ZyXEL NSA310 1-Bay NAS Media Server (With 500GB HDD) - €90.37 delivered [Dabs.ie]

DavyD_83

OK, back to basics here.
I bought the NSA310 back when this bargain went up first, and a 2GB drive. But have only tried to actually use it today.

When I connect to my laptop or computer with ethernet cable, device is visible and all seems fine.
When I connect the ethernet to my UPC router (Cisco EPC3925), which is how i would like it to be set up I have no idea how to do anything with it. It is not visible in network and I have no clue where to start.

Any help appreciated.
Sorry if i sound like a dumbass

m4r10

DavyD_83 wrote: »

OK, back to basics here.
I bought the NSA310 back when this bargain went up first, and a 2GB drive. But have only tried to actually use it today.

When I connect to my laptop or computer with ethernet cable, device is visible and all seems fine.
When I connect the ethernet to my UPC router (Cisco EPC3925), which is how i would like it to be set up I have no idea how to do anything with it. It is not visible in network and I have no clue where to start.

Any help appreciated.
Sorry if i sound like a dumbass

You need to install the software that came with the unit, then you'll be able to see it.

DavyD_83

m4r10 wrote: »

You need to install the software that came with the unit, then you'll be able to see it.

Thanks for the reply.
I have software installed on laptop (connected wirelessly) and computer (wired to router); neither is able to detect the NSA.
Seems like Router isn't passing on signal in some way, or NSA isn't interacting with router at all.

I'm sure there's a simple solution, but I'm lost.

m4r10

I would uninstall the Zyxel software, disable the firewall and try again a new install and going through the configuration steps. That way you can at least eliminate the possibility that the firewall is blocking access to your NAS.

nedd

So I have been having trouble with the Download Service and Dropbox on my NSA325 since firmware 3.6. Dropbox keeps downloading the same file over and over. Also some torrents have failed to download for me.

So I decided to install Transmission. I used the steps here to download it as a package and it was easy, I also have the web GUI working and have remote access to it. All said it is great. Torrents are downloading at 1200kbps.

http://zyxel.nas-central.org/wiki/FFP_as_zypkg

I couldn't find how to configure the download locations on transmission but the default download location is admin/download/Transmission/incoming.

28064212

nedd wrote: »

I couldn't find how to configure the download locations on transmission

You need to SSH into the server then:

• cd /mnt/HD_a2/transmission
• vim settings.json
• Press "Insert", then change the setting "download-dir"
• Press "Escape", then type ":wq" (without the quotes), and enter

TheDriver

nedd wrote: »

So I have been having trouble with the Download Service and Dropbox on my NSA325 since firmware 3.6. Dropbox keeps downloading the same file over and over. Also some torrents have failed to download for me.

So I decided to install Transmission. I used the steps here to download it as a package and it was easy, I also have the web GUI working and have remote access to it. All said it is great. Torrents are downloading at 1200kbps.

http://zyxel.nas-central.org/wiki/FFP_as_zypkg

I couldn't find how to configure the download locations on transmission but the default download location is admin/download/Transmission/incoming.

same thing for me since 4.6, I have found some rss feeds are giving me torrent file invalid which is quite annoying. I was going to go back to 4.5 to be honest as installing transmission didn't work for me before

nedd

28064212 wrote: »

You need to SSH into the server then:

• cd /mnt/HD_a2/transmission
• vim settings.json
• Press "Insert", then change the setting "download-dir"
• Press "Escape", then type ":wq" (without the quotes), and enter

Thanks, I'm no expert on unix but I did ssh into the server and tried running transmission-remote and just transmission and it said it couldn't be found. I will try this when I get home.

I think because the method I used to install it uses the Zyxel package it may be running differently (although I am open to correction here). I was going to install transmission using the other guide, where you build it yourself but that looked like way too much effort.

TheDriver wrote: »

same thing for me since 4.6, I have found some rss feeds are giving me torrent file invalid which is quite annoying. I was going to go back to 4.5 to be honest as installing transmission didn't work for me before

installing it using the zyxel package is very easy, the same as installing any other package. Apart from configuring the download folder it is working perfectly for me.

