WiFi and direct Ethernet connection to NAS?

[dantastic]

I have just ordered a qnap ts 253a nas.
I wonder how I'd best configure it on the network I have at home.

I have the main router (wifi) at a central location in the house. There's nothing else connected via Ethernet to it. This is providing the entire house with Internet over wifi.

In my home office I just use my mbp connected to a thunderbolt dock. The laptop is connected to the wifi and it's ok for internet but it's not very good. So I would like to connect the NAS directly to the thunderbolt docking station via Ethernet. This should be straight forward but I would only be able to reach the NAS from the TB dock.

So I also want to plug in a wifi dongle to the NAS and have it on the wifi so other devices on the wifi network can access it. And if I disconnect the laptop from the docking station, I can still connect to the NAS.

The idea is that the connection will take the fastest path at any given time.
But this is where my networking skills fall a bit short. Is this possible? How do I configure it?

 

[satcomer]

A NAS (Network Attached Storage)is a Networked device! It need to get an IP from your router and will NOT get an IP from Mac!

Just buy a CAT 6 Ethernet Cable and connect it to the switch in your router!

 

[dantastic]

You mean connect the NAS to the router? That's the backup plan.
If running cat 6 from the router to the office was a feasible option I would have done so many years ago. So long ago it would have even cat 5!

Although DHCP assigned IP address is the more common setup you can manually assign IP addresses and other settings to interfaces so connecting the NAS right to the laptop would work just fine - just needs to be configured.

What I'm not sure of is how to configure my laptop so that it can deal with the 2 paths to the NAS device.

 

[kiwipeso1]

If you did that, you'd need to run the MBP with the server app just to give the NAS a fixed IP address on the thunderbolt dock.
[doublepost=1478772318][/doublepost]

If you did that, you'd need to run the MBP with the server app just to give the NAS a fixed IP address on the thunderbolt dock.

To be clear, you just put it direct to your router on a fixed IP on the DHCP list.

 

[dantastic]

If you did that, you'd need to run the MBP with the server app just to give the NAS a fixed IP address on the thunderbolt dock.
[doublepost=1478772318][/doublepost]

To be clear, you just put it direct to your router on a fixed IP on the DHCP list.

Not sure I understand. Do you mean assign the same IP to both the Ethernet interface directly connected to the mbp and the wifi interface connected to the router? Will that work? Would be great, that's a simple solution!

 

[kiwipeso1]

Not sure I understand. Do you mean assign the same IP to both the Ethernet interface directly connected to the mbp and the wifi interface connected to the router? Will that work? Would be great, that's a simple solution!

No, the first reply was to the OP.

One IP for the ethernet NAS, best done only to router and accessable via router wifi on your computers.
NAS aren't made to do direct wifi to computers, so don't bother putting an adapter on it.

 

[dantastic]

Plugging the NAS into the router will obviously work, it's the default config.
So the problem is the wifi isn't very fast which is why I was hoping to also use a direct connection.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Plugging the NAS into the router will obviously work, it's the default config.
So the problem is the wifi isn't very fast which is why I was hoping to also use a direct connection.

So...the problem is actually your wifi, or, how to get a fast wifi connection from the internet's point-of-entry to your MBP.

What model router do you have and how far away is it from the MBP?

 

[Crazy Badger]

You could achieve what you want with a cheap switch e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS105UK-Gigabit-Unmanaged-Ethernet/dp/B0000E5SEQ

Plug the Router, NAS and Mac into the switch and you'll have wired access between all 3, whilst keeping wifi access to your other devices.