Best setup for a small iMac network with NAS?

Hello all,
Any recommendations on how to setup a small network with 3 machines and mutiple users?
We run a design studio and currently have 3 x 27" iMacs with a couple of laptops that come and go, that all connect to a Synology DS213 NAS drive. (All the iMacs are connected to the NAS via ethernet through a gigabit switch, so we have a reliable connection)
All 3 machines have just had their HD's replaced (all backup up to the NAS) and are currently blank canvases - so I'm keen to get a decent network system up and running that works well in conjunction with the NAS drive. They're all running 10.6.8, but I'm happy to put them on Mountain Lion and install OSX server. It seems most feedback isn't great, but I'm interested to hear any ideas,
Thanks in advance..

Rick may be right because although i didnt think of it before i tend to have notoriuosly long classnames for my php classes and i have used samba on occasion (when rsync is out of the question for one reason or another) and never had a problem. I use kubuntu (feisty at the moment )with an ext3 filesystem. if i have a chance this evening ill give it a try and see what happens.
You could also possibly use FUSE to use an ssh filesystem for the shares... i don tknow how that would figure in your back up though.
Also if worse comes to worse you could tar or dmg the the necessary files... just some thoughts.
Ill be interested to know what you end up implementing....
OH one last thought... Compile Darwin from source and use that as your server

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Best way to set up home network with NAS

I'm pretty novice with networking, but do have some knowledge and know what I am trying to accomplish, but the two just aren't clicking.
Here's what I'd like to do: Have a storage central to our home office, which consists of two iMacs, a MacBook Pro, iPad, two wireless printers, two iPhones. I just purchased a 6TB Lacie 2big NAS and the 6th gen AirPort Extreme. Currently, I am able to access the storage wirelessly just fine, which is great, but I am working with large files (10gb-60gb) and needing to move them a little quicker. Most of the time, these files are being dumped onto the one iMac by way of Compact Flash cards via a highspeed card reader. I need to be able to access those files from (most importantly) the iMacs and (not so importantly) the MBP, which again, I can right now, but the transfer from CF card to iMac to NAS takes way too long wirelessly. So, what are my options? Do I get two more gigabit Ethernet cables and run them from the iMacs directly into the other two ports on the AirPort Extreme or should I purchase a separate gigabit switch then connect that with NAS and two iMacs or is there another option that will give me optimal transfer speeds from either iMac (including external HD's attached to the iMacs) to the NAS?
Thank you so much in advance.

should I have the base station set to run bridge vs route or does that not affecting anything?
If you have the AirPort base station set to "bridge", then the signal will pass through the AirPort and on to your modem/router which will do the actual "routing".
That's OK, as long as the modem/router also has 1,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports.
However.....if the modem/router has slower 10/100 Mpbs ports, the Gigabit signal will slow down by a factor of 10 passing through your router, and file transfers will be much, much slower, as you can imagine.
Another way of saying the same thing is that to get faster Gigabit speeds, everything has to be Gigabit capable.
Unfortunately, Bridge Mode is the correct network setting for the AirPort Extreme if you have a modem/router "upstream" on the network. Then you may get caught in a Catch 22 situation.
if I opt to use a switch (so I can add another 2big NAS), will that result in slower sports vs going straight through the AirPort Extreme
No, speed will not be affected either way, since it makes no difference how things are set up....so choose the setup that is easiest to implement.
In other words, if it is easier to run a single Ethernet cable from the AirPort Extreme to the Gigabit switch and plug other devices into the switch, then that is the way to go. The performance will be the same as if you had run two separate Ethernet cables to the AirPort Extreme.

Best Setup for Working over a Network (What is it)

Curious,
I'm been using Dreamweaver for awhile now, both at work and
at home as a hobbyist. My preferred setup when working on a set is
to be connected via FTP to the set so that I can work on the
documents directly without have local and remote versions of the
documents.
If I do choose a local directory and then also a remote
directory with and Local/Network connection for the remote files
that works failry well but I end up getting local copies of files
and folders that I'm working on, which is good for performance but
not so good when there is getting and putting of documents and a
slow connection.
My preferred method using a Local/Network connection for the
remote files is to do that and not even have a local folder and no
local files.
Like I said, the only remote connection for me that seems to
work well is the FTP connection.
Wondering what others experience is and what they recommend.
I guess I may have to change the way that I work but I would prefer
not to. I have used other programs as well (e.g. BBEdit (which I
like, I'm working on a Mac), TextMate). These are a little faster
but there is still some performance issue when working over the
LAN.

