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[scamarao]

I have a DNS-323 NAS hooked up with my DIR-655 Wireless N Router with 10/100/1000 speed.  2 of 3 computers do not see the NAS under network and I'm unable to connect them to the NAS.  The 3rd computer has no problem.  All computers are running Windows 7 Ultimate Release Candidate.  I can access the DNS-323 admin web page through all computers

Computer 1 is connected wirelessly with a Wireless N card and DOES NOT see
Computer 2 is connected via a 10/100 network card and DOES NOT see
Computer 3 is connected via a 10/100/1000 network card DOES see

The only difference I can see is the network connection of the 3 computers.  All computers are on the same workgroup and can see each other.  I tried to change the LAN link speed settings on the DNS-323 to Auto, 100, 1000 and nothing seems to work.

Anyone have a thought on why the non-gigabit computers do not see the DNS-323

[fordem]

My first suspect would be the firewall settings on the affected computers, the second would be network settings.

Is file & print sharing enabled, and allowed through the firewall - I'm not that familiar with Windows 7, having just migrated to it, but when you first connect to a network it asks you about the network type - and you have to select home, work or public - that determines what you can connect to and what can connect to you.

I'm using OEM 7 Professional - presumably the 7 Ultimate RC is not that different - go to the network & sharing center and select advanced sharing settings - make sure you're not using a public profile and then make sure that network discovery and file & print sharing are enabled.

[scamarao]

I have all my network sharing options open including the public.  The computer that sees the NAS is setup the same as those that doe not see it.  I also disabled the firewall on the wireless laptop and still does not work.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Can you ping the NAS by name from the affected computers?

Can you post the results of opening a command prompt and typing the following commands?


NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

[bigclaw]

In your Windows 7 Search Programs and Files (or the Run) text box, type \\<Your DNS-323 IP address> and hit enter. Can you connect this way?

NetBIOS can be tricky at times.

[DocD]

Hi scamarao...
I'll add another question to the mix.  Are you using jumbo frames on the NAS?  If so, all the network cards must all be set to use jumbo frames (i.e. gigabit speeds) - I don't believe you can mix or match jumbo frames with NICs that can't handle jumbo frames.  All MTU's must be the same on the subnet.  I suspect your 10/100 NIC and the wireless card can only handle MTU's of 1500.  I would try turning off jumbo frames and set your DNS speed negotation to "Auto" and see if that works.

-DocD

[scamarao]

I ended up returning the DNS-323.  Too much work now which means it will be too much work later.  I used to have a Simpleshare NAS a while ago that seemlessly worked with everything.

I did not have jumbo enabled and I tried every link speed from Auto to 100 to 1000.  Nothing worked.  Going to look into another NAS solution.  Any recommendations?

[DocD]

Sorry to hear you couldn't make a go of it...  I'm all sub-gigabit, running my ethernet at 100 max with everything from Win98SE up to WinXP and Vista (admittedly, I haven't hooked in a Win7 client yet).  I found that relying upon Windows to do discovery can be a hit-or-miss proposition.  Creating a shortcut via IP address was for me extremely reliable (i.e. what bigclaw suggested and making a shortcut from the connection) or mapping a drive using the IP address.  Either way gave me a consistent link.

I wish you luck in your search for another solution.  These boxes work quite well for me (and no, I'm not affiliated with D-Link in any way).

-DocD

[gunrunnerjohn]

Hi scamarao...
I'll add another question to the mix.  Are you using jumbo frames on the NAS?  If so, all the network cards must all be set to use jumbo frames (i.e. gigabit speeds) - I don't believe you can mix or match jumbo frames with NICs that can't handle jumbo frames. 

This is incorrect.  You can indeed mix them, obviously suffering a performance penalty.  If the device can't accept the larger frame, it will reply as such and the data will be retransmitted.  I have had gigabit devices with jumbo frames, gigabit devices without jumbo frames, 100mbit devices, and wireless devices on the same network with the DNS-323 with jumbo frames.  All of them can access the NAS without issues.

[fordem]

Hi scamarao...
I'll add another question to the mix.  Are you using jumbo frames on the NAS?  If so, all the network cards must all be set to use jumbo frames (i.e. gigabit speeds) - I don't believe you can mix or match jumbo frames with NICs that can't handle jumbo frames.  All MTU's must be the same on the subnet.  I suspect your 10/100 NIC and the wireless card can only handle MTU's of 1500.  I would try turning off jumbo frames and set your DNS speed negotation to "Auto" and see if that works.

-DocD

You can - I have been doing it with my DNS-323 for the past eighteen months - when I first started using jumbo frame only one of my network hosts (in addition to the DNS-323 of course) - there are two now, and none of the other hosts - wired (100 or gigabit) or wireless have ever had problems.

Different MTUs on the same subnet are not a problem, the different hosts will negotiate an acceptable MSS (maximum segment size), and for what it's worth, although many wireless cards use an MTU of 1500 as the default, the 802.11 spec allows a maximum of 2312.

[DocD]

I stand corrected...

Someone should go and update the Wikipedia article about jumbo frames at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_frame.  I had avoided using them for the "alleged"  interoperability issues.  For instance,

The IEEE 802 standards committee does not recognize jumbo frames, as doing so would remove interoperability with existing Ethernet equipment and other 802 protocols, including 802.5 Token Ring and 802.11 Wireless LAN. The presence of Jumbo frames also has an adverse effect on network latency.

The use of 9,000 bytes as preferred size for jumbo frames arose from discussions within the Joint Engineering Team of Internet2 and the U.S. federal government networks. Their recommendation has been adopted by all other national research and education networks. In order to meet this mandatory purchasing criterion, manufacturers have in turn adopted 9,000 bytes as the conventional jumbo frame size.

Internet Protocol subnetworks require that all hosts in a subnet have an identical MTU. As a result, interfaces using the standard frame size and interfaces using the jumbo frame size should not be in the same subnet. To reduce interoperability issues, network interface cards capable of jumbo frames require explicit configuration to use jumbo frames.

Glad to know it works, despite what I had thought to be the case...
-DocD

[fordem]

Therein lies the problem with wikipedia - anyone, regardless of their skillset and experience, can make statements that will be accepted as fact.