The other thing I need to get working is RSS feeds using transmission. This will take some research

28064212

nedd wrote: »

Thanks, I'm no expert on unix but I did ssh into the server and tried running transmission-remote and just transmission and it said it couldn't be found. I will try this when I get home.

What do you mean you tried running it? I thought you already had it running? The default installation location for Transmission on FFP was /mnt/HD_a2/transmission, but it doesn't have to go there. SSH in and run

vim /ffp/start/transmission.sh

and see what directory is listed after "TRANSMISSION_HOME". That will be where your settings.json file is located, so you can just edit that and change the "download_dir" setting

nedd

28064212 wrote: »

What do you mean you tried running it? I thought you already had it running? The default installation location for Transmission on FFP was /mnt/HD_a2/transmission, but it doesn't have to go there. SSH in and run

vim /ffp/start/transmission.sh

and see what directory is listed after "TRANSMISSION_HOME". That will be where your settings.json file is located, so you can just edit that and change the "download_dir" setting

When you install transmission as a zypkg using the method I linked to it doesn't install in the usual way. There is no mention of transmission under ffp/ and while the service is running I can't execute any of the transmission commands from the SSH session.

At this stage I am happy it is running and working better than the default download service.

That said I am not at home now so I will try your suggestions later.

28064212

nedd wrote: »

When you install transmission as a zypkg using the method I linked to it doesn't install in the usual way. There is no mention of transmission under ffp/ and while the service is running I can't execute any of the transmission commands from the SSH session.

At this stage I am happy it is running and working better than the default download service.

That said I am not at home now so I will try your suggestions later.

When you say "installed as a zypkg", what do you mean? I took it to mean you installed FFP using the link you posted, then used slacker on the command-line to install transmission? That's the same method I used, and that installs a script to /ffp/start/, otherwise transmission wouldn't run.

nedd

I initially went to install FFP from the link, but when I refreshed my package list on the nas FFP and Transmission were both there. So I installed both of them. As I mentioned I'm a bit of a unix noob so it was the easiest way to get transmission working.

By installing transmission this way there is no reference to it in FFP. I was going to remove this package and try it using slacker but I got it to a point that I am 90% happy so I think I will leave it for a few weeks. Plus the missus is sick of me ignoring her while I thrawl unix forums to get my bearings.

28064212

nedd wrote: »

I initially went to install FFP from the link, but when I refreshed my package list on the nas FFP and Transmission were both there. So I installed both of them. As I mentioned I'm a bit of a unix noob so it was the easiest way to get transmission working.

By installing transmission this way there is no reference to it in FFP. I was going to remove this package and try it using slacker but I got it to a point that I am 90% happy so I think I will leave it for a few weeks. Plus the missus is sick of me ignoring her while I thrawl unix forums to get my bearings.

Ah, my bad When I installed FFP, there was no separate transmission package. Transmission is probably installed at "/usr/local/zy-pkgs/" EDIT: or "/etc/zyxel/zy-pkgs"

However, I just realised you can set the download directory through the web GUI. Just click on the spanner in the bottom left, and you can do it there

TheDriver

can't see anywhere to change directory on the GUI? Spanner gives lots of options bar the directory
P.S. thanks nedd, didn't realise you could install using this method........Though still think I will go back to 4.5, had no problems with it

nedd

28064212 wrote: »

Ah, my bad When I installed FFP, there was no separate transmission package. Transmission is probably installed at "/usr/local/zy-pkgs/" EDIT: or "/etc/zyxel/zy-pkgs"

However, I just realised you can set the download directory through the web GUI. Just click on the spanner in the bottom left, and you can do it there

I should have explained it better.

I am slowly getting used to using this nas. I had hoped everything would just work the way I wanted out of the box but it seems that the firmware is a little flakey. Luckily there is a good group of people out there intent on hacking it.

