Connect unraid server over wifi in stead of wired


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At the moment, my unraid beast is living in the utility closet, next to the router and the ISP modem, wired to the switch and the rest of the internal network (and internet) using short patch cables.

 

In a few weeks, i'm probably moving out from the apartment into a new (temporary) 3 story house. There is not enough room in the new utility closet there to place the server, so it has to go into another room, or in the attic. Since this is a temporary housing solution (less then a year hopefully) i'm not very keen on running network cables, drilling holes etc. so i'm looking for a way to connect the server to the network over wifi. The server has a supermicro board, no wifi onboard.

 

There is room enough in the utility closet on ground level for the ISP modem and wifi router.

What is the common solution for this? I imagine i place a 2nd wifi router in the attic, next to the server, and somehow bridge that wifi router to the 'main' router?

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I would suggest that you look at 'flat' ethernet cables like this:

 

         https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Ethernet-Cable-White-Flat/dp/B018BCJKE0/ref=sr_1_3?crid=DJ2LQQQ5609N&keywords=flat+cat6+ethernet+cable&qid=1562420198&s=gateway&sprefix=flat+cat+6+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-3

 

You can easily run it under carpet without a issue.  

 

You should also look ethernet powerline Adapters:

 

       https://www.amazon.com/s?k=powerline+ethernet+adapter+gigabit&crid=SMJUSULN4VXY&sprefix=power+line+ethernet+%2Caps%2C144&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_3_20

 

In reality, WiFi should be your last choice as you probably be sharing the bandwidth with the device that is on the other end of your connection to-and-from the server.  

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If you have COAX run into the rooms, look into using Bonded MOCA 2.0 or the newest Bonded MOCA 2.5 adapters. https://www.gocoax.com/

 

Many have had success in using those new 2.5 adapters at The Tivo Community Forums: https://www.tivocommunity.com/community/index.php?threads/moca-2-5.571180/ However, they seem to be out of stock, not sure when new stock will be available.

 

I'm using multiple sets of the Motorola Bonded 2.0 adapters to connect the 3 bedrooms and living room into the server and rec room networks: https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Adapter-Ethernet-2-Pack-MM1002/dp/B078HMDDVS/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=moca+2+bonded&qid=1562421653&s=gateway&sr=8-4

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Agreed if you have coax and don't want to run Ethernet, Moca is the most solid way to go, if you have satellite go DECA as it uses the other end of the frequency range flipped from Moca. It's as solid as a Ethernet cable and have been using them since Moca 1.0 days. Solid 970Mb/s with these 2.0 devices, recommend actiontec or Motorola ones. 

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The reason nobody has answered your question with a response you want, is that in order to get a reliable wifi bridge with decent speed requires commercial grade equipment, several hundred $US worth. It's really a question of how much you want to spend to get a reliable remote signal. Since you said yourself this is only temporary, it doesn't make much sense to spend the money on good wireless equipment that you most likely will only use for a short time.

 

If your time and hassle to run wires and drill holes is less appealing than spending lots of money on a solution that will still be slower and less reliable than cat5e, then wireless is indeed an option.

 

You could hire a company to run the wire for less $$ than it will cost for the equivalent speed and reliability done with wireless.

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Thanks guys. Yeah i understand the downside of wifi bridges... then again, i don’t need full speed from the server. 99% of the time it is only downloading a movie or an episode, and i don’t care if that is done in a minute or an hour :) same for watching movies or episodes, wifi, even a slower connection, should be able to share a HD video over smb or nfs? 

 

Offcourse, if there is any possibility of using wires, i will do that. Maybe there are some spare, empty shafts around the house, i’m not sure yet. Usually here when building, they provide some empty shafts from the utilitycloset to 1 or 2 rooms. I can’t use flat utp cabling since there is no carpet, but hardwood flooring throughout the house.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It turns out there is room in the new utility closet :) i'm so used to having the unraid server laying on it's side, that i forgot that it is actually a small tower case that i use laying down. If i use it as a tower, it will just fit into the closet. Have to monitor heat build up and airflow a bit, but i think it will be ok.

