumbo frames...

 

[thiggins]

Network overhead can be significant. Vista SP1 and later and Win 7 have optimizations that can help throughput. But jumbo frames won't help much.