Connecting two switches to a router

[azazel1024]

The router will also connect the wireless devices to the network and act as a DNLA server for all connected devices.

Doesn't change my recommendation on how to structure things.

 

[DCal430]

Doesn't change my recommendation on how to structure things.

Nearly all data will go from router to switch, there will be little to no shared network data going switch to switch. Does this make a difference.

 

[azazel1024]

If there is really nothing going switch to switch, then I'd use the router as the core and hang the switches off it.

 

[avos]

On a consumer grade router it probably doesn't matter one way or the other. On better routers where each interface is a full blown interface and not just a switch it would be better to connect switch A to switch B. Best to keep LAN traffic on switches and not have to be processed through a router. Traffic should only hit a router if it is going from one subnet to another.

 

[azazel1024]

On a consumer grade router it probably doesn't matter one way or the other. On better routers where each interface is a full blown interface and not just a switch it would be better to connect switch A to switch B. Best to keep LAN traffic on switches and not have to be processed through a router. Traffic should only hit a router if it is going from one subnet to another.

Very true, but it sounds like there will be limited to no traffic between the other devices on the network. Its all going to be from/to the router, so it would make sense to make the router the central point with the two switches off of it.

It would make better sense to have a real NAS attached to one of the switches, make that the core and dangle the router and other switch off it, but OP wants to use the router as a NAS.

 

[DCal430]

Very true, but it sounds like there will be limited to no traffic between the other devices on the network. Its all going to be from/to the router, so it would make sense to make the router the central point with the two switches off of it.

It would make better sense to have a real NAS attached to one of the switches, make that the core and dangle the router and other switch off it, but OP wants to use the router as a NAS.

You think if 3 people are watching an HD video on their devices or TV, and a 4th device tries to access a video, could this cause problems?

What if two devices want to open the same media file? Could this cause a problem.

 

[alkemyst]

You think if 3 people are watching an HD video on their devices or TV, and a 4th device tries to access a video, could this cause problems?

What if two devices want to open the same media file? Could this cause a problem.

A proper NAS should be able to handle multiple users on a single file.

The proper network design would be the router above the two switches and the NAS hanging off one of the switches (or possibility two for redundancy if it's supported).

If the network is bandwidth limited then there could be issues if saturated.

 

[DCal430]

What about those routers with built in DNLA servers? Will that work well, or should they spend the money to get a real server to handle these things?

 

[azazel1024]

It really depends heavily on the router. Some will break down with more than a couple of users accessing the same file, or more than a couple of users accessing files period. A lot of the newer/higher end routers can probably handle 3-4 concurrent users fine.

They aren't going to be able to handle nearly the number of concurrent connections a real NAS or file server can and diffinitely not the through put/speed or extra options you'd have.

For 2-3 users and mostly streaming, probably fine. If you care about throwing files around at high speeds and/or more than maybe 3 users streaming, you might really want to think about a real NAS/File server.