Two SMPs on the Same Network

Hello all,

I currently have one SMP attached to my home network and its running great. It has a 500 gig HDD attached via USB. If I bought a second SMP would it be able to map to the original SMP and the HDD?

Thanks,

Steve

Yes, you can have two on the same network, but you will need to rename them.

Actually, you only need to rename the second one – just so each has a unique name. I just added a “2” to the default name.  Also, turn off (unplug) SMP 1 while you are setting up the new one, renaming, etc, so as not to confuse the network.  In fact, if possible,  don’t connect #2 to network until after you have renamed it.  Remember that each time you are ever to reset to factory defaults you will loose the units name and have to re-enter.

Grest information folks. Appreciate the feedback. 

One final question…firmware updates do not reset things correct?

No, in fact if you need to install new firmware to #2, be sure SMP 1 is completely off, install firmware in unit 2 before renaming SMP 2, then make sure it all works fine after firmware install.  Once this is checked out, then reset to factory defaults via the menu and remote.  Then, rename the SMP 2, then make any other changes you want to make to the default settings.  After all this, go ahead and turn unit 1 back on, and your network should see two SMPs, each with a different name.

Remember ,anytime you reset #2 to defaults ever again, you will loose the new name and need to re-enter it.  If unit 1 kept the original name, resetting to defaults will not affect the name.  This is why not to change the name of #1, just change #2.

Best to rename both, ie WDTV Livingroom WDTV Family Room. Then you won’t have to worry about shutting off one while you update/reset the other.

OK, I’ll go along with that, and for a few good reasons.

Since I’m updating all the time I’ve identified my WD’s MAC adresses and entered them into my router and set the names there. So even after an update and without manually changing the WDTV’s name, my router assigns the same IP and address to them and there’s no mixup. Maybe your router can do this as well. Cause as been pointed out here frequently, a lot of weird behaviour after a firmware update can be prevented by doing a full reset prior/after updating.

Techflaws wrote:

Since I’m updating all the time I’ve identified my WD’s MAC adresses and entered them into my router and set the names there. So even after an update and without manually changing the WDTV’s name, my router assigns the same IP and address to them and there’s no mixup.

I suppose I have a “smart” router, because my ASUS RT-N66U assigns unique and permanent IP addresses to connected devices based upon an algorithm that crunches the numbers of the devices’ Mac address   So, when I reboot my router, or a device is removed/replaced etc. and the bell rings, all devices are back in their assigned seats.  Also, my router shows me their names, so I can take roll. 

Great information from everyone. I very much appreciate all the ideas.

I got the second SMP and am going to do what Techflaw had mentioned. I am going to set the MACs in my router and assign DNS names for each SMP, one in my living room and one in my bedroom. This makes alot of sense.

Now one last question. The one in my living room has the usb HDD attached and is connected via wifi. The one in my bedroom is also connected via wifi. Does it make more sense to change the living room SMP to wired ethernet? Is there a major performance boost going from wifi to wired when streaming?

Unless you live in a pristine RF environment with no neighbors competing for the same wireless channels, I would say it is always preferable to ues a wired connection when available.  I have at various times used wireless and powerline networking and wired was always clearly better.

Whenever you have a choice, (i.e. easy to do)  ALWAYS use a wired connection vs wireless to connect devices to your network.  It is much faster, a solid signal, and not affected by all the problems and issues with wireless (of which there are many).  If you run out of network connections on your router, add a network switch to it; they are not expensive.

SteveP wrote:

Now one last question. The one in my living room has the usb HDD attached and is connected via wifi. The one in my bedroom is also connected via wifi. Does it make more sense to change the living room SMP to wired ethernet? Is there a major performance boost going from wifi to wired when streaming?

Using the same wifi access point to connect both a streaming server and a streaming client can lead to very poor performance.  Older access points (routers) had only one radio unit, so they would have to switch it to receive to get some data from the server, then switch it to send to send that data to the client, etc.  Newer access points often have multiple radio units, but how much they can work simultaneously will depend on various issues.  Wired Ethernet is full duplex, plus if you use a switch between the server and client, data will be moving in only one direction anyway.

Incidentally, I came across this useful Netgear “knowledge base” article on the difference between wifi link/signaling rates (the big number that gets reported) and actual throughput (a much smaller and much less impressive number):

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19668/~/differences-between-link-rate-and-transfer-speed-and-throughput

ncarver wrote:

Wired Ethernet is full duplex, plus if you use a switch between the server and client, data will be moving in only one direction anyway.


Not disputing you, but how does it matter that data is moving in one direction if the switch is duplex?

Specs for my gigabit switches:

Data Rate
  • Ethernet: 10Mbps/20Mbps (half/full-duplex)
  • Fast Ethernet: 100Mbps/200Mbps (half/full-duplex)
  • Gigabit Ethernet: 2000Mbps (full-duplex)

Was merely emphasizing duplex difference between most wired and most wifi.  Network protocols consider network transmissions unreliable, so any protocol that supports reliable data transmission (such as TCP) must send something analogous to acknowledgement packets back to the server to confirm each packet’s reception.  So while “the data” will be moving in one direction over wired connection from server to client, acknowledgement packets will flow the opposite direction.  A full duplex connection avoids having such packets slow data transmission across the link.  Half duplex wifi connections, however, suffer some slowdown simply from the way reliable protocols like TCP must work.  Add on top of that having “the data” have to flow both from the server to the access point and back out to another client, and it should be very clear why wifi is likely to be way slower than a wired connection–even if the wired is “merely” Fast Ethernet (as the SMP is limited to) and the wifi claims it is 300 Mbps.

HUH?  TMI for me.  Suffice to say wired is better than wireless because we are not dealing with Radio Frequencies;  i.e., “RF” energy (which also is abbreviation for “Real Freaky” energy. :wink: