Home network configuration questions

[yoave717]

Hello, Im in the process of planing my new home network systems and I got stuck on an unfamiliar area.
On the house there are 2 floors(Ground floor and a basements) and 2 main central network cabinets.
The first cabinet has all the cables coming from the ground floor and some from the basement.
The second cabinet has all the cables from the basement(except from those who go the 1st cabinet).
At the starting point both cabinets has to be connected to the same isp modem.
There is a cable running between them(on starting point isp modem is on the 1st cabinet).
Both cabinets need a 24 ports switch.
The complex part starts here:
The first cabinet also holds two other 8 port switch(1 poe and one regular), the first 8 ports switch (poe) receives ip cameras cables, and the other 8 ports switch is used for the Google wifi mesh system(because Gwifi requires the child points to be on the downstream of the primary point).

My plan is like this:
ISP MODEM -> 1st cabinet 24SWITCH -> 2nd cabinet 24SWITCH

-> ip camaras 8SWITCH
-> Google wifi primary point -> mesh 8SWITCH​

Now after all that i have some questions (also if changes on the plan has to be made in order to achieve or improve something its not a problem, Im here to get help improving it):

1. How (if its possible) can I connect a mesh point on the basement(on the part that the cables goes to the 2nd cabinet)?Can I do it virtually?

1. Do i need a stackable switches for the 2 main 24 switches?(in order to operate as a one unit)+how do you advice connecting them?

2. On the first cabinet, is possible to have a manged 16 ports switch that will have 2 subnets one for the ip cameras and one for the mesh wifi system?

3. About the mesh wifi, Can I connect the primary point to a main manged switch and on that same switch create a subnet that will connect to the output of the primary point and the other mesh child points?

also,
Can you please recommend me which switches (based on the questions and information I gave) I should get?


Thanks in advance,
Yoav

 

[JackMDS]

A Network need a Router that control the core of the system.

If you did not mention a Router because it is in your Modem you have to consider if the Router in the Modem can take such a load.

If the switches are regular switches there is No primary or secondary when regular switches are connect together (no matter how many) you can plug the Mesh or anything else to the closest Switch Port.

Given the size of you network (over 50 Ports) you should consider local professional Help.

 

[yoave717]

A Network need a Router that control the core of the system.

If you did not mention a Router because it is in your Modem you have to consider if the Router in the Modem can take such a load.

If the switches are regular switches there is No primary or secondary when regular switches are connect together (no matter how many) you can plug the Mesh or anything else to the closest Switch Port.

Given the size of you network (over 50 Ports) you should consider local professional Help.

Well, I got in this mess because of local professional.
I just saw the plan schema that i wrote wasn't printed correctly, just fixed so you may have a different look at it

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm going to echo Jack's sentiment about hiring a pro. This stuff is very complicated, and your questions imply that you're really not familiar with how this stuff works. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with somebody you hired.

1. How (if its possible) can I connect a mesh point on the basement(on the part that the cables goes to the 2nd cabinet)?Can I do it virtually?

Yes, but all your switches have to be managed switches that support VLAN tagging, so everything just got crazy expensive.

Also, I thought the point of mesh wifi was that you didn't have to have wires everywhere? (i.e., the WAPs operate as relays.)

1. Do i need a stackable switches for the 2 main 24 switches?(in order to operate as a one unit)+how do you advice connecting them?

No. A simple cable between two ports on the two switches is adequate. If they're managed switches with a VLAN configuration, you would use a trunk connection. If they're "dumb" switches, you just use the same cable, but don't do any port configuration.

2. On the first cabinet, is possible to have a manged 16 ports switch that will have 2 subnets one for the ip cameras and one for the mesh wifi system?

Yes, but there's really no benefit to doing so unless you're implementing somebody's corporate security guidelines or something. For a home network where you're the admin, only have 3-4 users (a family), and physically limit access, it's firmly in, "that's nice, but... why?" territory.

3. About the mesh wifi, Can I connect the primary point to a main manged switch and on that same switch create a subnet that will connect to the output of the primary point and the other mesh child points?

If, when you say "subnet" you are referring to a physical network segment and not actually a "subnet" (which is an IP addressing thing*) then the answer is yes.

*IP subnets should, in a by-the-book universe, more or less match the map of your logical (not necessarily physical) network segments... but they don't HAVE to, and it can be pretty gnarly/interesting/freaky when they don't.

 

[mv2devnull]

For a home network where you're the admin, only have 3-4 users (a family),

... with 50+ ports and a mesh to connect devices to. Big, well prepared home?

 

[JackMDS]

Well, I got in this mess because of local professional.
I just saw the plan schema that i wrote wasn't printed correctly, just fixed so you may have a different look at it

I house with 50 ports. Mesh and Cameras does not seem to be a regular Big Family house.

Could be Yoav that you where taken for a "Ride" (I.e., someone took advantage of your level of knowledge of Networking, or lack of it).

If indeed you need such a network, then get someone credible. Your country is full with high level computer experts using very advanced systems.

Otherwise, if you want help here you have to start from scratch enplaning what fictionally you really needs since it can not be clear from you list of Hardware.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

... with 50+ ports and a mesh to connect devices to. Big, well prepared home?

A dozen security cameras around a big house/yard isn't really all that weird. I've seen some pretty interesting "home" network setups where small/home-based businesses were involved, too.

