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Using Readyshare USB for Raid storage
Hello,
I work for a company that develops security cameras. We are setting up two PCs with seaparate image quality testing software and would like to create a central, local storage space for the t...
I appreciate that you're trying to help (I think), but I'm really not interested in advice given in solely sarcastic and condescending words. You may be an expert in this field and require information about certain settings and parameters that I have not even considered, but simply stating that I'm not being detailed enough without being detailed yourself about what exactly you're missing (as far as information is concerned), I can do nothing more.
I've ordered a NAS storage system so I will not be continuing this project. Thank you both for the time you did take to respond.
BSS_BT-SC_ENG3 wrote:
My plan is to use the AC1750 Model R6400v2 and its Readyshare port to share two SSDs connected to the Startech USB3.1 RAID enclosure Model S252BU313R as the storage. After much research and little budget, this seemed to be the simplest, cheapest solution.
This might not work. ReadySHARE is a basic approach to network attached storage that does not play nicely with odd enclosures or anything that needs fancy drivers in Windows.
Did you consult this?
ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List | Answer | NETGEAR Support
It isn't complete or up to date, but it may give you some clues.
For anything beyond the routine there really is no substitute for ethernet NAS boxes.
Thanks for the suggestion. I had not checked that and the SSDs I'm using are not on there.
However, the RAID enclosure does not require any drivers and when the computers are set to obtain an IP from the router and DHCP is turned on (like a normal set up), everything works fine. Ideally we'd like to set the computers to static IPs per company policy but maybe I can work around it. So, if I set the computers to their static IPs and turn DHCP, no go. I'm assuming the router needs to use the DHCP server to brodcast the Readyshare device?
Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get a NAS server.
> [...] would like to create a central, local storage space [...]
How isolated would you like this equipment to be from your general
network?
> [...] My plan is to use the AC1750 Model R6400v2 and its Readyshare
> port to share two SSDs connected to the Startech USB3.1 RAID enclosure
> Model S252BU313R as the storage. [...]
> [...] I had not checked that and the SSDs I'm using are not on there.
I would not bet that Netgear ReadySHARE knows what to do with SSD
storage. Whether that RAID enclosure hides those details from its host
is another mystery. A search of these forums should find abundant
complaints about plain-old rotating disks v. ReadySHARE. My experience
with it is minimal, but I view it as a dancing-bear system, and wouldn't
trust it for serious work. Others may be satisfied with it.
> [...] What other settings need to be changed (DHCP, etc) so that each
> computer can connect to the Readyshare device?
I don't think that anything special needs to be done for ReadySHARE
itself; you'd just need to configure the router to be compatible with
whatever network to which it'd be connected, which shouldn't be a
problem.
> [...] Ideally we'd like to set the computers to static IPs per company
> policy but maybe I can work around it. [...]
"work around" _what_, exactly?
> [...] So, if I set the computers to their static IPs and turn [off?]
> DHCP, no go.
"no go" is not a very detailed problem description.
> [...] I'm assuming the router needs to use the DHCP server to brodcast
> the Readyshare device?
I doubt it. But, with my weak psychic powers, I know nothing about
how you configured any of these devices, or what you did with them, or
what happened when you did it.
> Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get a NAS server.
If you want reliable NAS, then that might be a good idea. However,
if you already have the router and RAID box, and if when "DHCP is
turned on", "everything works fine" (for some value of "everything"),
then perhaps you should try to figure out what you're doing wrong with
the non-DHCP network configuration which causes this (vague) "no go"
condition.> >[...] would like to create a central, local storage space [...]
>How isolated would you like this equipment to be from your general
network?This equipment, again, does not interact with anything outside of the two computers connected to the router, the SSD Raid enclosure (connected via Readyshare USB), and any IP cameras also connected to the network switch. Those IP cameras have no wireless capabilites and therefore this network is ocmpletely isolated.
>> [...] My plan is to use the AC1750 Model R6400v2 and its Readyshare
> port to share two SSDs connected to the Startech USB3.1 RAID enclosure
> Model S252BU313R as the storage. [...]
> >[...] I had not checked that and the SSDs I'm using are not on there.
> I would not bet that Netgear ReadySHARE knows what to do with SSD
storage. Whether that RAID enclosure hides those details from its host
is another mystery. A search of these forums should find abundant
complaints about plain-old rotating disks v. ReadySHARE. My experience
with it is minimal, but I view it as a dancing-bear system, and wouldn't
trust it for serious work. Others may be satisfied with it.Again, the SSD storage works perfeclty fine (in other words, to be as detailed as possible, the computers can see the storage in Network) if the router is set to DHCP on and the computers are configured to obtain their IP from the router. The SSDs are likely not an issue in the setup.
>> [...] What other settings need to be changed (DHCP, etc) so that each
> computer can connect to the Readyshare device?
