I've built up a MD1500 clone. It works ok from my main computer and dlink router. I tried moving the server into my living room next to my htpc and connecting the 2 using a short cat 5 cable. It didn't work. I've confirmed that that the lan works on the htpc by connecting to the Internet using a wireless bridge. The living room computer connects to the internet using an internal wireless card so I don't use a router there. The htpc mobo is a Asus Maximus Formula with a Marvell gigabit lan chip. I've done a some research on this and the one thing I see that is different is the living room p.c. does not use a gateway ip address but I don't know where to go from there. Is this a good way to configure this system? I could keep the server with the main computer/router but then I would be streaming over the wireless which I prefer not to do and I have more room where the htpc is. My wireless is draft n so it is doable but Id rather not.

 

Also I've noticed some odd behavior between my main computer and the unraid server. I've made a short cut in my favorites to the server gui. I have the server set up for a static IP address and local master is yes and I'm running xp pro. About 1 in 4 times when I click on the short cut it will immediatly shut down the server. I get the white screen with the "server is shutting down" message in the top left corner. I let it power down and then reboot and and it is ok. The other 3 times it logs into the gui normally and I can see disk status etc. I find this really odd because a normal shut down would require the array to be taken off line, when I click on the shortcut the array is on line. The server is using the P5B-VM D0 mother board. I don't know if providing the sys log would be helpfull since the the log is reset with every reboot but I can if need be. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any help on these issues would be appreciated.

Thanks

Luckyflyer

You can't use a regular cat5 cable to connect two network clients - you need a cross-over cable.

 

 

Bill

Thanks I'll give that a try. Any thoughts on the shut down issue?

Luckyflyer

I bought a crossover cable from rat shack still no joy.

Thankfully, perhaps because of newer and smarter technology, gigabit cards or chipsets seem to auto-recognize the cabling, and when they detect a cable should be a crossover but is not, will adapt and reverse the lines.  In the past as Bill said, you would have needed a crossover cable.

 

As to your network, I'm going to do some guessing here, and you can correct me.  I suspect your D-Link router is also a wireless router and an Internet router.  Your HTPC has a wireless network connection to the D-Link router, so it is getting DHCP services from it, a local IP, gateway IP, and netmask.  Your HTPC also has a gigabit chipset, and you are trying to establish a second network connection through it to the unRAID server, but there is no DHCP server on either end of this network connection.  If this is correct, then you may need someone with more network knowledge to show you how to set up this network connection, and configure the HTPC and unRAID server.

 

If you are using default settings on the D-Link router, then it is probably set up as 192.168.0.*.  So you might try configuring the TCP/IP settings of the gigabit LAN connection, setting its static IP to 192.168.2.1, and then setting the unRAID server (on the Settings tab, Network settings) to 192.168.2.2, netmask 255.255.255.0, 'Obtain IP Address Automatically' to No, and gateway to 192.168.2.1.  I'm going from memory here and guessing a bit, so someone else may well correct me, or explain it better, but perhaps this will give you something to play with.

 

The easy way would be to add a cheap router between your HTPC and unRAID server, and it would provide DHCP services.  Or run a line from your router into your living room, giving you a faster and more reliable connection.

 

You mention Cat5 cable.  For gigabit connections, you should be using Cat5e or Cat6.

 

As to the shutdown problem, it should not be happening, and I have never heard of anyone else having this problem.  The only thing I can think of is check your shortcut or favorite, and make sure the URL is "http://tower/main.htm" (without the quotes).  If you changed the name of your unRAID server, then substitute that name for tower.

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this. I must say that networking gives me more grief than any other aspect of computing. Yes the Dlink is a wireless N router that not only serves the htpc but also 2 other computers as well. The dlink is set as 192.168.0.1 and only does duty as a wireless router.  If I went the router between the htpc and server route that would give me the fast streaming speed that I'm looking for as well as putting the server next to the htpc which is where I want it. Would I then configure the unraid as 192.168.2.2 and the router (gateway?) to 192.168.2.1 and the subnet to 255.255.255.0. Doing it this way would avoid conflicts with the other router correct? If this is correct I think that is the way I will go. I will also try your suggestion regarding the favorite name.

Again thanks

luckyflyer

Exactly what is the nature of the "shortcut" and what is the URL it is using?

The shortcut is to 192.168.0.11 which is the static address I gave the server. I'm not sure what you mean by nature of the shortcut. I just made it a favorite for the sake of convince.

Thanks

luckyflyer

I meant was it in the browser bookmarks or on the desktop.

An IE 7 bookmark

I think what BubbaQ is trying to find out if you made a shortcut to "mainpage" or to "mainpage+reboot button pressed"

Not sure if it is possible at all, but it is a nice troubleshooting thought.

/Rene

 

I get it now. It is to the main gui page. The one that shows the disk status, temps etc.