New Setup, RN51600 attached with GSM7224-200 Switch

[Bourdo]

Hi Guys and a big Hello to the forum

Ive made my decision getting a RN51600 with 6x3TB WD Red drives, attached to the GSM7224-200 switch for home. Before I go outlay all that money I would like to put to bed a few questions

1) Is that switch an overkill I need about 12 ports but Im looking for constant speed coming out of the NAS unit and heard this one is like a V8 engine never slows down just has BALLS
2) I have VMware images will the 516 run the VM at a good rate with Cat6 cables via that switch to my pc/mac?
3) I have 3 Macs and 4 PC at home + devices, can Mac & Win read/write seeing all folders and files once authorized? Or do they have to be special Mac and Windows formatted folders?
4) After connecting this up will I have to get a specialist in to setup the switch and NAS box? My knowledge is limited on networking device setups.
5) Plugging a USB3 external drive to the NAS516 can I ready/write across the USB3 to get those VM images in and out?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Nick

[mdgm-ntgr]

1) A 24 port switch might be overkill now for you but if you expect to need more ports over time it could be worth it.
2) Do you mean running the VMs on the NAS or using the NAS to store VMs that you will run on your Mac/PC?
3) Both can read/write to the folders. You would probably use SMB/CIFS for your setup.
4) For the most part using a switch should be plug and play. Though if you wish to use teaming there would be a little more work. If you have issues with the setup you can ask here and the community will do our best to help.
5) You can read/write to the USB3 disk. You could even use an eSATA disk if you prefer.

Welcome to the forum!

[Bourdo]

Hi mdgm, thanks for the quick reply

1) Looking for the future as my kids are getting older! Buy a little more now and you will never run short 🙂
2) Storing the VMware images on the NAS then using the mac/pc to run the VMware program to play the images
3) thanks for the tip
4) I would like one network port to run only the VM images to the computers that have VMware installed and the other network port to run everything else. This is the plan
5) That is great news

Thanks again

Nick

[mdgm-ntgr]

4) Do your PCs that have VMWare installed have multiple network ports? Do they need a connection to the internet?

[Bourdo]

Yes PC has VM Workstation installed, there are 2 network ports on the rear of the 516, I want to make 1 only dedicated to run the images from the VM folder, I have 15 VM images but will only be running one at a time. The other network port Ill have to run movies pics music etc

[mdgm-ntgr]

I was asking about your PC, not the NAS. I know the NAS has two network ports.

The NAS will provide all services over both ports but you can configure your setup in such a way as to use a specific port for a specific service. After assigning static I.P. addresses to the network ports on the NAS you could connect to the NAS using the I.P.

[Bourdo]

Mdgm, what Ill do is get the Unit, set it all up then configure what I need. By the sound of it the 516 is going to be good enough for VM images. Thanks for the advise let me install it and then play with it on different network ports.

Thanks heaps again it settles a few questions I had,

Ill post here my results and questions I have if I run into issues but the OS6 looks like netgear have made it simple!

Cheers

Nick