I want to start working on a networking project soon and am hoping for some good advice. I'll not go into too much detail:
I have some mixed multimedia files and also a website which I want to share with authenticated users (LAN and WAN side). The files are mostly stored on D-Link DNS-321 NAS-units, and are very well-organized. I have these NAS-units connected to a Gig-E switch which itself is connected to the LAN via a second Gig-E switch. This setup works well for direct access from connected devices but it seems to me there may be a better alternative available.
Couldn't I connect the NAS-switch to a second NIC in a server, and then have clients login to the server to gain access to the media? I'm thinking I could connect this server to my LAN with one NIC and the NAS with the other NIC to separate the two resources? I hope I'm not over-complicating anything here but another reason to have a server between the NAS and the network would be to transcode media.
Obviously I'd need a pretty decent hardware side for this server, so what do you all recommend? I've always been an Intel-guy but I'll consider any suggestions! Thanks. -- I see what you're saying, even though I'm really just listening...
reply to clarknova the reasons for using a Server are both to to consolidate directory access by allowing the Server manage the shares more efficiently, and also to allow seamless trans-coding of multimedia for a Client.
I should also have mentioned in my original post that I wish to use Windows or *maybe* Linux as long as it's easy enough to configure and use.
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