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On 7/6/2019 at 4:31 PM, jowi said:

Thanks guys. Yeah i understand the downside of wifi bridges... then again, i don’t need full speed from the server. 99% of the time it is only downloading a movie or an episode, and i don’t care if that is done in a minute or an hour :) same for watching movies or episodes, wifi, even a slower connection, should be able to share a HD video over smb or nfs? 

 

Offcourse, if there is any possibility of using wires, i will do that. Maybe there are some spare, empty shafts around the house, i’m not sure yet. Usually here when building, they provide some empty shafts from the utilitycloset to 1 or 2 rooms. I can’t use flat utp cabling since there is no carpet, but hardwood flooring throughout the house.

You can get decent wifi speeds with cheap routers. I use four $30 to $40 routers as Access Points as well as the wifi from my router. I can easily get 300mb/s throughput over wireless AC with multiple devices(I currently have around sixty devices on my wireless network and around fifty devices that are wired). While nowhere near gigabit speeds, for a temporary setup wireless will work just fine with unRAID. It just needs to be a properly setup wifi network. Which unfortunately most people do not have.

 

I've always been able to stream 1:1 2K BD rips and now 1:1 4K BD rips over wireless with zero issues. But that is only because I have a properly setup wifi network. Since around 2008 I've always had multiple APs to make sure every device gets excellent signal strength, no congestion, and can get high throughput.

 

49TB unRAID1a--53TB unRAID2--72TB unRAID3

Edited by aaronwt
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On 7/6/2019 at 3:48 PM, Frank1940 said:

I would like to run 2 or 3 flat cables through a tube in the wall, but that is only possible without the connectors. I do have separate connectors and a crimping tool for 'normal' cables; do you guys think i can use these connectors and crimping tool for flat cables as well? Or do flat cables require specific connectors for crimping?

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1 hour ago, jowi said:

I would like to run 2 or 3 flat cables through a tube in the wall, but that is only possible without the connectors. I do have separate connectors and a crimping tool for 'normal' cables; do you guys think i can use these connectors and crimping tool for flat cables as well? Or do flat cables require specific connectors for crimping?

Google found this:

 

      https://www.vpi.us/cat5e-plugs/super-flat-cat5e-rj45-731

and

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEPMQ4wybgI

 

 

I would imagine that using a regular connector would be difficult to feed the wires in, and you would have no strain relief for the wire terminations. 

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4 hours ago, jowi said:

I would like to run 2 or 3 flat cables through a tube in the wall, but that is only possible without the connectors. I do have separate connectors and a crimping tool for 'normal' cables; do you guys think i can use these connectors and crimping tool for flat cables as well? Or do flat cables require specific connectors for crimping?

Don't crimp. Use the jacks and terminate the cable on them. Then use patch cables to connect to the equipment. Using crimp on lugs is just asking for trouble down the road. I can't count the number of clients we've had at work where they had issues with those crimp on lugs. Our company replaces them with jacks. And after that they have no issues.

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Yeah so that's not gonna work... since this is a temporary home, i'll just run 1 normal cat6 cable through the tube (i do have a 'normal' crimping tool and connectors), and on the other end at the equipment side, connect it to a small gigabit switch, that should be enough. It is not optimal, but i think it will work just fine. The cable will feed my receiver and pioneer tv for ip control, and a dune mediaplayer, apple tv and a tv settopbox, from which only one will be used at any moment. Keep it simple :)

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Normally, one would want your server to be at a location on your network where it does not 'share' a link up a network tree.  This allow the server to be able to serve several clients and have the full bandwidth available to serve them.  Having clients on a shared link is generally not an issue (at least in a 'home' environment) as the client seldom requires the full bandwidth and/or the other clients are mostly idle when that client is most active.  Your solution of having the server at the top of the tree is where you would want to have it for max throughput. 

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