As a professional, I would never work in that configuration.
One silly
mistake and you have just clobbered your only copy of the
file. Of course,
I never make such mistakes, but I've seen others do it! 8)
I will always work from a local site, and upload to a remote
site. I test
from a local networked MySQL/PHP server. My sites are all on
a shared
network drive so that I can a) easily back them up, and b)
access the same
sites easily from several locations within my peer LAN.
When you elect to not have a local site, then you lose the
option to use
some of DW's basic capabilities, like Templates and Library
items. While I
rarely use the latter, I use Templates all the time (along
with a healthy
dose of SSI).
Does that help?
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.projectseven.com/go
- DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs,
Tutorials & Resources
==================
"An Ent" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
> Curious,
>
> I'm been using Dreamweaver for awhile now, both at work
and at home as a
> hobbyist. My preferred setup when working on a set is to
be connected via
> FTP
> to the set so that I can work on the documents directly
without have local
> and
> remote versions of the documents.
>
> If I do choose a local directory and then also a remote
directory with and
> Local/Network connection for the remote files that works
failry well but I
> end
> up getting local copies of files and folders that I'm
working on, which is
> good
> for performance but not so good when there is getting
and putting of
> documents
> and a slow connection.
>
> My preferred method using a Local/Network connection for
the remote files
> is
> to do that and not even have a local folder and no local
files.
>
> Like I said, the only remote connection for me that
seems to work well is
> the
> FTP connection.
>
> Wondering what others experience is and what they
recommend. I guess I
> may
> have to change the way that I work but I would prefer
not to. I have used
> other programs as well (e.g. BBEdit (which I like, I'm
working on a Mac),
> TextMate). These are a little faster but there is still
some performance
> issue
> when working over the LAN.
>

Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

Set up each Mac for Time Machine backups in the normal way. Time Machine will keep each backup separate on the Time Capsule, so users will only be able to see the backups of their own Mac.
Yes....there are convoluted workarounds that might allow one user to see the backups of another.....IF...they know the administrator password of the "other" Mac.
As far as Internet sharing, all users will have access to the Internet if they have a wired or wireless connection. If a Mac connects using wireless, it is possible to limit the time that they are allowed to connect to the network.
For example, you might limit the ability to connect to the wireless from say each Weekday from 8 AM to 6 PM.
With a wired Ethernet connection, you cannot limit access times to the Internet.

Best setup for iMac with SSD & HDD? Best location of scratch & home folders

Best setup for iMac with SSD and HDD? Best location of scratch & home folders?
Computer:
iMac 2.93 GHz Quad core i7, 8GB RAM, 1 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD
There is not much info from Apple about the best way to set up an iMac with a Hard Drive and Solid state drive. I’ve looked at a few of the forum posts across the web and came up with a plan and lots of questions. (I do use photoshop frequently, but not on a professional level):
1. I will keep OS and Applications on SSD
2. About moving the home folder: I saw some posts about moving the whole home folder, but it makes more sense to me to only move selected fodlers withing the home folder tomake the best use of the SSD. So will keep the home folder on SSD, but move certain folders (document /music/iphoto/download) to 1 TB HDD via instructions I found on the macintoshperformanceguide website:
cd
sudo cp -r Documents /Volumes/Master
sudo rm -rf Documents
sudo ln -s /Volumes/Master/Documents Documents
3. I would like to get 8 more RAM when I can afford it
4. I will attach an external hard drive for most of my documents and backup storage
5. Now here is where I’m not sure what’s best:
a. Should I partition my internal 1 TB hard drive and use the first partition as a scratch disc for photoshop and other applications? How much should I partition? Is there any benefit to this if the rive is partitioned?
b. Should I use an external drive as a scratch disc?
c. Any advice on a good 1-2 TB external drive?
d. Should I just leave things in factory settings?
Don't assume I know the basics - I got all the above just by searching around. Any advice and commentary is appreciatedThanks.
Message was edited by: sfandtheworld

Thanks for the advice and the links. yes, I would like to speed up ps as much as possible.
I wonder if putting the scratch disc on the same drive as the OS would cause them to interfere with each other? Even if they are on different partitions, they would not be able to be accessed at the same time, or could they? That's why I was wondering if I should place scratch disc on the internal HDD -- but then I don't know how much to partition for it (or to partition at all?)
ALso, I read on a few places that too much read/write on the SSD wears it down over time? Is this more of a theoretical concerns - it does not make sense to me since it has no moving parts!
thanks again for the advice ... I'm gonna go digest those links

