I have been using unRAID at home for a while but would like to put the box out in the garage. Since I have all the networking gear in the house which is seperate from the garage is it possible to use wireless NIC's with unRAID?

 

As I'm in a rental its a not really an option running network cables around the place (although not completely out of the question).

 

If it is being done what are tested cards?

 

Cheers

Using wireless (assuming hardware is supported) is not a problem.

 

Obviously performance is going to be limited to the wireless speed, which will likely be poor.  You'll be limited in how much you can stream in real-time.

Speed at this stage would not be a problem as its primarly used for backups which runs in the background.

 

If setting up WPA for example how do I go about letting unRAID know what key to use etc? Do I add something in the network config file?

 

 

How large backups?

Because WIFI (even in 108 turbo mode) is waaaay slower than GbE...

 

At this point I would just use a cheapo access point in client mode than use a PCI WLAN card.

This way nothing changes in your unRAID setup, configuration is tons easier.

 

 

I have been thinking that might be a better option. Backups are small mainly any docs, photos, etc that have been working on. as I get money to get more drives this will increase to multimedia but that is down the track.

It's my personal opinion that there is currently no support at all for wireless chipsets.  I don't doubt that there is some support within the kernels included with unRAID, but Tom strips the release down to just the minimum required.  He has been very good at adding back any driver that has been requested, but I don't ever remember seeing a request for a wireless chipset, and I'm sure we would have seen it, because as you said, support for a wireless chipset would have to include not just the driver, but a supporting configuration tool to setup the authentication and security for it, and special instructions how to use it.

 

To be honest, wireless access does not seem like a very good idea, but certainly could have a use.

 

It's my personal opinion that there is currently no support at all for wireless chipsets.  I don't doubt that there is some support within the kernels included with unRAID, but Tom strips the release down to just the minimum required.  He has been very good at adding back any driver that has been requested, but I don't ever remember seeing a request for a wireless chipset, and I'm sure we would have seen it, because as you said, support for a wireless chipset would have to include not just the driver, but a supporting configuration tool to setup the authentication and security for it, and special instructions how to use it.

 

To be honest, wireless access does not seem like a very good idea, but certainly could have a use.

 

You might be able to use a wireless router that allows bridging as the interface.  That way, it will have a standard LAN connection to the unRAID server and talk to your other wireless LAN connected to your internet router.

 

Another possibility is a a power line based LAN extender.  I have one by slingbox that is called a "slinglink" and it works pretty well.  Not fast enough to stream DVD ISO images, but  700 Meg divx .avi files and music files play perfectly across it.  (translation, it is slower than a wired connection)  I used it to go from my basement to my bedroom until I put a wired LAN connection into place.  For your needs it might be fast enough.

 

 

Thanks guys I'm not surprised that the wireless would be stripped down as not to many applications would be ok with such low data transfer speeds and attaching a wireless router to connect with main network is quite acceptable.

I will go with the wireless router for the mean time as all I really want is some off site type backups that are quite small in size as majority of data is already on the server. Will look at the power adapter idea but when have the time will probably try and wire in some cat cables on the cheap as the power adapter would probably come obsolete when move as with bit of luck will be buying house and then it will be a house rewire  and can use the cat wire.

 

 

 

Like Joe said, get a router and configure it as a bridge. This router will connect to your main router wirelessly (you configure your password and what not on the bridge). So, you just plug in an ethernet cable from the back of the bridge to your unRAID server and you're good to go. I used to do this in my place because I couldn't run wires.

 

Buy the Linksys WRT54GL (not the G or GS... get the GL).

 

Flash it with DD-WRT firmware from here:

 

http://dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php

 

Search on google for a guide on setting up the DD-WRT firmware as a bridge.

 

If you have any question about this setup let me know.

If you can find a plain access point it will be better.

Sometimes routers are "too complex" (and more expensive than needed) to setup as plain bridges.

 

 

Linksys makes a wireless bridge. I have one & it works great. You configure it with a windows machine. Whatever machine you plug it into thinks you are plugged into a wired network. From what I understand the Linksys wireless game adapter works the same way. It is just a wireless bridge. Hope this helps..

 

Phil

 

Edit: The machine has to have a network card in it as the wireless bridge hooks up with a cat5 cable.

Cheers Phil. I'm getting my old router back in weekend so will see if it has bridge mode and set it up.