WOL on drive access

[RTOUK]

hey,

with my current setup i run 2 machines, the first being my desktop and the second being my media centre machine(running media centre) that i also attach my ext drives too so it doubles as a file server. which all works really well, apart from having to keep the media centre machine on 24/7 to have constant access to my files.

so i now have the media centre machine set to goto sleep when not in use and only wake up when i use the remote or it has to record something plus its set up to WOL when i send a magic packet from my desktop to access my files.

what i was wondering is. if theres a way to

a) have the desktop send the magic packet to wake the media centre up as i access one of the network drives. (do i dont have to keep running the magic packet app and it just sends it when needed)

b) a way to keep sending a magic packet say every 4 mins (it goes to sleep after 5) to keep the machine alive if i might need that

any help would be great.

thanks

-Ryan

[blackheart42]

Originally Posted by RTOUK

hey,

with my current setup i run 2 machines, the first being my desktop and the second being my media centre machine(running media centre) that i also attach my ext drives too so it doubles as a file server. which all works really well, apart from having to keep the media centre machine on 24/7 to have constant access to my files.

so i now have the media centre machine set to goto sleep when not in use and only wake up when i use the remote or it has to record something plus its set up to WOL when i send a magic packet from my desktop to access my files.

what i was wondering is. if theres a way to

a) have the desktop send the magic packet to wake the media centre up as i access one of the network drives. (do i dont have to keep running the magic packet app and it just sends it when needed)

b) a way to keep sending a magic packet say every 4 mins (it goes to sleep after 5) to keep the machine alive if i might need that

any help would be great.

thanks

-Ryan

I'm setting up a file server to do the same thing - wake up on access and go to sleep later. I'm having problems with other things, but the wake/sleep part works well.

Depending on your server's NIC card, you may not need magic packet at all. Check the card's options for something like 'wake on directed packet' or 'wake on unicast'.

Next, I found that on my client system I needed to do two things to get this to work. First, add an entry in the host file for the server. This also implies that your server uses static addressing. Second, run a batch file in your startup folder that has this command: arp -s <IP address of your server> <MAC address of your server's NIC card>. After this, clicking on the server's shared directory in Windows Explorer causes the server to wake up. Depending on the server, the client may timeout and say that the server isn't available. Wait a few seconds and try again.

Apparently some NIC cards support wake on ARP. If you've got one of these, the client changes probably aren't necessary.

I don't know of a way to send the magic packet every x minutes. I just set the sleep timeout long enough that it doesn't matter - maybe 10-15 minutes. If I want to access the server beyond that it just goes to sleep and I wake it up again. Of course, that timer doesn't apply while I'm accessing the drive - i.e. watching a movie or copying a file. It only starts after I stop accessing the server.

Blackheart

[RTOUK]

thanks for the reply. it was really helpful

but what did you mean by this

" found that on my client system I needed to do two things to get this to work. First, add an entry in the host file for the server. This also implies that your server uses static addressing."??

[blackheart42]

Originally Posted by RTOUK

thanks for the reply. it was really helpful

but what did you mean by this

" found that on my client system I needed to do two things to get this to work. First, add an entry in the host file for the server. This also implies that your server uses static addressing."??

On your client system open C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts with any text editor.
Add an entry for your server with the name and IP address of the server in the form:
<IP address of the server> <name of the server>

Since there's only one entry and it's permanent, you have to give the server a fixed, static IP address rather than letting it request and be assigned a dynamic address like most workstations.

The combination of this entry and the arp command I described in my previous message gives your client system everything it needs to know about who and where the server is on the network.

Blackheart