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ald

ald

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SimWorks

#225800 6-Dec-2017 10:36
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Hi team, right off the bat I'll start by admitting that I've done something stupid!

 

Last week we had no end of problems with our Internet connection.  By coincidence we'd been having power cuts (Vector's problems) and faults with our UPS at the same time as the problems with the Internet connection.  With everything seeming to be going wrong all at once, I didn't stop to think things through when our ISP wanted to swap out our modem/router.  I put the new modem/router in (identical to the old one), it did not resolve our Internet issue, and sent the old modem/router back.  That was the really stupid part.

 

Several days later our ISP had finally resolved the Internet problems and I had resolved the UPS issues.  With everything now back to normal I wanted to copy some photos onto our NAS (the little known but actually pretty good value for money Toshiba Conviohome).  Grim.  Nothing on the network can see the NAS.  Can't open a browser to its IP address or name any more either.  NAS appears fine, HD and network LEDs blinking away happily.  Its just invisible to everything on the network.

 

Its at that point I remembered that I'd given the NAS a fixed IP address a year or two earlier, I think because occasionally the router's DHCP server would change the NAS' IP address rather than renew it when its lease expired.  I remember logging into the settings on the NAS and specifying the fixed IP address.  I also remember logging into the router and allocating the specific IP address to the NAS' mac address.  I know the specific IP address:  192.168.20.7.  If I changed any other settings on the router I (most inconveniently) no longer remember!  No idea why I used a fixed IP address in the 192.168.20.x range rather than the usual 192.168.1.x range.  If I had to guess my thinking was probably to give storage and similar devices slightly different IP addresses so that it was immediately clear that they are not phones, tablets etc.

 

Hoping that I might be able to sort this with a couple of basic tweaks I logged into the new router, added the fixed IP and mac address into the Static IP Lease List and changed the subnet mask from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.224.0 so that the NAS' fixed IP address fell within the range of addresses allocated by the router.  I really thought that this would be all I needed to do to be able to see my NAS on the network, but no luck at all.  Restarting other devices on the network, yanking the power cable from the NAS forcing it to restart and waiting a few days to see if the NAS checks in with the router for changes have not made any difference either.

 

I'm hoping that someone with signficantly better knowledge of networking fundamentals may be able to identify what I need to do to get this plucky little NAS visible again on our home network!  Any assistance gratefully received!

 

The NAS does have a reset button but I'm quite reluctant to use it in case it affects the content as well as the settings.  It also has a USB port which although I've never used I presume would enable me to plug it directly into a PC and treat it like an external hard drive.  So worst case scenario I could just copy off the NAS contents, get a new NAS and then copy it back.   Best case scenario though would be to get the NAS back on the network!

 

 


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Lias
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  #1913797 6-Dec-2017 11:13
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You would have set a 255.255.255.0 subnet on the NAS, so even if you get packets to it, it won't be able to send them back.

 

Easiest two things to do (either should work)

 

A: Set a static IP on your PC in the 192.168.20.x range

 

B: Change the IP and DHCP scope on the new router to be 192.168.20.x

 

Either of those should let you see the NAS, login to it and remove the static IP.

 

 





I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.




1101
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  #1913808 6-Dec-2017 11:29
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Dont reset it, it case it screws up shares , raid etc
the NAS's USB port is usually for backup only.

 

I would...
set a static Ip on the laptop/PC to the same subnet you thought the NAS was on & tryu and access it.
it any take a few attempts to guess

 

 

 

 

 

 


ald

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SimWorks

  #1913832 6-Dec-2017 12:56
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Lias, 1101, thanks for your suggestions.  I think you're right, I need to move the network to the 192.168.20.x address range and change the subnet mask back to 255.255.255.0.  Great suggestion, really appreciate it.  Will try it out tonight and post back whether or not it was a success.

 

 

 

Cheers,
A.




ald

ald

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SimWorks

  #1913872 6-Dec-2017 14:47
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A quick question Lias.  The default IP address of the router itself is 192.168.1.1.  If I run with your option 2, would I also need to change the IP address of the router to 192.169.20.1 or should I leave it as is (but then devices on the network might not be able to see the router because it would be outside their subnet ....)?

 

Sorry for such a noob question, having stubbed my toe on exactly these sort of issues before I'm now just a little bit cautious!

 

Cheers,

 

A.


xpd

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  #1913897 6-Dec-2017 15:23
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What sort of NAS is it ? The couple Ive played with have had software that finds the NAS regardless of the IP long as its got a connection and gets you either the IP its using, or gets you the option to change the NAS IP.





