All in one network device

jimmybanjeet

im looking to buy something which is
wifi adsl modem router
network storage
can run an OS/linux

the whole ideal
is to save on power

instead of having a router connected to network storage
i can just have one device that does alll

any idea of something like that

dustinmurphy

I don't think ANYONE makes that.... not only that, but including ALL of those items will make the power consumption of the device go higher, and will not save any power... as the devices still have to be powered.

Technically, you can build a PC to do all the routing/firewall and network storage... and have a Linux OS... (but no adsl modem) but it will consume MORE power than all the separate devices combined.

Honestly... the power consumption on consumer-grade devices is pretty minimal. Most use less than 1 watt of 110v power...

dead_p00l

The best bet would be one of the Open Routers. I think Asus and Netgear both have varieties of them. I running a netgear WNR3500 with dd-wrt on it now with an external hard drive attached for network storage and have no problems with it. This will solve your router/wifi/network storage(thanks to the usb port) and run's on open/linux based software and are usually upgradable to dd-wrt. You will still need an external hard drive as well as a DSL modem but I think this is as close as you're going to get. Your only other option would be to build your own. Build a micro atx machine with multi-port NIC or mulitple NIC's, Hard Drive, and Internal DSL modem(if you can still find them), and WIFI adapter.

dustinmurphy

dead_p00l wrote: »

The best bet would be one of the Open Routers. I think Asus and Netgear both have varieties of them. I running a netgear WNR3500 with dd-wrt on it now with an external hard drive attached for network storage and have no problems with it. This will solve your router/wifi/network storage(thanks to the usb port) and run's on open/linux based software and are usually upgradable to dd-wrt. You will still need an external hard drive as well as a DSL modem but I think this is as close as you're going to get. Your only other option would be to build your own. Build a micro atx machine with multi-port NIC or mulitple NIC's, Hard Drive, and Internal DSL modem(if you can still find them), and WIFI adapter.

Yeah, but it will require a WHOLE lot more power than all of the devices combined.... also will be an expensive single point of failure. If a router goes bad... it's $30-50 to buy a new one... and you can be up and running quickly with a new one. Also, having a NAS with a single drive is a data integrity problem. Most NAS devices (now) come with built-in RAID... most mATX boards don't.

With building your own... you're going to spend more money than what you'd be "saving" on power... not to mention... you're not saving any power.

Honestly, it costs me like $2-3/month to power my entire network (minus computers)... and I have multiple switches, AP's, a modem, and 2 voice routers. (one for me, one for my mom)... not to mention my Cisco lab with multiple routers/switches/AP's that are on all the time as well.

If you're concerned about power footprint... the consumer-grade devices isn't where to look.... they're relatively low in power usage.

dustinmurphy

I just did the math on power consumption... here's what I found....
This is based on the equipment I have (assuming 24x7 operation)

Monthly average power costs
Motorola Surfboard Modem - $0.72
WRT-310n Router - $0.97
Netgear 24 port 10/100 switch - $0.47
Buffalo Linkstation NAS (500G x 2 RAID1) - $2.09


400w Desktop - $32.18
250w Desktop - $20.12

nerdydad

Apple TimeCapsule?

ptilsen

dustinmurphy wrote: »

Most NAS devices (now) come with built-in RAID... most mATX boards don't.

Have to make a minor correction here. The vast majority of "NAS" devices don't come with hardware RAID. Most either use firmware-driven on-board RAID controllers or software-driven RAID within the OS (almost always Linux), which ultimately perform the same as on a mATX motherboard using onboard or software RAID. There is fundamentally no difference from a NAS device doing RAID and a full desktop OS doing RAID. The differences are primarily that the NAS device's OS runs off of ROM or flash media and is designed to run a web interface that allows storage provision. NAS devices tend to actually perform worse than a cheap desktop using software RAID simply because they are using extremely weak processors (usually Atom-grade or less -- usually less).

As far as OPs desire, I will agree overall that OP simply should not get the device in question. IMO It's a bad idea to combine storage with such an appliance. You could build it yourself in Linux, but as dustinmurphy said, power will be much higher and more importantly, it's a massive single point of failure. And instead of being based off of a professionally developed, supported solution (like moden NAS and router/firewall appliances), it's based off of a custom setup that's more likely to fail and less likely to work well in the first place. It might be a fun way to practice Linux skills but it's ultimately a poor way to run even a home network. It certainly won't save any electricity.

In fact, as Dustinmurphy's list indicates out, you're actually likely to save more money by specializing equipment than consolidating. If all equipment is under-utilized relative to its power needs it wastes an insignificant amount of electricity. In contract it saves a considerable of electricity by being engineered for a single purpose -- that switch, modem, router/firewall, and NAS can be designed to use exactly a certain amount of power and no more or less. As soon as you want to add roles to that device, the power requirements become more dynamic and -- almost as a rule -- higher.

Forsaken_GA

jimmybanjeet wrote: »

im looking to buy something which is
wifi adsl modem router
network storage
can run an OS/linux

You're going to have a tough time finding something that meets these needs without building it yourself. Most manufacturers aren't going to be dumb enough to limit themselves to one market by making an ADSL only NAS, so you might as well just remove the ADSL portion from your requirements and resign yourself to the use of an ADSL modem.

As for the rest of your requirements, I'd look into Synology's products. I use one myself as a NAS, though I don't use it as a router, it's capable. With a supported USB dongle, it can be turned into a wireless access point as well. It runs linux under the hood, and it's very light in the power usage department.

It is, however, not cheap. Nor do I think it wise to create single points of failure on purpose.

dustinmurphy

ptilsen wrote: »

Have to make a minor correction here. The vast majority of "NAS" devices don't come with hardware RAID. Most either use firmware-driven on-board RAID controllers or software-driven RAID within the OS (almost always Linux), which ultimately perform the same as on a mATX motherboard using onboard or software RAID. There is fundamentally no difference from a NAS device doing RAID and a full desktop OS doing RAID. The differences are primarily that the NAS device's OS runs off of ROM or flash media and is designed to run a web interface that allows storage provision. NAS devices tend to actually perform worse than a cheap desktop using software RAID simply because they are using extremely weak processors (usually Atom-grade or less -- usually less).

Good point... I was more or less stating that it's a native function of many of the NAS devices (my Buffalo Linkstation Duo as well as others I know of have that as a feature)... regardless of whether it's software or hardware.. it's simple to configure at the touch of a button... whereas a Linux software RAID is a bit more complicated...

Also, the OP didn't specify what the power savings was for... whether it was for cost or to have a smaller power footprint (i.e. go "green"). If it's for cost savings... ANY purchase outside of what he currently owns (or needs) will cost more than he's going to save in electricity....

Either way... there isn't many all-in-one devices like that... if there is... they're not going to have EVERYTHING the OP wants... if they do... they're not going to save any power.