Need advice on best setup for Extreme and Express w/ (n only) network

I'd like to get some advice on the best setup for my situation. I've read a number of posts on WDS, Extending a Network, etc. and, unfortunately, I'm now more confused than ever.
We have an Airport Extreme 802.11n using WPA2 Personal, 2.4Ghz (n only connection) which I've found to give us the best range/connection speeds for the following devices (all computers running 10.5.5, Apple TV's using most current update):
(2) MacBooks
iMac
(2) AppleTVs
The good news we have a large house, the bad news we have a large house. Meaning of course that I don't get the range in parts of the house I'd like to. I also have an older Mini (G4) connected to the AEBS thru ethernet (the Mini acts as the iTunes server for the ATVs).
I just bought a new Airport Express with the desire to place it on the other side of the house to both enhance the range of the wireless network and to provide another wired to wireless connection to the network.
I initially merely chose to "Extend a wireless network" but that seems to have a MAJOR adverse impact on the speeds of the wireless network. dropping the streaming to one of the ATV by like 90%. I would like to maintain the security settings I have as well as the 2.4Ghz (n only) since these provide the best speed/connection range on the AEBS.
My question then is what is the best way to use the AX (WDS? Bridge?).

The best way to use it is the option you chose "Extend a wireless network".
WDS forces you to the much slower 802.11g and even cuts that bandwidth in half.
Operating as a bridge has nothing to do with wirelessly extending a network. Changing this option won't have any effect on wireless bandwidth.

Best Setup For Frequent File Sharing On Home Network?

Hi guys,
I'm setting up an office at my house with multiple computers on a network, and we'll be sharing files over the network frequently. My question is, what is the best setup for this?.. Fastest transfer of files, stable wireless connection, etc.
All of the computers will be Macs (iMacs and Macbooks).
We'll be editing videos/photos on the computers. (Potentially large files)
Is the easiest setup just to have the main computer attached to a good router, setup file sharing on all other computers, and just do it that way?
Or would it be better to create some sort of NAS?
Also can someone reccomend a good router for this type of scenario?
Thanks for any help given.

NAS is the right tool for this job.
It is expensive but the market leaders.. synology and QNAP have really been doing it for long time and the ability to do file store/sharing and most importantly backup in these is excellent. Pick the best you can afford.. and buy disks that are in the recommended list. ie the cheapest are not always the best.. indeed they seldom are.
Plan very carefully for rotation of USB drives (easy and cheap now with 4TB single drives). Rotate backups with offsite location on weekly basis.
I would buy a 4 disk case.. you can use 4x3TB which are the best value at the moment.. that gives you 9TB of storage.. plus redundancy for a dead drive.
Alternatives are using a Mac Mini as a server.. with a large stack of disks on it.. generally should be thinking thunderbolt if you want speed. Hideously expensive though for now.
You can buy an Extreme or TC.. either would work well. TC allows you easy TM backups without using your NAS..
Edit very large files on the computer. ie copy to computer.. edit.. copy back to the NAS.
Editing very large files over wireless.. not good. Multiply that by mutliple computers.. not even fair.
Copy a large project to the computer.. work on it.. copy back to the NAS.. in the meantime Time Machine should be able to take care of incremental backups.
There are heaps and heaps of solutions.. as long as it is logical and easy to you.. and covers what you need.
Don't skimp.. spending a $1000 for a NAS with disks.. plus extra for the backup disks.. that represents how many day's work for you plus anyone you have helping.. $$$$ ????
A mini as a server is a good alternative.. You don't need to run server OS.. but share files to the network. Very hard to build the capacity of the NAS though.
And a Mac Pro is now a joke without internal slots and cages for drives. (nice machine but wrong for this).
And Apple have nothing in between.. a short tower case.. been missing for a long long time.

Best setup for a non-Mac file server?

