As a non-pro user I have to say I'm finding this whole process extremely frustrating and needlessly time-consuming. Initially the setup seemed to be going relatively well - I got as far as setting up my ReadyNAS 201 on my home network and have been able to successfully initiate the (extremely slow) Time Machne backup feature. I can see the drives on my network and save and retrieve files and folders from my mac without any issue. It's disppointingly slow, but it works.
But readyCLOUD? Jees! This program is going to give me a hernia.
Firstly, the documentation provided in the manual is wwoefully inadequite. For starters, "joining readyCLOUD" is in a completely different part of the document to the rest of the information about readyCLOUD, meaning that you have to jump backwards and forwards through many pages of text whenever they refer to eachother. Then, the information only gives a cursory overview of how to sign up and add users, but says nothing about the network settings needed in order for the NAS to be visible online. Do I need to set up a static IP? Doesn't say. What happens when the device isn't visible? No idea. Troubleshooting page? Nope. Bearing in mind I am NOT a techie, just a home user (supposedly who this product is aimed at) trying to get the damn thing to work.
So here are the problems I'm having:
- When I fist set up my readycloud account, I followed the instructions to disover my device (press backup button for 5 seconds, discover), and this worked fine. But when I then went to the Home or Manage pages I just saw a message saying "currently you have no registered or shared devices". There was no help available for this on readyCLOUD, so I googled it, and found a few threads which mentioned something about needing port forwarding or setting the routers IP, all of which doesn't mean very much to me (and none of which is mentioned in the manual). But in any case, their problem was not the same as mine, as they were saying the device was showing as offline, whereas my cloud services had green ticks showing they were Available and Online.
- Next I turned off readyCLOUD, restarted the NAS, turned readyCLOUD back on and removed my user account in the Users box. I then logegd onto readyCLOUD and deleted my user account, before creating a new one under a different name. I then went through the whole process again of discovering the device on readyCLOUD, and ensuring the user was added in the Users box. At frist it didn't work, but when I then clicked on invite user and followed THAT link back to readyCLOUD where I logged in again, suddently my NAS was now visible in the Home and Manage pages. Success!
- However, my joy was shotlived. This morning, about an hour after starting my mac up, I got a message from time machine saying it can't find the drive. I then tried to log into the admin page and found that I couldn't access that - my broswer gave me the message that the IP address didn't exist. I then tried logging into readyCLOUD and lo and behold, I now get the message that robNAS is offline. So I restart the NAS, and thankfully now I can log into the admin page again and time machine works, but on readyCLOUD the device is still showing as offline. I logged into the admin page and now the Cloud section has a message saying "services offline" with a big red cross.
I've changed nothing since last night when it worked, so what gives? I'm getting so frustrated with this whole thing that I feel like crying.
Could I ask someone to please explain to me in layman's terms what I need to do to get this readyCLOUD to work? Like, from beginning to end, including anything I need to set up / change in my network settings.
Re: So much trouble trying to get readyCLOUD to work!
Dear MeerkatSA,
First I want to apologize for the far-less-than satisfying experience you have had with your new ReadyNAS device. We absolutely want to make sure that everyone has a quick and easy setup experience with our vast feature set. ReadyCLOUD is a feature we really want to enhance for the customer. I really appreciate you spending the time to elaborate your experience in detail. This gives me some immediate probing questions that will help me understand why these issues happened in your network.
1. Can you tell me the brand make and model for the network router you have? If not that is ok but this would be very helpful information
2. Please send me the log data Send logs ATTN Alex Pendleton, I would like to verify what happened to the system going offline completely from Time Machine and locally as well as ReadyCLOUD.
3. Can you provide the dates and times, to the best of your ability? This will help me sift through the logs easier and I can correlate the issues I see with your experience.
Thank you again for your patience with us while we help you resolve this issue. If you need to email me directly please do so, I will PM you my direct contact information.
Re: So much trouble trying to get readyCLOUD to work!
Hi Alexpe
Thanks very much for your prompt response. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
Ok, so, to answer your questions:
1) My router is just a bog-standard router/modem combo that was provided by my ISP (Plusnet, UK). From the information on the admin page, it appears to be a Technicolor Gateway TG582N.
2) I have downloaded the logs and will forward them to you by PM in reply to your earlier message.
3) The log dates will be a little confusing because when I first set the NAS up, it insisted that the date was January 1st, 1970! (even though it was set to synchronise automatically), I tried changing it manually but the only way to do this would have been to cycle through every single month between January 1970 and November 2015. You probably won't be surprised to hear I gave up on that. Anyway, when I send you the logs i will also provide you with a full run-down of what i was doing when (including the 1970s dates where applicable).
Re: So much trouble trying to get readyCLOUD to work!
Rob,
Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to review your issue directly. It was determined that DNS was the issue. This has given me some important information on how we can make the user experience that much more intuitive. I'll follow up with this in our engineering group and see if there is something we can look for to give you better feedback when the system is not available on ReadyCLOUD.
For the other issues you experienced with AFP and SMB. I request that you update a case so we can look at these issues directly. Send me the case number once you have opened the case with support. I will follow the case through the troubleshooting that is completed. Please reference this community post to the experts you work with through support.