It's not polite to assume. ;-)

 

[yoave717]

I house with 50 ports. Mesh and Cameras does not seem to be a regular Big Family house.

Could be Yoav that you where taken for a "Ride" (I.e., someone took advantage of your level of knowledge of Networking, or lack of it).

If indeed you need such a network, then get someone credible. Your country is full with high level computer experts using very advanced systems.

Otherwise, if you want help here you have to start from scratch enplaning what fictionally you really needs since it can not be clear from you list of Hardware.

Thank you for answering, I'll try explaining from scratch:

We just built a new house, ground floor and a basement.
Ground floor has kitchen,living room and a master bedroom,
the basement has 3 bedrooms(3kids), kitchen, TV room and a shelter(required in Israel).

When designing the house, we wanted to be able to change the basement into a completely separated apartment, meaning the part with the kitchen and 3 bedroom is "modular" so to say, and also, that "modular" part has its own water, electricity, and network infrastructure.
Until the kids leave the house, the basement and the other parts of the house are connected.

From the "modular" part of the basement there are 12 cat7 cables going to that part network cabinet,
From the rest of the house, there are 16-20 cat7 cables + 6 cat5e cables(designated for PoE ip cameras) that are going to the "main" network cabinet.
Connection to ISP and the router will be placed at the "main" network cabinet.
Between the two cabinets there are 2-4 cat7 cables running(not sure how many, yet).
Ill call the phase where the whole house is a one unit phase 1 and the phase where the modular part becomes a standalone apartment phase 2 to simplify writing.

At phase 1, the whole house has to be connected to the same isp, + there should be one wifi network working properly throughout the entire house.
at the moment in our old house we are using the Google wifi mesh system with 3 points, and its working fine(hoping that it will be better when getting the new house),
The mesh has its limitations, If I wanted to hard wire it, I must connect the child points to the downlink of the main point(meaning, I cant use the same switch to connect the primary points and the child points), At first that wasnt a problem because i could just get one more small switch, but the problem is that on the "modular" part of the basement I cant connect a mesh point because there is no way to connect it downlink of the main point.
Another thing that concerns me, is a bottle neck between the two switches.

I mentioned the 6 cat5e cables coming from the ip cameras, the provider and installer of those cameras also supplies the PoE switch for them that will also be connected on the "main" network cabinet. There will also be an NVR that will connect to those cameras.

Questions are:

1. about the wifi, is there a better solution for having one network throughout the entire house?

2. (in case no better solution for in 1) can I somehow connect a mesh child point in the "modular" part?(virtually/physically)

3. With the 6 cameras connected, will it create a bandwidth problem?

4. what is the best way to connect between the two network cabinets?

5. In order to make the best out of the networking in the house, what kind of switches I should get?(I can work with sophisticated equipment, and can afford a mid-end switches(300$-500$))


Thanks in advance,
Yoav

 

[yoave717]

I'm going to echo Jack's sentiment about hiring a pro. This stuff is very complicated, and your questions imply that you're really not familiar with how this stuff works. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with somebody you hired.



Yes, but all your switches have to be managed switches that support VLAN tagging, so everything just got crazy expensive.

Also, I thought the point of mesh wifi was that you didn't have to have wires everywhere? (i.e., the WAPs operate as relays.)



No. A simple cable between two ports on the two switches is adequate. If they're managed switches with a VLAN configuration, you would use a trunk connection. If they're "dumb" switches, you just use the same cable, but don't do any port configuration.



Yes, but there's really no benefit to doing so unless you're implementing somebody's corporate security guidelines or something. For a home network where you're the admin, only have 3-4 users (a family), and physically limit access, it's firmly in, "that's nice, but... why?" territory.



If, when you say "subnet" you are referring to a physical network segment and not actually a "subnet" (which is an IP addressing thing*) then the answer is yes.

*IP subnets should, in a by-the-book universe, more or less match the map of your logical (not necessarily physical) network segments... but they don't HAVE to, and it can be pretty gnarly/interesting/freaky when they don't.

Thank you for replying!

You are right, its a family home network, but with 5 family members, each has 2-4 active network devices and with today technology where every thing has to be connect to the internet, it can get sophisticated...

Can you please explain more about manged switches and how to work with them? or just direct to a place I can read more about it?

Thanks in advance,
Yoav

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thank you for replying!

You are right, its a family home network, but with 5 family members, each has 2-4 active network devices and with today technology where every thing has to be connect to the internet, it can get sophisticated...

Can you please explain more about manged switches and how to work with them? or just direct to a place I can read more about it?

Thanks in advance,
Yoav

smallnetbuilder.com has a series of articles on smart switches. They're from 2009, but not much has changed - newer switches implement basically the same set of features and protocols and work more or less the same way.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/bas...-managed-switch-can-do-for-your-small-network

Even 20 devices is a fairly small network, and most devices that are "active" online are really idle 99.99% of the time. It doesn't have to get complicated - you can set up a LAN of 20 devices the same way you'd set up a LAN of 2-3 devices and things will work just fine in most cases. But if you really want to...

 

[JackMDS]

Thanks for the detailed clarification.

It seems that you do not really need so many Manged switches. You can build one cohesive network with regular switches and it will easy to deal with all of these.

If you insist on using VLANs, educate yourself on how to install and configure them. Online forums are good for answering specific questions it is hard to write tutorials every time that some one has an issue.

The link in Dave's post above is a good place to start.