>I don't think that anything special needs to be done for ReadySHARE
itself; you'd just need to configure the router to be compatible with
whatever network to which it'd be connected, which shouldn't be a
problem.This is my question exactly. What needs to be configured to make the router compatible with the isolated network. The router basically is the network and the constriants are that there will be static IP computers connected to it (the two computers at 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.200) and random static IP cameras (192.168.0.1-99). The computers only need to see the Readyshare storage.
> >[...] Ideally we'd like to set the computers to static IPs per company
> policy but maybe I can work around it. [...]
>"work around" _what_, exactly?By work around, I simply mean changing the computers to obtain their IP from the router, which we prefer not to do because the IP obtained from the router may interfere with the static IP of a camera that is preset. Wastes time to debug that situation and then change the IP of the camera.
>> [...] So, if I set the computers to their static IPs and turn [off?]
> DHCP, no go.
> "no go" is not a very detailed problem description."No go" means that "it doesn't work" where I'm from. Sorry for the slang.
When DHCP is off, the computers can not see the ReadyShare storage regardless of how the computers are set.
>> [...] I'm assuming the router needs to use the DHCP server to brodcast
> the Readyshare device?
> I doubt it. But, with my weak psychic powers, I know nothing about
how you configured any of these devices, or what you did with them, or
what happened when you did it.I feel like my initial post was very detailed, actually, giving you not only information about how the devices were configured, but even actual IP addresses. Maybe instead of attempting your "psychic powers" you could ask more politely for the kind of details you would require. So far, most of my responses to your questions can actually all be found in the first post.
>> Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get a NAS server.
> If you want reliable NAS, then that might be a good idea. However,
if you already have the router and RAID box, and if when "DHCP is
turned on", "everything works fine" (for some value of "everything"),
then perhaps you should try to figure out what you're doing wrong with
the non-DHCP network configuration which causes this (vague) "no go"
condition.Again, the first post details pretty specifically what I was attempting to acheive. The second post being a response to a specific suggestion about my initial post, all terms like "works fine" and "no go" are in reference to the goals outlined in the inital post. The question then posed to the other responder is what their opinion is on what may need to be configured to make the Readyshare work without DHCP on.
> [...] again, [...] this network is ocmpletely isolated.
Ok. Then who cares about "static IPs per company policy" if this
network never communicates with the rest of the company?
What you said initially was "Our test PCs do not access the internet
in any way." To me, that means something different from "none of this
stuff needs to talk to any other stuff in the company."
> [...] What needs to be configured to make the router compatible with
> the isolated network. [...]
Approximately nothing? It won't know the date-time unless it can
talk to a time server, but you may not care. If all the communication
is intra-LAN, then you can simply leave the router's WAN/Internet port
unconnected. (The lack of date-time might adversely affect the shared
file storage, however.)
> [...] there will be static IP computers connected to it (the two
> computers at 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.200) [...]
Ok. (But see below.)
> [...] and random static IP cameras (192.168.0.1-99). The computers
> only need to see the Readyshare storage.
Why would you want the cameras to have static IP addresses?
> By work around, I simply mean changing the computers to obtain their
_not_ "to obtain"?
> IP from the router, which we prefer not to do because the IP obtained
> from the router may interfere with the static IP of a camera that is
> preset. Wastes time to debug that situation and then change the IP of
> the camera.
You're working too hard on a non-problem. I'd choose different
static addresses for the computers, but it would be simple to configure
the DHCP pool to be ".100" - ".199", and configure the computers to use
".200", ".201", and so on, using either actual static addresses or
reserved dynamic addresses.
The router's LAN address would default to ".1", but you could
configure it to, say, ".250" or ".254" (whatever's memorable in the
non-pool range). Then, if the cameras have static addresses in the ".1"
- ".99" range, they should be happy enough if you don't use two of them
which are set to the same address. If a camera tries to use DHCP, then
it'd get an address from the DHCP pool (".100" - ".199"). Neither
would/could collide with any computers in the ".200" - ".249"/".253"
range.
> "No go" means that "it doesn't work" where I'm from. Sorry for the
> slang.
It means the same here. "doesn't work" is also not a very detailed
problem description. What's the problem? When you do what, exactly?
> When DHCP is off, the computers can not see the ReadyShare storage
> regardless of how the computers are set.
Define "see". How are they looking for it? All you should need to
do is specify the router's LAN IP address (whatever that is).
I don't see how disabling the DHCP server would affect ReadySHARE,
but I also can't see how the router is configured, or how you're trying
to use ReadySHARE. But even if I'm wrong, and ReadySHARE worked only
with the DHCP server enabled, I still don't see why running the DHCP
server (with a reduced pool, and suitably addressed computers) would
cause any problems. But I'm always open to a problem description which
reveals what you did, and what happened when you did it. (Hint: "no go"
and "doesn't work" don't do that.)