Home Networking/Switch QUestions

Juano11 · #1 10-29-2009, 07:39 PM

Lots of questions here...first some background info...

I'm in the process of having my home wired with Cat5e. Currently, we'll have 14 wired ethernet ports throughout the house. All of the cables terminate in the same area of the basement where the cable modem, router, and switch will be located.

We currently have a 10mbps cable internet connection, but may upgrade to 30mbps in the near future.

Our router is a D-Link DGL-4100 10/100/1000Mbps. I plan on connecting this to a large (probably unmanaged) switch. I'm currently considering either the NETGEAR JGS524 10/100/1000Mbps or D-Link DGS-1024D 10/100/1000Mbps. I have two wireless access points that I plan on connecting directly to the large switch or to extra ports on the router. I also have two D-Link DGS-2208 10/100/1000Mbps 8-Port Switches that will probably be added later if we decide we need more ports in a particular room (wired to the main switch or router, but located in a distant room).

Background info over...I have a few questions...

1. Do you see any obvious problem with this network as described? There shouldn't be any problem connecting the smaller switches downstream from the main switch, correct?

2. Would you recommend one of the switches listed above over the other (or a different one altogether)? I've chosen unmanaged switches because I don't THINK that I need the additional features of a managed or "smart" switch. Additionally, (as you might have guessed) there is much that I don't know regarding networking settings. I'd like it to be pretty much plug and play. Although, I might like a switch that would function like an unmanaged switch out of the box, with the ability to do more advanced configuration as I learn more later. Both of the switches listed above can be had for ~$160, I'd prefer to keep the price below ~$300.

3. My third question, which will surely reveal my ignorance, is this: How should I/can I connect my router to the switch? If I have a single Cat5e/Cat6 cable connecting my router won't that act as a potential bottleneck, since I'd be running all of my internet traffic through a single gigabit port on the router. Is it possible to connect more than one port of the router to the switch and maintain the network's "plug and play" nature? I guess that total bandwith shouldn't be a problem, since my internet connection is only 10-30mbps. However, if more than one connection between router and switch is possible, is there any benefit?

4. Finally, assuming that only one port of the router should be connected to the large switch, how would you suggest that I connect my wireless APs and/or additional 8 port switches? Should I connect as many of them as possible directly to the empty ports on the router, or should I just connect them to the switch as well? Are there benefits to either method? Am I likely to have problems with different network devices "seeing" each other if I connect them one way or the other?

Sorry for the long post and my ignorance.

Many Thanks in advance for your help,

Juan

ComGuards · #2 11-09-2009, 05:52 AM

1) Possible problem is with wireless performance - you may not get "good" wireless performance with your wireless access points sitting in the basement. You may wish to consider connecting the APs to one of the wall jacks in the house, especially if you have multiple levels.

2) For your needs, I believe that either of the Netgear or D-Link would be sufficient for your needs. A managed switch is nice to have, but I don't think you're at the point where you need that kind of ability.

3) No bottleneck there. You simply connect one of the network ports on the DGL-4100 to one of the ports on the 24-port switch. All the switch ports on each device are Auto MDI-X, so you shouldn't have to worry about crossover cables and uplink ports and whatnot. And no, it won't be a bottleneck. What it *would* be, would be a single-point of failure, but that shouldn't really be a concern.

You can't connect more than one port on the switch to the router, not with those particular hardware devices. It's possible with higher-end devices. I won't bore you with the technical details

4) I don't believe there's any real benefit to how you connect your un-managed switches in this particular configuration. I would probably suggest you only connect them to the wall drops ("jacks") as an on-needed basis. All of your wall-jacks should terminate to the 24-port switch you're getting.

To be perfectly honest though, if you're getting a 24-port switch in the basement, I would suggest you wire up all 24 ports to network drops throughout the house, even if you don't immediately use them right away. That way, if you need to run more than one or two network drops in the same location, you would already have the wall connection ready to go, and you'd only connect another switch if you really really needed that many extra ports.

And again, depending on the layout of your house, I'd suggest you put your wireless APs on a level above the basement for better coverage.

Juano11 · #3 11-09-2009, 09:35 PM

ComGuards,

Thanks for the reply.

I had considered the wireless problem, in fact that was one of the issues that prompted the entire wiring project.

At the moment, I only have one access point connected and it is, in fact, in the basement. Surprisingly, we do get reasonably good coverage throghout the house eventhough we have three above-ground floors.

However, my plan is to leave one of the APs in the basement since I will want coverage there and place the other in the 3rd floor attic. Since we are already getting pretty good coverage from the single one in the basement, my hope it that the other one on the third level will cover the few areas that we're having trouble with.

Glad to know that there are no other obvious problems with my plan.

Many Thanks

John

cszeto · #4 11-11-2009, 06:15 PM

1. http://forums.practicallynetworked.c...ead.php?t=1995 - no control between two unmanaged Ethernet devices.

2. The "ideal" wireless AP positioning would be to locate it as centrally as possible in relations to where the wireless clients may be accessing from. This will provide the most consistent wireless performance throughout the wireless coverage area in most cases.