Jacrushar Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I've googled "unraid wireless" a few times and the results show there to be at least one thread from every year in the past few years from someone requesting the feature or wondering how to do it. I live in a small one bedroom apartment where the only wired access to the internet is at a small desk between my bathroom and bedroom doors. There is not enough space there for my unRAID server and my gaming PC. I have placed my unRAID server in my living room by the TV because that is the only place I really have space. I also plan on having it run a gaming VM to play VR off of in the future (so I don't have to move my gaming PC back and forth for VR and normal PC games). I purchased an AC power adapter like this one based on most threads saying that is the best option... but I think my apartment building has too much interference on the AC power lines because I only get around 6megabits/sec... its not like its going that far either, my apartment is small. Running an Ethernet cable across the floor in front of doorways is not an option, and since I am renting the place I can't drill into the walls or tear up the carpet to run cables either... I own a pcie wireless card that I could add to my server but unRAID doesn't support it. With wireless AC speeds approaching the normal read/write speeds of a traditional HDD, I don't see a good argument to not support it other than the difficulty of implementation which I would not know of. Even just requiring a physical connection for initial setup is fine I think. I feel like there could be a lot of potential unRAID users that may turn away from using it because they won't be able to run an Ethernet cable to their machine. Like pwm said in this thread (the most recent thread I could find asking about the feature): The important thing is that different users have different usage cases and different needs. Even though it is optimal to have a wired connection, it is not always practical/possible, especially when wireless would be a better/faster solution for people like me where any possible wired option is actually slower than my wireless speeds... so slow that I can't even stream plex movies to my chromecast from it... Pardon the lengthy post... I'm new here, let me know if I need to say something differently. 1 Quote Link to comment
JonathanM Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1726328 Cheap ($30 USD) router / ap / bridge that will provide better performance than many wireless pc cards. Adding wireless support to unraid is not trivial, and configuring wireless at the command line is a pain in the butt. Since there are off the shelf wireless to wired bridges available, the very few niche cases where wireless is desired is much better served by recommending a bridge solution than trying to support the thousands of different wireless cards in unraid. Quote Link to comment
GreenDolphin Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 On 1/9/2018 at 3:30 AM, jonathanm said: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1726328 Cheap ($30 USD) router / ap / bridge that will provide better performance than many wireless pc cards. Adding wireless support to unraid is not trivial, and configuring wireless at the command line is a pain in the butt. Since there are off the shelf wireless to wired bridges available, the very few niche cases where wireless is desired is much better served by recommending a bridge solution than trying to support the thousands of different wireless cards in unraid. ++ This is best solved at the network level, not the (UNRaid) OS/server level. If the router jonathanm suggests isn't a fit aesthetically or size-wise, I'd suggest the TP-Link RE210 AC750 Wi-Fi Range Extender; it has wireless bridge capability where you can use its gigabit Ethernet port to connect a wired device (your UNRAID server) to your main router via WiFi. Since it supports dual-band, performance should be good; It's the only tiny-size WiFi access device I know of that supports a gigabit connection and 5GHz. While I haven't used it myself, I have its cousin, the TL-WR902AC nano travel router, which is a fully-featured router with amazing WiFi performance despite being barely larger than a matchbox (less suitable for your purpose since its Ethernet ports are 10/100). The RE210 is a bit expensive in the US at the moment, but can be bought from Amazon Germany for ~US$35 delivered to the US. Quote Link to comment
DZMM Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I used an tp-link c8 successfully with unraid when I had similar problems. In my experience (UK) I've never come across a Powerline solution that matches 802.11ac performance. Quote Link to comment
Alphahelix Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 yet the router/bridge/AP solution requires a transformer that will suck unnecessary power to run the unit. Whereas an internal wifi-card will only use the power required for the card(s). I know it is not much, but for a 24/7-365 setup it will accumulate to noticeable amounts. That said, my setup (once all my parts arrives [read once I have the coin to buy them]) will be a managed poe switch to switch two WAN to one socket (I have two public IP) and a unify AP, to reduce power consumption. Quote Link to comment
GreenDolphin Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 On 1/11/2018 at 4:16 PM, Alphahelix said: yet the router/bridge/AP solution requires a transformer that will suck unnecessary power to run the unit. Whereas an internal wifi-card will only use the power required for the card(s). I know it is not much, but for a 24/7-365 setup it will accumulate to noticeable amounts. A person can't have everything. Wireless solutions are never as good as wired ones, either in performance or consistency; the major problem isn't throughput, it's latency. As for energy consumption, the nano router I have, the TL-WR902AC, actually has a USB power supply. While it comes with an AC adapter, it can be powered via any USB port as well, e.g., one on the wired device it's attached to. If a 100mbps connection to the server is enough, that will work fine (and if there's a single PC that connects to the UnRAID server, as in the OP's case, that might well be enough). Quote Link to comment
NewDisplayName Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 In what country it isnt allowed to drill into walls? Wtf? Quote Link to comment
CHBMB Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 4 minutes ago, nuhll said: In what country it isnt allowed to drill into walls? Wtf? When someone is renting and it's not their own house...... 2 Quote Link to comment
NewDisplayName Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 (edited) Here in germany np, you just need to close it after u move out... How u fix the hanging parts in the kitchen if u are nto allowed to drill?! Or in bathroom? Edited January 27, 2018 by nuhll Quote Link to comment