PS. in my search for information on the NSA 325 I found a german forum that seems to have a good user base http://www.zyxelforum.de/

there is talk there about a 4.61 firmware beta and also what to expect in 4.7 (in 2014)

28064212

TheDriver wrote: »

can't see anywhere to change directory on the GUI? Spanner gives lots of options bar the directory
P.S. thanks nedd, didn't realise you could install using this method........Though still think I will go back to 4.5, had no problems with it

Hmm, might be a customised package installed, with that option stripped out. I have this option when I open it

nedd

TheDriver wrote: »

can't see anywhere to change directory on the GUI? Spanner gives lots of options bar the directory
P.S. thanks nedd, didn't realise you could install using this method........Though still think I will go back to 4.5, had no problems with it

No problem, I'm stumbling through all of this stuff so wanted to pass the info on.

I NAT'd the port for the GUI on my firewall and now I can access it remotely. Working great so far.

As for 4.6, I disabled the download service and dropbox because of the issues. I was only using dropbox to add torrents remotely anyway.

TheDriver

28064212 wrote: »

Hmm, might be a customised package installed, with that option stripped out. I have this option when I open it

that line is missing from mine, i installed it from the packages menu.

TheDriver

nedd wrote: »

No problem, I'm stumbling through all of this stuff so wanted to pass the info on.

I NAT'd the port for the GUI on my firewall and now I can access it remotely. Working great so far.

As for 4.6, I disabled the download service and dropbox because of the issues. I was only using dropbox to add torrents remotely anyway.

SAme here stumbling across all these lines! Still, interesting stuff.
I went back to 4.5 and going to stick with the download service as it works perfectly with the RSS feed I set up and got full speed with it anyways, no complaints until I upgraded to 4.6.

nedd

TheDriver wrote: »

SAme here stumbling across all these lines! Still, interesting stuff.
I went back to 4.5 and going to stick with the download service as it works perfectly with the RSS feed I set up and got full speed with it anyways, no complaints until I upgraded to 4.6.

That was something I noticed with the download service as well, I was only getting about 250kbps downloads. I thought it was a feature to reduce impact on the system.

I had transmission ticking along at full speed and streaming content no bother.

m4r10

nedd wrote: »

I NAT'd the port for the GUI on my firewall and now I can access it remotely. Working great so far.

How do you access the NAS over internet? Do you need a fixed address? I went over the manual but can't find any reference to this.

nedd

I'm not at the NAS now so this guide is from memory:

1. set up account with no-ip.com. This creates a DNS alias for you. The free one with probably be *USERNAME*.no-ip.biz
2. install the dyDNS package on the NAS.
3. Enable and Configure the dyDNS on the NAS admin screen. Put in URL created above, username and password.
4. on your firewall create a NAT rule to allow external access, in the case of transmission the GUI runs on 9091. So set the port 9091 to point to the IP address of your NAS, probably 192.168.1.??
5. Test. go to *USERNAME*.no-ip.biz:9091 and you should get routed through to your Transmission GUI. I installed the Android app and it works perfectly for me.

EDIT: I'm sure you can set up different NAT rules to allow you access to different things of your NAS.

m4r10

Thanks for that.

I got through the first 3 steps without any hitch. Also, I allowed access to port 9091 on Windows firewall, but can't connect from the web browser, neither with *USERNAME*.no-ip.biz:9091 or with the ip address generated by no-ip. I'd say the port is not correct as the DyDNS page on Zyxel shows the correct information.

nedd

try connecting to the URL without the port number and you should hit your router directly.

When I talk about creating NAT rules on your firewall I mean that firewall on your Router. I have an eircom Zyxel router and i had to turn the firewall level to low and then create a NAT rule.

m4r10

I was about to edit my post and add that I allowed access to my router as well.

Even without the port number, still I get an error on the browser.
I'll play around with it a bit more, maybe I'll get it working in the end!

nedd

When i turned on the dydns on the nas it took a couple of mins for the dns to update.

on the dydns page it should tell you the external IP address of your router. Try going to that directly in the browser and see what happens. When i did that i got the logon screen of my router. Setting up the NAT rule then let me channel through to Transmission GUI.

m4r10

I did go to the external IP address shown on the NAS but still get an error page in the browser.

nedd

sounds like the firewall on the router is blocking it then. i had to turn the security level to low

m4r10

It was already on low, I'm not too keen on disabling it. I'll give it a try just to make sure the problem is not with my router.

nedd

tell me your ip address, disable the firewall, enter your credit card details here and it should get sorted ;-)

m4r10

Well, did you get my PM with the above? :rolleyes:

I'll give it another try tomorrow with a clear head as I'm starting to lose control with this!

