Extensive Home Network

[DaCurryman]

OK, so my family has been remodeling a new home for a while and it's finally at a stage where we've moved in. I have my Internet installation setup for next Tuesday, so I want to have the network setup prior to the FIOS installation people coming in.

As part of the remodeling, I've run 3000 feet of Cat6 cable throughout the house (bedrooms, kitchen, living room, etc.). I have the other end of all the cables terminating in a storage closet in my basement where I plan on placing the network hardware and my servers (FTP Server, Media Server, etc.).

So basically, I want to connect all these cables so that the devices connected on the other end can communicate to each other. I still have to go home tonight and count exactly how many connections I have in order to determine the exact number of ports I'll need, but I'm sure it's at least 16 to 24. Three of the cables are separate (one in the basement, one to the first floor, and one to the second floor) where I will connect Wireless Access Points.

I want to have the connections between the devices to be GigE connections. Now I guess my question is that if one of the devices on my switch is not a GigE connection, does that automatically reduce everything on my switch to 100Mpbs or only packets being sent to/from the non-GigE device?

If it does reduce the whole switch, then I assume I should only get a GigE switch with enough ports for those devices that have GigE, but if it doesnt , then I'd rather get a larger GigE switch to house everything.

In terms of managed vs. unmanaged, I'm not sure what I'd need. Basically I'd like the ability to keep the wireless access separate from the wired connections so that they can access the internet but not necessarily other networked devices. Not sure if this would be done through the use of VLANs or port restrictions. I read somewhere that I'd need a managed switch to do VLANs, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'd also like to do bandwidth priorities, so that any network request that comes from certain IPs takes precedent over other IPs. What feature would be necessary for this?

In terms of routers vs. switches, I'm also unsure what exactly I'd need. My FIOS connection will use PPPoE. I read somewhere that it's in replacement of DHCP, but again, I'm not sure. I'd like to assign each connection to the switch/router a specific IP, so I can call up any particular device by IP or Computer Name.

Now that I've indicated what I'd like to do (as winded as it may be), I'd like to know your suggestions on what specific products I should purchase. Dell has a 25%-off sale on switches right now, so I'm not sure if I should purchase from them or if you guys know of a better deal. I'm not interested in some super-hardcore Cisco switch that cost me $1000. I'd like to keep this much more affordable. Any and all help is appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[kevnich2]

From the way it sounds, any soho router should do for your needs. As far as the switch is concerned, I'd look into a Dell PowerConnect 2724 Gigabit switch. It has a very nice web-managed interface that you can do alot with.

 

[DaCurryman]

I still have my old Linksys BEFSR41 as well as a DLink 624+ so I think I'm covered for the router portion. As I see it now, the router will feed my switch. I'll definitely have to purchase new GigE NICs for my PCs.

I'm wondering if I'll need a 24-port switch or if I should just go with an 8-port for now and then as my GigE devices grow (more PCs or others), then link the 8-port to another 8-port. This way I don't purchase overkill. The DLink 8-Port GigE switch can be had for less than $50.

What do you guys think of that idea. Is it bad to link together two or three 8-port switches? I will lose the web-based management, but I figure it's appx 1/2 the cost and may not need the VLAN capability. I guess I still have some network diagramming to do.

Please still, if you have suggestions or opinions, do share! Thanks again.

 

[skisteven1]

personally, I'd get a GigE 5 or 8 port switch to use for your GigE devices, and plug everything else into a regular 10/100 switches. If you have say 5 computers, plug them all into the GigE switch, and you can put dead ports and/or WAP's on the other switch. That's how i'd do it, but i'm cheap.

As for routing, it sounds like you want a full blown linux router -- be it standalone or as a computer doing the routing. That's the only way I know of to do bandwidth shaping and whatnot. The easiest way I can think of to do what you want is to have a computer do the routing with 3 NICs. One input from cable modem or whatever, one output to the GigE switch or all devices, and another output on a seperate subnet to a 5 port cheapo switch which has all three WAPs on it. Then the firewalling and or subnetting can change however you want. You could also set up vpn server on the router computer so that from the wireless you could VPN in and gain access to the local network.

Really though, I don't know much if anything about managed switches and vlans and stuff -- that's just how i'd do it.

 

[DaCurryman]

Would having a linux router slow down the routing function since it would be a computer processor doing all the work instead of a standalone box. Part of me says no since it's a full-blown computer, but the other part of me says yes since it's a software router instead of a hardware router. I'm also not very linux savvy, so I'd def have some learning to do, and I'd have to find an old machine to do all this work....how much processing power/RAM would I need for this?

Is this needed only because I want the bandwidth monitoring? Also, if I decide to stick with a hardware router (non-linux box), then would I still be able to assign specific IPs to specific ports in the switches. I'm pretty sure I can since I can with my DLink 624+, but I guess I just want to make sure. I'd like to have it so that even inactive ports on the switch are assigned IPs, so that if I ever plug anything in, I know what IP it will be.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Some of those SOHO NAT boxes from Linksys run Linux.

Most of them use software, it's what makes the hardware work.

 

[nweaver]

Most low end gig stuff chokes when you have gig plus 1 100....I have some netgears here that choaks off the gig stuff pretty quick (has to do with buffers, so I'm told by an old netgear tech here). I would isolate your 100 and gig, and you can either get a seperate router to nat your wireless stuff, or VLANS. A router would be cheaper.

 

[DaCurryman]

Originally posted by: nweaver
Most low end gig stuff chokes when you have gig plus 1 100....I have some netgears here that choaks off the gig stuff pretty quick (has to do with buffers, so I'm told by an old netgear tech here). I would isolate your 100 and gig, and you can either get a seperate router to nat your wireless stuff, or VLANS. A router would be cheaper.

Are you saying that the GigE switch would choke if I plug in the 10/100 switch directly into it or if it's connected in any way? I assume if I plug the 10/100 directly into the GigE swicth, it will drop all the connection on the GigE switch down to 10/100 (thus losing it's whole purpose).

What I was thinking is maybe:

Internet Connection (FiOS) --> Main Router (4-port)
Main Router --> one connection to GigE switch
--> one connection to a 10/100 switch that has the 3 WAPs
--> one connection to another 10/100 switch that has non GigE NIC devices on it.

What do you guys think about that? Would I be able to setup enough security levels to dictate how much access the WAP users have to the GigE switch and the other 10/100 switch?

 

[DaCurryman]

Just Bumping for Some More Advice.

 

[DaCurryman]

bump again for advice on my setup.

 

[azev]

I would suggest to one switch with enough port to accomodate all your devices. I have dell Powerconnect 5324, and I have a very extensive home network like yours, totaling about 30 drops. My switch seems to be ok with having a couple of 10/100 device such as ap's and network printers/fax. Af for router, I think FIOS came with one, and I would suggest using it instead of getting something else. Unless you're getting a better grade SOHO routers, then I would use whatever the router came with FIOS.
router--->gig switch-->all your devices.

Good luck