GreenDolphin Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 23 minutes ago, nuhll said: Here in germany np, you just need to close it after u move out... How u fix the hanging parts in the kitchen if u are nto allowed to drill?! Or in bathroom? Depends on your landlord and your rental contract. I knew of people both here and in Germany who rented and had rental contracts explicitly forbidding any drilling whatsoever. In the dorms I lived at while studying in the US, it was even forbidden to use the tiny picture nails -- we were supplied with special sticky tack and adhesive hooks, like this. Also, depending on the wall material, it's not necessarily trivial to fill holes so they're completely invisible afterwards. Over here, you'd basically need to repaint a wall after filling. Quote Link to comment
NewDisplayName Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 So i guess i was "lucky" until now Oo. Never heared this. But in "study rooms" i would understand, because many dont live there long... Quote Link to comment
CHBMB Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 When I used to rent it was standard that you couldn't drill the walls. Granted that was 17 years ago, but pretty sure nothing has changed since.Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
Squid Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 Nothing's changed. It's why when I redid my rental property I ran a CAT5 and RG6 to every single room. Up to the renter though to supply their own Switch / Sat Splitter Quote Link to comment
CozHelp Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I would like to also bump this. WiFi now is fast enough especially with the tri band wireless AC. And it's very stable for home use. I thought most versions of linux come with WiFi support. I realize that unraid is a heavily modified version and I haven't created my own version of linux ever. I am willing to donate $20 to whoever adds support for wifi instead of buying a wireless bridge although that is currently what I am doing but I am looking to upgrade my hardware and I would prefer a internal wireless card. I am sure many other people would be willing to donate money instead of purchasing additional wireless ethernet bridges. By the way I've had unraid since 2008 and I love all the features and how it's evolved. The only thing it is missing is WiFi support. 1 Quote Link to comment
Goldmaster Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 thank you try living in rented accomidation with no ethernet connectors. i dont own any of the internet hardware so i just have to stick with what im given. without wifi support my unraid machine is sitting under my bed doing nothing. its better to slow wifi support than have nothing. Quote Link to comment
NewDisplayName Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 (edited) I live my whole live in many rented houses. You just need to buy a <20usd cable and run it from router to server, you dont need any "internet hardware", wtf. And just btw you can take it with you when you leave. I also googled a bit, its even allowed to drill a hole between 2 rooms to for cables, atleast in germany. But anyway, dont see a reason to not add wifi support. (but if i were u i would do anything possible to not use wifi for computers) Edited November 16, 2018 by nuhll Quote Link to comment
Maor Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 (edited) +1 here, Now I have set up a VM with the wifi(rtl8812au) and bridge the wifi to the main virtual network bridge. Still have some issues with it. Nicer would be to have a dedicated plugin/docker for the wifi. Edited November 16, 2018 by Maor Quote Link to comment
Goldmaster Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 7 hours ago, nuhll said: You just need to buy a <20usd cable and run it from router to server, you dont need any "internet hardware", wtf. Again not a option as the router is mounted on the ceiling with 1 poe cable and that would be tacky as it would have to go through a couple of fire doors. I could but not a option Quote Link to comment
bonienl Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Try powerline adapters Quote Link to comment
Goldmaster Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 The thing is that I don't own any networking at my place. Problem with power line adapters is where and I going to plug them in. The router has 1 poe socket. I won't be able get away with 1 cable coming out of the router and into a plug as other people and the cleaners would be suspicious of it. Quote Link to comment
hocky Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Well, that´s what i would call "bad luck". Or in other words: "no arms, no cookies". As already stated above, it doesn´t make sense to build such a functionality into a server itself just for the >1% of users who try running a server infrastructure in a place not suitable. Quote Link to comment
LimeB Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, hocky said: Well, that´s what i would call "bad luck". Or in other words: "no arms, no cookies". As already stated above, it doesn´t make sense to build such a functionality into a server itself just for the >1% of users who try running a server infrastructure in a place not suitable. It still could be a large number of people who would use this function, I would, and I'd guess most unRAID users are home users. One thought is something like this could help get around soft data caps say for CrashPlan as you could technically jump on say Comcast's guest Network which doesn't count against your data cap. Edited November 16, 2018 by LimeB Quote Link to comment
bonienl Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 I have said it before and say it once again. Wireless support is a nightmare. I don't think Limetech has the resources to address all questions and issues which come with wireless connectivity. Not to mention the heavy dependency on Linux to support all the different wifi adapters that exist. Most realistically is to look for alternative solutions, like external adapters or powerline adapters. 1 Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 MOCA adapters are also very flexible and may provide higher throughput than powerline adapters. The only requirement is to have COAX cables to use. Quote Link to comment
JonathanM Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 8 minutes ago, BRiT said: MOCA adapters are also very flexible and may provide higher throughput than powerline adapters. The only requirement is to have COAX cables to use. The beauty of MOCA is the COAX is shared. Instead of needing a dedicated run, you can piggy back on COAX that is currently serving other equipment. The only requirement I know if is that you can't have multiple MOCA on the same system, so if the local provider already has MOCA in place for their set top boxes, you are out of luck unless you can tie into their endpoints. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.