I don’t know where else to put this but this seems pretty related to what I’m planning to do so here goes.
TL;DR Router->NAS->[Connect via WIFI]->PC
Currently I’m running my PMS on my computer and slowly but surely storage is running out. To maintain my sickness of hoarding rather than deleting old files that I don’t need, I’m going out of my way to buy a NAS. I’m looking on buying Synology’s ds918+ purely because it’s the only one available. What I’m planning on doing is to connect my NAS to the router and via wifi connect my PC to the Nas. Reason for this abomination is the my router is in a completely different room from my living room where my PC is, so the next best thing other than running a ridiculously long wire is wifi. Yes I know that depending on your WiFi speed, it will make or break your stream, but is this possible? Using your NAS as storage but still use your PC as the server through a wifi connection?
Is it possible? Yes. Is it reliable? I would not bet the paycheck on it.
You would need a very strong wifi signal, preferably 5GHz 802.11ac to get the necessary bandwidth. Even then, nothing is assured, since WiFi is prone to interference from many sources.
The protocol used for file sharing between a NAS & PC, SMB, was never designed with WiFi in mind. It wants a rock solid connection. Any WiFi interference, signal drop, etc, could result in a dropped mount point, which would immediately interrupt any streaming. It could also mess up your library. If Plex starts scanning the library and it cannot see the movies, it will show them as not available for streaming, necessitating a re-scan after connectivity is restored. Basically a huge pain in the …
Why not run PMS on the 918+?
It will work fine as long as you do not need to transcode video.
If you do need to transcode video, then consider getting a Plex Pass. The 918+ will transcode 1080p and some 4K with hardware accelerated streaming enabled.
Go with the ridiculously long wire. Ethernet is specified for up to 100m (with proper cable. reduce the possible length by 1 m for every plug).
For the sake of not complicating your home network’s structure, go from your Plex server to the router. (Or to a second ethernet switch, which in turn is connected to your router by wire).
i.e. a “star”-topology, not a “chain” as you originally proposed above.
