Cisco Home Networking Recommendations

[ChippyUK]

Hi all,

I'm looking to setup a decent home network later this year and I need to know what sort of budget to set aside for it and what Cisco models you recommend for such a project (I'll buy used from Ebay). Currently I've got a powerline which works 'ok' but it's very slow for file transfer and occasionally cuts out (Aiming for gigabit).

I want to setup a router and have proper patching between levels. I expect that the number of network points will be fairly low (3-5 dual point outlets max) spread over 3 floors (probably with cat5e).

I do have space I can setup for about 5-6U worth of equipment. Also what cooling do you recommend for such a space? Ideally noise and heat would be kept to a minimum.

I look forward to the challenge and learning the console as a prequel to a CCNA. Thanks for your time! :thumbsup:

- James

 

[JackMDS]

Home Networking, why Cisco?

http://www.cnet.com/news/belkin-completes-acquisition-of-linksys-from-cisco/



😎

 

[Pandasaurus]

I'm not going to get into the debate of virtualization versus real equipment, because personally, I think that dead horse has long since been beaten, shot, dragged down the street, and thrown off a cliff. Do your research, and decide which will work best for you.

Obviously, you're looking for real equipment. Probably on a budget. From your post, it sounds like you're looking for the same thing I was when I built my home lab. A "dual purpose" network that could be used for CCNA studies while also functioning as a "production" network. That said, for me at least, Gigabit was a requirement (with the exception of my 3550, because Gigabit-capable L3 Cisco switches are still insanely expensive). For that purpose, I really don't see a reason to get anything other than a couple of 3825's (2U router with 2 GbE ports and plenty of room for expansion in the form of WIC's and whatnot. Try for one with 15.1 AdvEnt IOS, 1GB ram, and 1GB flash), and a couple of 2970's. The 2970 comes in two important models. Which one you want depends on your needs. The 2970G-24T-E is a 1U, 24-port model. The 2970G-24TS-E is also 24 ports, but it's 1.5U (which annoys me to no end), and also includes 4 SFP ports. Useful if you're like me, and wanted to run Gigabit fiber uplinks to the 3550 just for the fun of it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

For home I'm actually a pretty good fan of Dell switches. Even if you buy new, it's actually not that expensive. I bought used though. A bit over 100 bucks for a 24 port gigabit switch is pretty good. Paid about 50 for a 10/100 switch as well, which I recently added to expand as I was starting to run out of ports.

For firewall/router I like pfsense. Cisco is probably considered better than Dell, but for home, it's not really worth the extra cost imo. You can get cheap 10/100 Cisco stuff off ebay though, if gigabit is not a must. Cisco is also a better choice if you're doing it for self education too.

 

[azazel1024]

I do have to say...why? Even used, it is going to be expensive. As you mentioned, cooling. Especially older gigabit managed switches are power hogs, so it is going to cost you a lot to run the gear. Expect around 80-160w of power draw for a 16/24 port old Cisco/dell/HP managed L2/L3 switch. At least in the US most places that is around $100-200 a year in electrical usage since it is on 24/7.

Or you could get a newer managed L2/L3 switch from a second tier manufacturer like TP-Link, DLink, etc for probably $200-400 and it might only run 15-25w and save you big on power bills.

Or if you don't actually need a fully managed L2/L3, get a semi-managed or dumb 16/24 port switch (or heck, an 8 port since it doesn't sound like you need much) which might be sub $150 and use even less power.

If you are interested in CCNA, by all means, get the used cisco gear. I just would use it as a SEPERATE learning lab that you are only powering up when you want to play/learn/test. Its going to be expensive to operate, but the used gear is relatively cheap, and frankly just throwing a semi-managed L2 16 port switch on the rack as your actual core switch (since it sounds like that is all you'll possibly need) would add maybe $150 and would likely save its price in your electric bill in just 12-24 months over operating the old Cisco stuff 24/7.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow I never thought of testing my swiches power, do they really use that much? That's almost as much as a whole computer system.

 

[Ayah]

Wow I never thought of testing my swiches power, do they really use that much? That's almost as much as a whole computer system.

"enterprise" does.
SMB gear usually sits at 10-50% of enterprise gear power.

24 gigabit ports:
hp 1910 pulls <=32W
hp 2910 pulls <=82W

technically not an exact comparison due to differences in capabilities, but still illustrates the point.

 

[azazel1024]

Yup. A lot of the older SMB and enterprise stuff is thirsty (especially the enterprise stuff). The newer stuff isn't as bad, but it still tends to pull a lot of juice (especially the L3 stuff and the 10GbE stuff).

By comparison, my TP-Link SG2216 16 port semi-managed L2 pulls down ~9w with around 8 ports active. My Trendnet TEG160sw 16 port semi-managed L2 pulls down about the same, but with 4 ports active (its a little thirstier). My 8 port dumb switch uses 1.5w with zero ports active and around 4w with 5 ports active. An old DLink 16 port semi-manage L2 I had briefly used around 28w with 6 ports active and also had active cooling (it was also circa about 2005-6, compared to my current switches which are circa 2013 and 2012 respectively).