PS. I managed to access it in the end by placing it in the DMZ. Would this be OK or am I leaving the NAS vulnerable?

Access

Access wrote: »

A lot of peeps are wary of the beta release of the 4.60 firmware for the NSA310... a few bugs reported already, but a quick google translation on the zyxel germany forums shows that there is a final release of the 4.60 firmware to the public set for the 21st of May coming after all beta testing is completed.

So, i only have to wait a month which is fine by me.

The new firmware sorts out the dropbox issues from what i have read along with a few minor fixes too.

An update to this for people who might have the NSA310 and are waiting on the 4.60 FW...

Well, the 21st of may has come and gone and no sign of the 4.60 FW.

I have been keeping an eye on the german zyxel forum (via google translate) as the UK zyxel forum and phone support are second to them and only get updates and new FW when zyxel germany release them (according to the uk phone tech i was onto before anyways)... but zyxel are having serious problems in beta testing of the 4.60 fw, so much so that they have abandoned it to concentrate on 4.61... so it seems there will be no FW release for the 310 till at least the end of June. Thats a bit disappointing IMO.

Hello Beta member,

since the v4.60 is not yet stable for the NSA 310 and unfortunately still are a few bugs in this, we will omit the v4.60 release for the NSA 310 and go directly to v4.61!

In brief, we start here with v4.61 B1

Expected Bugfix:

Issue # 1
NTFS External HDD 2TB can not support bigger! (Hardware limitation, need add in Release Notes)

Issue # 2
External HDD 3TB or 4TB XFS or other linux system can create but after reboot, the volume is gone

Issue # 3
Different size external HDD 500GB - 4TB can not work on USB 3.0 front port. (USB 2.0 is fine).

Issue # 4
Power On / Off Schedule NSA cause crash by shutdown!

Issue # 5

VLC issue still exist with v2.0.6


Implementation:

- Testing of new functions to the function / error
- Test on old functions / module updates / bug that should be fixed

Degree:

- Posting everything that is found / not going in detail in forum
- Attach screenshot for Bug Report
- If possible written in English


Please note that it is a beta and may in the worst case data loss.


Download Link:

[Url] / [/ url]

To get new packages:

1) download this file as a file as. Txt file!

ftp://downloader:atokiq74 @ ftp.zyxel.de / TH / beta / web_prefix

2) / Copy the file under admin zy-pkgs

3) Update the package list (transmission, nzbget etc.) will be accessible.


Lots of fun,

Tobias

_________________
Tobias Hermann
Official ZyXEL Germany 2nd level supporter
IT system electronics [/url]

iPhone.

m4r10 wrote: »

Well, did you get my PM with the above? :rolleyes:

I'll give it another try tomorrow with a clear head as I'm starting to lose control with this!

PS. I managed to access it in the end by placing it in the DMZ. Would this be OK or am I leaving the NAS vulnerable?

Sounds like you need to find out how to set up a port forwarding rule on your router to forward all traffic hitting that port to the IP address of your zyxel.

m4r10

iPhone. wrote: »

Sounds like you need to find out how to set up a port forwarding rule on your router to forward all traffic hitting that port to the IP address of your zyxel.

It is possible I'm omitting something. I even read the router's manual (Thomson_twg870) but still no joy. Maybe I'm not configuring the right port? How do I find which port needs access to the NAS?

bromley52

m4r10 wrote: »

It is possible I'm omitting something. I even read the router's manual (Thomson_twg870) but still no joy. Maybe I'm not configuring the right port? How do I find which port needs access to the NAS?

I have it setup on my Thomson router. I will list the ports here when I get home. I am using no-ip for external access.

bromley52

I have attached my port forward settings. I found the ports listed somewhere so I just tried it and it worked. I don't know if all the ports I have are required but perhaps someone else might advise on this. The IP address at the start is the address of the NAS.

