Simple? Home Network question.

[I-Die-Often]

All right... I am preparing to wire my house up for the network (finally). Here is the break down of what I want to be able to run:

Bedroom 1 - 1 ethernet port (spare bedroom right now; currently not used)
Bedroom 2 - 3 ports (main office; my gaming rig, the wife's rig and our laser printer... yes... I have a HP Laserjet 4100TN with a Jetdirect card in it)
Bedroom 3 - 1 port (currently not used, but for future expansion)
Garage - 1 port (garage use computer for internet usage while working on my cars)

Wireless - 1 laptop for use in the kitchen; Wii and PS3

So I need 6 total ethernet ports for wired and wireless connection. There are not any REASONABLE routers that meet all the need in one package (one netgear one for $1700?).

I currently have an Asus WL-500W that we currently use. I also have a couple of older DLink 4 port switches.

My question is pretty simple... am I better off:

1. buying a new 8 port wired router and use the Asus as an access point or
2. use the Asus as the primary router and one of the switches hooked to it
3. other better options I have not thaoght about?

The plan in the house is to centralize our network hub in one of the walk in closets in the master bedroom to allow one central point with the modem and router(s) so we can control access to the network in the future (thinking down the road when we have kids). I can add a USB harddrive to the Asus router for centralized storage as well...

Let me know your thought... I am going to start wirign this weekend (hopefully) and will need to figure out the equipment in the near future...

As always... thanks for the help!

 

[Viashimo]

seems like you have enough stuff.

the asus router (that's wireless right?) for your wireless, and run 1 cable to your office and place on of the hubs there. There rest of the hookups fit and you have a hub left over.

Alternative, place both your switches directly on your asus router and wire from there. I recommend that if you are happy with the gear you have right now there is no reason to buy new stuff.

Hope that helps

 

[I-Die-Often]

Does running one of the switches off of one of the ports on the wireless router hurt performance? I know that the more you split a signal for say coaixl cable, the worse it gets?

I don't have a problem getting a new router as the 8 port wired routers are cheap... I just don't know what the best way to go is...

And if I run the switches off of the router, how do I assign addresses to the devices hooked up to the switch?

Example:

With just the router, I can easily assign the printer and game server an IP address for the print and use port forwarding for the server.

With a switch plugged into the router and the game server/printer plugged into the switch, how does one assign the IP address through two network devices?

I don't even know if that made sense.... :lol:

 

[Ducttape]

You should be able to plug in multiple cat connections to your wireless router to your switches without hurting performance noticeably. Unless you're doing constant upload/download(s), you won't even notice.

Most home switches/routers today are plug n' play, you won't need to worry about manually assigning IP's unless you want to.

You say you have a home office? If you have a laptop, and would like to be able to connect to your home network, you can try setting up a secure IPv6 tunnel; when you're on the road, you can connect and it's like your at home on your home network; you can even set it up so when you access the internet it looks like you're accessing it from your home IP.


Just a quick note, 300 is the magic number when running cat cable...any farther and you'll start to get intermediate drops over the physical cat cable unless you install repeaters.
And for wireless, if you do have a larg-ish house, you might wanna consider multiple wireless hotspots for a better blanket coverage...


Between switches and routers...layer 3 devices have a higher overhead than layer 2; it's not much, but if you don't really need a layer 3, you might consider getting a layer 2

The layers are:
Application
Presentation
Session
Transmit
Network
Data
Bits

As information is transmitted over a network, at each hop point the device will read up to a certain layer of information. A layer 2 device, like a switch, will only read up to layer 2 than direct the information out of the appropriate port. A layer 3 device, like a router, reads up to the 3rd layer causing more overhead.


And for the IP addressing, depends on what device you're using. Most devices today support some form of NAT (Network Address Translation); the outside sees one IP address and there's a pool of IP address the inside devices are automatically allotted. (Network joke: IP outside, IP inside, IP freely ) If you set up NAT, your devices should automatically receive their IP's. During a devices startup, it'll send it'a MAC (layer 2 address) out over the network, saying 'here I am!what's my IP?" And your network switch/router will respond with an IP (layer 3 address).


Sorry this isn't more specific...most manufacturers have a different way of setting up the same thing (?). If you can, I'd recommend plopping all of your equipment down in a single room, wiring it all up, and testing it out. Get your settings right while it's all right there. Saves a lot of time running from one room to another after you have it installed...

 

[Passerby]

just use the existing router with the switches you could even have one line going to the room with 3 ports and put a switch there

 

[I-Die-Often]

that is a great idea duct... I can do a dry run in the office to see if I need to change hardware....

 

[xKodiakx]

I'm currently wiring my house too, just a bit more wire.

I'm going to use an old PC and run PF Sense on it, for firewall and security, and then use my old router as an access point.

I saved up and got a router that supports Jumbo Packets, which doesn't do anything for net use but when transfering files it makes a big difference.


but back whenever still lived at home, I had a router at one end of the house... ran 1 cable and put a switch in my room and split from there.


I didn't think much of networking till I started reading and looking into all the different aspecs of it and I've gotten hooked, spend most of my time readin about thing... it's taken away from my gaming time lol

 

[Ryken]

The only thing I know is that you should test the setup before you start tearing into walls! Make sure that what you decide does in fact work to your liking, so you are not rewiring your house down the line.