I have a dual xeon server, with a SATA RAID5 I want to use as a file server in a cross-platform environment.
*What I've tried and the issues...*
At first I considered using Windows 2003 (Win2k3) but Services for Macintosh (SFM) is an older version of AFP and thus only supports 31 character filenames. With all our Macs supporting SMB/Samba/CIFS and Apple touting that "Macs and PCs can co-exist harmoniously on the same network" I figured I would give that a try.
SMB doesn't work.
Sure I can create a connection, but transferring files is a completely different story. I'm trying to backup application and system data, but companies such as Adobe and Apple have named some of their files with special characters that can't be transferred over SMB. I know NTFS doesn't support these characters, but I though a Linux box using SMB would work fine. It doesn't. It's the protocol which keeps me from transferring the data. I end up with the lovely error message of "You cannot copy some of these items to the destination because their names are too long or contain invalid characters for the destination..." (what's sad is, if you google for " because their names are too long or contain invalid characters for the destination" you only get 6 results.)
So I thought I would give NFS a try. Apple says "Viewed from Mac OS X, [connecting via NFS] is just like connecting to an Apple or Windows server." No. It's not. NFS shares don't even show up in the Finder's Network listing. There are also a pile of other hurdles which are only tackled by savvy, command-line using users.
So that leaves me with AFP. Win2k3 doesn't support filenames longer than 31 characters, and Win2k8 is dropping SFM altogether. Off to choose a *nix flavor, but that requires Netatalk. It hasn't been updated in years, it has many bad performance reviews... and most distros have removed it. I can download and install it. Oh, but that requires I get the kernel source files. Then I have to create an RPM an that's not working... now I'm several levels deep in trying to figure out how to get Netatalk working and I'm not even sure it will work.
*What's the best setup for a non-Mac file server?*
FreeNAS seems promising, but it's in alpha/beta and they have all sorts of warnings regarding potential data loss. Sure there's ExtremeZ-IP, but I really don't want to spend $675 do something Apple claims OS X can already do. I can put just about any non-Mac OS on this thing... what's the best way to set it up so it works?
Thanks much.

Rick may be right because although i didnt think of it before i tend to have notoriuosly long classnames for my php classes and i have used samba on occasion (when rsync is out of the question for one reason or another) and never had a problem. I use kubuntu (feisty at the moment )with an ext3 filesystem. if i have a chance this evening ill give it a try and see what happens.
You could also possibly use FUSE to use an ssh filesystem for the shares... i don tknow how that would figure in your back up though.
Also if worse comes to worse you could tar or dmg the the necessary files... just some thoughts.
Ill be interested to know what you end up implementing....
OH one last thought... Compile Darwin from source and use that as your server

What is the best option for tethering my IPhone 4s with my iPad? (the iPad is wifi only)

What is the best option for tethering my IPhone 4s with my iPad? (the iPad is wifi only)

#1. Understand that if you switch carriers, you can NOT take your existing iPhone with you. It won't work. You will need to purchase a new one.
#2. Your only choices are Sprint and Verizon. Decide who has the better coverage in your area. Keep in mind that you will NOT be able to get simultaneous voice and 3G data on either of these, as their CDMA networks do not support it. The U.S. T-Mobile network is not supported and is not fully compatible with the iPhone as it operates on a rarely used frequency compared to the rest of the world.
#3. What in the world are "niners"? Do you mean you want to be able to keep your existing "phone numbers"? If so, that should be no problem. Most numbers in the US are now portable.
#4. Consider WHY you want to switch. If the issue is really price, you're not going to see much of a difference. A few dollars a month at best for comparable voice and data plans.

What is the best practice for using the Calendar control with the Dispatcher?

It seems as if the Dispatcher is restricting access to the Query Builder (/bin/querybuilder.json) as a best practice regarding security. However, the Calendar relies on this endpoint to build the events for the calendar. On Author / Publish this works fine but once we place the Dispatcher in front, the Calendar no longer works. We've noticed the same behavior on the Geometrixx site.
What is the best practice for using the Calendar control with Dispatcher?
Thanks in advance.
Scott

Not sure what exactly you are asking but Muse handles the different orientations nicely without having to do anything.
Example: http://www.cariboowoodshop.com/wood-shop.html

What is the best software for burning a large slideshow with 500 photos and music to DVD?

What is the best software for burning a large slideshow with 500 photos and music to DVD?

Are you talking about strictly burning an already put-together slideshow or composing one and then burning it?
My all time favorite slide show maker is Photo to Movie; you can then burn it from there or get it into iMovie and/or iDVD for the "finishing" touch. My favorite burn software is Toast, although you can use iMovie, iDVD, and Finder as well.
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/

Best setup for a swing application

Hello,
I have developed an Swing application for a EPOS machine.
The machine has around 512 ram.
What's the best setup for me in terms of performance, for example, which JVM to use etc.....
Cheers
Bobby

bsbiran wrote:
Hi,
Well the app require alot of images and I parts of it do run 'slow'
...I'm currently going through a book about Swing and read that many times the "slowness" of a Swing-application can be credited to the programmer for not using the API efficiently/correctly (letting the app repaint too much, or repainting large parts that don't need repainting at all, to name just two things). So, I don't know how much of a Swing-guru you are, but it might be better to read a few decent Swing tutorials or pick up a good Swing book.