Just one thing to note, I am using No-IP for external access to my NSA310 and I noticed in the logs shortly activating No-IP that some unknown IP tried to FTP onto my NAS without success. It has a different password to the no-ip site. This might have been some internal NAS process but I deactivated FTP.

m4r10

Thanks for that. Most of them I enabled from the drop-down menu just above the screen posted by you but still couldn't access my NAS, only if set up in the DMZ. I'll try again tomorrow as now I don't have access to it.

PS. Just checked right now and I can access it from work, but don't remember if I left the NAS in the DMZ or I just got the right port earlier on.

nedd

I only have port 80 (which allows access to the Web Front End) and port 9091 (which allows access to Transmission) open.

I would only open the ports that are relevant to the application you want to use. For example if you want to FTP into the NAS then open port 21, if not don't open it.

Port 22 is for SSH access, 445 is for SMB (Share) access.

Better safe than sorry. If your NAS is getting hit from external then it could easily be North Korean hackers trying to access your NAS, so they can photoshop themselves into your photos. Nasty!

m4r10

I didn't had port 80 open, that's why it wasn't working in the first place. All sorted out now .
I'll give Transmission GUI a try to see if it's worth purchasing.

nedd

m4r10 wrote: »

I didn't had port 80 open, that's why it wasn't working in the first place. All sorted out now .
I'll give Transmission GUI a try to see if it's worth purchasing.

I am using Remote Transmission on my Android phone. Its free and works great.

quarryman

Picked one of these up. Neat piece of kit.

Disappointed with the transfer speeds though. Connected from my PC to the NAS through a 100Mb router I'm only getting about 2.5MB/s.

Looks like its going to take an hour to transfer an 8GB file.

What are others getting?

m4r10

quarryman wrote: »

Picked one of these up. Neat piece of kit.

Disappointed with the transfer speeds though. Connected from my PC to the NAS through a 100Mb router I'm only getting about 2.5MB/s.

Looks like its going to take an hour to transfer an 8GB file.

What are others getting?

If the media server is enabled, it will slow down transfer speeds. Disable it and you'll improve the transfer speed.

Basq

Yeah.. that's very slow. Transferring a 350MB file typically only takes 8 - 10 seconds for me.

Oat23

Would this be the cheapest place to pick one up now?

Need to upgrade, running out of room to store my media!

eamonnq

Oat23 wrote: »

Would this be the cheapest place to pick one up now?

Need to upgrade, running out of room to store my media!

You could probably try FLUBIT or at least Parcel Motel, 9.95gbp delivery to Ireland there.

Bought my one a few months ago via dabs.ie because I was in a hurry:rolleyes: to get it, still haven't even opened it up yet!! Have to clear off the drive I intend putting in it, but have to clear off some other space on other drives to put the stuff from that drive on first.................soon.

Oat23

Cheers, picked it up (using PM). Not gonna bother with flubit as I'd like it sent out tomorrow and hopefully I'll get it early next week.

Also bought a 2TB hard drive for it, exciting times!

Access

quarryman wrote: »

Picked one of these up. Neat piece of kit.

Disappointed with the transfer speeds though. Connected from my PC to the NAS through a 100Mb router I'm only getting about 2.5MB/s.

Looks like its going to take an hour to transfer an 8GB file.

What are others getting?

Just checked... damn... 2.5/2.7mb/s also.

Tried turning off media server but made absolutely no difference.

Access

Oat23 wrote: »

Cheers, picked it up (using PM). Not gonna bother with flubit as I'd like it sent out tomorrow and hopefully I'll get it early next week.

Also bought a 2TB hard drive for it, exciting times!

Once you own one, you wont know how you did without it. Great bit of kit.

nedd

I am loving my one. Got Plex installed and it is working perfectly. Remotely adding torrents from my Android phone. My wife is even using it a little.

quarryman

Access wrote: »

Just checked... damn... 2.5/2.7mb/s also.

Tried turning off media server but made absolutely no difference.

Yep same here. It seems I can manage 5-6MB/s when writing. Then about 9MB/s when reading.

really annoying.


At those speeds it's only really worth it for the odd backup rather than streaming etc.