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


ald

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SimWorks

  #1913914 6-Dec-2017 15:51
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Hi xpd, its a Toshiba Canvio Home.  Toshiba discontinued them some time ago.  The desktop software that came with it has been rock solid.  That having been said, just like everything else on the network, it can't see the NAS at the moment either.  I suspect that for the software to auto discover the NAS to configure it they at least have to be within the same subnet.


trig42
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  #1913917 6-Dec-2017 15:57
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If you have your PC set to get an address by DHCP, and you change your Router to 192.168.20.1 (make sure the DHCP range has changed in the router also) then your PC will pickup a new 192.168.20.x address form your router. From there, you should be able to browse to the NAS.

 

All your other devices should also be fine, they will pick up a new 192.168.20.x address as well (so long as they are set to obtain an IP automatically). Any that you have with fixed IP addresses (no need for this really, except maybe for the NAS) you will need to change.

 

 

 

In your router, you should be able to see what range it hands out to DHCP clients (usually 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.200). Set your NAS IP address to be outside of the routers DHCP range, then you don't need to have the router assign an IP address to it based on MAC address either. For example, if your router hands out up to 192.168.20.200, set the NAS to 192.168.20.250 (easy number to remember), Subnet 255.255.255.0, Gateway and DNS 192.168.20.1

 

 


 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
Lias
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  #1913919 6-Dec-2017 16:02
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I'm fashionably late to reply, so Trig has already got it covered ;-)





I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.


ald

ald

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SimWorks

  #1913925 6-Dec-2017 16:15
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Good stuff guys.  Thanks for the straightforward explanations.  Will have a crack at this now and let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers,
A.


ald

ald

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SimWorks

  #1913933 6-Dec-2017 16:36
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Victory!  Whole network now on x.x.20.x and PC can now see NAS.  Will check rest of network, may need to restart a few things in order to get them to renew their leases and obtain updated IP etc, but it looks like everything will be sweet.

 

Cheers for the helping hand guys!
A.


Lias
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  #1914032 6-Dec-2017 19:19
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Good stuff, glad we could help.





I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.


dwilson
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  #1914193 7-Dec-2017 06:10
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ald:

 

Victory!  Whole network now on x.x.20.x and PC can now see NAS.  Will check rest of network, may need to restart a few things in order to get them to renew their leases and obtain updated IP etc, but it looks like everything will be sweet.

 

Cheers for the helping hand guys!
A.

 

 

I would take one last extra step: change the NAS IP from static to DHCP, to avoid this in the future.

 

I would find another way to deal with the 'changing IP' of the NAS - potentially auto solved with network DNS or the desktop software you mentioned.

 

 


Lias
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  #1914358 7-Dec-2017 08:58
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dwilson:

 

ald:

 

Victory!  Whole network now on x.x.20.x and PC can now see NAS.  Will check rest of network, may need to restart a few things in order to get them to renew their leases and obtain updated IP etc, but it looks like everything will be sweet.

 

Cheers for the helping hand guys!
A.

 

 

I would take one last extra step: change the NAS IP from static to DHCP, to avoid this in the future.

 

I would find another way to deal with the 'changing IP' of the NAS - potentially auto solved with network DNS or the desktop software you mentioned.

 

 

 

 

Or change it to a reservation, so it's a "static" but assigned by the DHCP server.





I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.


1101
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  #1915084 8-Dec-2017 10:31
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dwilson:

 

I would take one last extra step: change the NAS IP from static to DHCP, to avoid this in the future.

 

 

DO NOT do this . No no no . Especially not without a reservation, even then dont.
If the router dies, your stuffed, again. Sure it will get a new IP on a new router , but that IP is what ??
If the router gets reset, so does the reservation.

Better to allways know what the NAS's IP is . Write it on a label taped to the NAS
Also, really want the NAS on static IP in case you have share issues you need to resolve.


Lias
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  #1915299 8-Dec-2017 14:17
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1101:

 

dwilson:

 

I would take one last extra step: change the NAS IP from static to DHCP, to avoid this in the future.

 

 

DO NOT do this . No no no . Especially not without a reservation, even then dont.
If the router dies, your stuffed, again. Sure it will get a new IP on a new router , but that IP is what ??
If the router gets reset, so does the reservation.

Better to allways know what the NAS's IP is . Write it on a label taped to the NAS
Also, really want the NAS on static IP in case you have share issues you need to resolve.

 

 

I don't really agree.. As a general rule, avoiding manually set static IP's is a good thing, statics should be done via reservation in virtually any SOHO use case. As for if you change routers etc, it's not exactly rocket science to login to a router and look up the DHCP lease table.





I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.


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