Setting up wireless home network with VPN & NAS Drive

Message Edited by TadN on 10-25-2006 02:03 PM

I agree with TaD. NAS interface speed won't be your problem unless your accessing it lan side. a base100 NAS is going to feel slower than a USB2 drive or an internal drive for LAN side access.

for my own VPN purposes, a wrt54g v2 with dd-wrt firmware works reasonably well. it's slow for transferring files, probably due both to the overhead and due to the .7mbps upload cap my cable modem has.

Unless you're opposed to keeping a computer on and sharing a drive on it, NAS doesn't offer a whole lot for a home network.

you should first install the mini and then install the VPN flavor. while it's not an overly complex procedure, you will need to follow instructions carefully.

there is a risk of bricking or otherwise killing your router.

you will void its warranty.

while I've never done this on an 's' I can help you with the instructions if you are interested (post back). it would be good if this wasn't your primary internet router so that we can still communicate throughout the process. it's a good idea to explore the wiki (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) and the forum (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1)

The basic install guide is here:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Index:Install

How did your server situation work out? What kind of specs do you need if you are just running a server for 2 users. RAM, processor speed, etc?

james

My personal testing and opinion, your milage may vary :)

Here's how it worked out:
1. chucked the linksys VPN router after spending 30 minutes on the phone walking a relative through a connection to get into my lan (took me a few minutes at a local deli - so most likely not a technical issue, but ease of use issue)... Still looking for an easy solution for remote users who are not too familiar with Pc basics. Next try will be http://m0n0.ch/wall/ since this requires only using windows vpn. I may try openvpn as suggested in this thread if monowall isn't easy enough for the family...

2. As for the file server;
Short answer;
I ordered a basic e521 with an upgraded processor and 512mb of RAM. The proc upgrade was $20 bur figured it would be worth it from test below. Figured this would be plenty to handle a 5 user file server, 2 of whom access locally the rest remotely. But still waiting for that to arrive, so in the meantime:

specs of systems used below:
Power Edge 400SC
2.4 Ghz P4 Processor
512 Mb Ram
2 400 Gb Ide Drives via maxtor 133 controller
Gigabit Nic built in

Generic system
550 Mhz PIII Processor
384 Mb Ram
2 400 Gb Ide Drives via maxtor 133 controller
Intel Pro 100 Built in Nic

Client used for testing
Dimension 8400
1 Gb Ram
250 gb SATA I Drive
Gigabit Nic built in

Netgear Gigabit 5 port switch
_________________________________________________________
Test;
I Copied a 1.14 GB tivo file across systems.
a. Across gigabit cards the 1.14gb file took 33 seconds to transfer from the 400sc to the 8400.

b. From the 100mb NIC server the file took 120 seconds to transfer to the 8400. Only a 4x improvement using the faster NIC...

c. To copy the file to a western digital usb 2.0 drive took
40 seconds to copy from the 8400. So the gigabit NICs were faster than backing up to a local usb drive.

d. To copy the file locally across two IDE drives took 35 seconds and 42 seconds on the pe400 and the generic pc respectively.

Looks like the IDE 100 drives/controller were the bottleneck, not the Gigabit cards for file transfer. Also cpu seemed to play a part as I used the same two 400gb drives and maxtor controller in both systems and the power edge had a 50%; improvement copying locally. Curious since both servers showed less than 45% usage during the copy process.

I expect the e521 to be much faster since it uses SATA II drives, then the bottleneck will be the local drives on my older systems... I'll try my d420 later since this has an even slower laptop dive and a gigabit nic.

Also note, windows 2000 server was consistently using >260mb of Ram while hosting tivo 2.3a and serving files.
Xp Pro uses more than 400mb on my 8400 but there's a lot running in the background. Thats why I opted for 512 mb on the e521...

Hope this helps you out in the decision process. I'll post back if monowall works out, since it's free software

Message Edited by TadN on 11-07-2006 12:07 AM

Message Edited by TadN on 11-07-2006 12:10 AM

the sata drives won't be that much faster unfortunately (unless they're raptors). drives are still limited by the drive speed, not by the connection.

openVPN takes a bit of setup initially (say a couple of hours if you take it very slowly and re-read all instructions) but once it's in place they should just have to click an icon to establish a connection

Quick followup:

I used a monowall firewall with a pptp vpn tunnel.
Code from
http://www.m0n0.ch
Decent article on how to set this up:
http://www.cornetdesign.com/2006/01/creating-pptp-tunnel-using-monowall.html

Took a few hours to read the manual on my side and then experiment around. I used an old gx110 for the router. Took my relatives 5 minutes to set up a connection and begin sharing files.

Also:
My copying the 1.14gb file across two SATA II 250gb drives took 20 seconds.

Message Edited by TadN on 11-08-2006 10:00 AM

check out this new product from Logmein. I found a review of it in PCmag.com - it's a free, no hassle VPN. I have used Logmein.com products in the past and have they have been very good.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2052132,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530

it's called Hamachi, see if this works for you.

thanks,

James