Best setup for external hard drive and iMac?

Just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB external HD for my Mac OSX 10.5.8. Would like to use it to backup all my pics/writing (I am a writer/photog), videos, and music - about 400 gigs worth at present. As an analog person, I am confused as to how best I should format the drive:
option 1 being to use drive with Time Machine (just now heard of it),
option 2 to use drive for storage and backup (what's the diff) using Memeo software,
option 3 to use for storage by reformatting with Disc Utilities.
This, no doubt, is easy language for most of you, but Japanese to me, a Nuyorican.
Again, I mainly would like to have backups for what's on my iMac, in case that dreaded day comes and it goes kaput. What would be the best option for me to simply transfer everything, unplug it and put it in a safe place? And if and when I do that, could I, two years, months, weeks later, plug it back in and add what pics or whatever I've accrued to it and replace it in that safe place once again? Looking for what is most practical for the safe keeping of my precious files.
Hope my old tactile-inclined *** is making sense.
Appreciate any and all assistance here. Thanks in advance.

I have to agree with JG, I'd strongly recommend using Time Machine as your primary backup. BTW there is a forum specifically for TM that has a FAQ section and if you need it (most never do) a troubleshooting section. You can find that forum at:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1227
Many people like myself believe in redundant backups, in other words 2 is better than one. If you decide to go that route you will need a second external HD and then use software like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. What these applications do is create bootable clones, so if your iMac's internal HD dies you have a bootable clone that you can use to run your machine until the internal HD is replaced. Dual backups are also good if one backup's HD dies.
Below are links to 3 articles I found in MacWorld magazine, what they are is backup strategies of 3 individuals to give you some ideas so you can figure out what is best for your needs.
Operating any computer without a backup plan is a recipe for disaster. Many people put their digital life on their computer (photographs, music, movies etc..) without a backup and then cry and moan when their computer dies. These days there is no reason one shouldn't be backing up their computer.
http://www.macworld.com/article/157414/2011/02/mybackupplanlex.html
http://www.macworld.com/article/156643/2011/01/howi_back_up_frakes.html?lsrc=top1
http://www.macworld.com/article/141363/2009/07/backup.html
Roger

Best setup for new airport with wired connection to old airport extreme (4th gen)

I have an AirPort Extreme (4th gen) in my basement (of a three story house) connected directly to the Fios box (I am not using the Verizon g router). The new AirPort (ac) is connected to the old one by in-wall Cat 6e to an upstairs bedroom. Can/should I turn off wifi on the n router for best wireless performance? What would the optimal setup be?
On the airport utility I selected "replace existing Airport" and the new ac router is up and running and working fine. I wonder whether the fact that wifi on the old Airport is still on may be good for coverage around the house, but compromising the wireless bandwidth/speed? I haven't noticed any speed issues yet, but I do a lot of video streaming so I want to ensure I have the best setup. Range doesn't seem to be a major issue in my house. It is more important to me to have strong wifi signal upstairs.
Thanks in advance for advice.

If the AirPorts are connected using Ethernet, then no bandwidth is being lost on the network. Keep the wireless functions "on" at both AirPorts for additional wireless coverage and speed.

Best DNS setup for public-facing Mac server with no NAT?

What's the best way to set up the DNS server as a member of an existing domain with nameservers elsewhere for a public-facing server with no NAT?
We own the domain myexample.com and it's name servers and zone files are on a hosted linux server with mail/web server services.
We now have a Mac server hosted elsewhere and we want it to be a subdomain of our myexample.com i.e. macserver.myexample.com.
We haven't enabled NAT or DHCP so the Mac server host network IP is a public IP. There is no LAN.
When setting up the DNS server, what should the primary zone be? macserver.myexample.com, or myexample.com?
Any advice would be great. Mr Hoffman....are you out there?

You do need valid DNS services. But you don't need to provide DNS on the same server. And if you're not dealing with NAT, things can get easier.
The easiest approach available is to not run your own DNS services here. This assumes the OS X Server box is configured on a static IP address, but then that's something OS X Server needs/wants/ expects.
Use the DNS provided by your domain registrar, and your ISP. Or maybe on that Linux box, if that's publicly authoritative for the domain.
Enter the host name and the IP address into the public DNS services that you have configured for the domain, or that you have at your registrar or ISP, or on that Linux box.
You will need to have your ISP for the static IP configure a PTR record (reverse DNS) for the server, particularly if you're planning to run mail or related.

Best setup for a small iMac network with NAS?

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