QNAP 1282T3 and Internet and LAN access via 10Gige with iMacPros

[Alex Gardiner]

> Trouble is when a gigabit cable is connected it wants to connect to the NAS with gigabit instead of 10gige every time….even if I change the network order in the Apple system prefs so the 10gig e gets priority.

What IP range are the 1G and 10G networks using?

Two things…

1) If the 1G and 10G interfaces are in the same range this is likely the cause of the problem…

2) I wonder if your QNAP actually needs internet access? I’m usually happy enough to keep production storage somewhat air gapped, but it depends what you’re doing (expectations etc).

NB: Most services advertised by Linux based NAS units export on all network interfaces (samba/netatalk are configured in this way by default). You can obviously control which IP you connect over, so I’d expect (1) is the answer – you just need to specify at the point of mounting – i.e. smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx using the relevant IP.

[Nathaniel Cooper]

Without proper troubleshooting, I’m guessing two paths are being created between the iMac Pro’s and the QNAP. I’m also guessing those two paths are on the same IP scheme. I’d recommend hard setting the IP of the 10GbE connections to a completely different IP scheme.

As example, if your internet/dhcp server is using 192.168.1.x, hard set the IP addresses on the QNAP to 10.10.10.1 and 10.10.11.1. Then hard set the IP addresses on your iMac Pro 10GbE NICs to 10.10.10.255 and 10.10.11.255. Leaving all of the 1GbE stuff on a completely separate IP scheme.

Then specify at the mounting point as smb://10.10.10.1 (and smb://10.10.11.1) to connect to the QNAP.

This should help if the issue is some type of priority conflict. Please note, if this does work, and you have opened/saved projects to the other ip address, you may need to re-link media when you open a project for the 1st time since this change.

Good luck!

Nathaniel Cooper
ProMAX Systems
https://www.promax.com

[Bob Zelin]

I have just got finished bitching on the “FCP X Debates” forum about something related to this. Just because you buy an Apple product, does not mean that you don’t need to buy MORE STUFF. Just because Apple is giving you a “free” 10G port, does not mean that you don’t need to buy more stuff.
It is very common, (and almost everyone does this), that in addition to buying your iMac or iMac Pro, you purchase an additional thunderbolt 3 dock (from Promise, Sonnet, Cal Digit, Other World Computing) so that you have MORE PORTS that you need. And if you don’t want to spend the $250 to do so, you can spend $29 and get a thunderbolt to 1G Ethernet adaptor from Apple (made by Belkin) to give you a second 1G network port (the 1G network port is built into all the docks on the market).

Now, you hook up your shared storage system (QNAP, Synology, LumaForge, etc.) to your Netgear 10G switch (or directly to your NAS), and you use your existing HOUSE internet network to connect to this nice new port (on the dock, or the Belkin thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet adaptor) to get wired internet access to your computer. AND if you want remote internet access to your QNAP (or Synology or Netgear ReadyNAS), you plug your HOUSE INTERNET NETWORK into Ethernet port 1 of the QNAP, etc. and VOILA! You now have wired internet access to the QNAP. You have everything !

So you may now say “oh, you mean I need 2 cables going to each computer?”. YES – this is the video business, this is the technology business, we have LOTS of wires going everywhere. We have wires, cables, adaptors, connectors, etc, etc. And we always have, and we always will. Nothing professional is “self contained”. Everything has tons of “stuff” on it to get it to work. I don’t care if you are a fisherman, an auto mechanic, a house painter, a musician, or in the video business. You need LOTS of stuff to make a living, and you WILL run multiple cables to your computer, and not share your shared storage video network with your internet connection (unless you want the aggravation you are going thru). And as for that little 4 port switch – QNAP will have the QSW-1208-8C which is an 8 port switch for under $589 in a couple of days now at the mail order companies. Buy that instead.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

AND if you want to enable Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000) to maximize your 10G network speed, this will make things very incompatible with your Internet Service Provider who wants the MTU to be 1500 (the default). Keep 2 networks. Problem solved.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Rich Rubasch]

Thanks Bob…the issue we have with the two networks, even though we prioritize the 10gig e to be the primary connection to the NAS is that the iMacs always default to the gigabit and we only get 80MB/sec transfers. No matter how we configure the NAS, Macs or the network. As long as the NAS is connected to our Gigabit switch and our iMacs are connected to the Gigabit switch the path to the NAS is gigabit. If we disconnect the gigabit to the iMacs we are fine with file transfers via 10gig, but then we don’t have internet.

So our workflow is this….after boot up in the morning we make the gigabit port inactive, then connect to the NAS which connects with the 10gig port. Then we activate the gigabit port and we are good to go.

We have the QNAP connected to the LAN for our other three Mac Pro towers to be able to access it….we happen to have all the MacPro towers on an aggregated switch and I aggregated two of the the QNAP gigabit ports as well so we have great performance over gigabit to the NAS from any of our towers. I’m pretty good at noodling this network stuff.

The issue is the iMacs and that they won’t let us prioritize the pathway to the NAS and if I have a gigabit cable connected it defaults to that instead of the 10 gig.

What I was curious about is if I connect the two iMac Pros and the QNAP to a 10gig switch and then send a cable from the 10gig switch to the LAN, would I have internet access on the iMacs thru that 10gig switch, eliminating the need for the extra gigabit line to the LAN. I’m pretty sure that will do it and that’s why I was asking.

Believe me Bob, I have lots of cables going way back since I’ve been managing my own Mac infrastructure since 2001!

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Bob Zelin]

1) you can contact me.
2) you create 2 networks on 2 different subnets.
For example –
your internet network is on 10.10.0.xxx. So your computers are all 10.10.0.2, 10.10.0.3, etc. And even your QNAP on Ethernet port 1 can be 10.10.0.36 (or whatever the DHCP router assigns your devices – it’s all automatic).

now, your QNAP 10G port is 192.168.2.3, and your client computer is 192.168.2.4 (and 192.168.2.5, 192.168.2.6, etc.).

You click on GO> Connect To Server> smb://192.168.2.3 (this is the QNAP) and it connects to the QNAP. when you run applications, it will never go to the 10.10.0.36 (or whatever) on the 1G network – it will ALWAYS use the 10G network, because you clicked on GO> Connect To Server to connect your storage. That’s it. Run an AJA / Blackmagic speed test – you will see that it works fast.

bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com