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New Setup for a Home Network

Elricstorm
Level 1
Level 1

Hi Everyone,

I just built a new house and am trying to get all my equipment working correctly.  Here's what I currently have:

I have a high speed docsys cable modem for comcast.

I have an SLM 2024 24-port gigabit switch

I have a WRT610N Wirless router that I want to use as a WAP

I'm missing a router and am open to suggestions

I have structured wiring throughout the house and my house consists of the following:

Downstairs - Kitchen (1-port)

Downstairs - Study (1-port)

Downstairs - Great Room (1-port for media access to blu-ray)

Upstairs - Bedroom 1 (1-port currently unused)

Upstairs - Bedroom 2 (1-port currently unused)

Upstairs - Master Bedroom (1-port for media access to blu-ray)

Upstairs - Entertainment Room (4 - ports // 2 (Computers), 1 (Wireless-N router), (1-port used for media access to xbox-360))

4-additional ports will be used for multi-media (currently not designated)

So, I have a total of 10-14 ports throughout the house that will be used.

In the basement, all of the structured wiring leads down to a can and a 24-port patch panel.  The cable modem is plugged in to a whip and will be plugged into a router (need help on which router I should use).  The router will be plugged into the SLM2024 switch.  The SLM2024 switch feeds the patch panel in the Can.  The WRT610n is upstairs on one of the ports that is fed into the SLM2024.

I also have a multi-media server that I'm probably going to place in the basement which has 4-terabytes of space for media storage and sharing.  It also acts as a simple home server.

So, my questions are how am I connecting and setting things up so that I'm efficient with my usage?  I already have one vlan (vlan 1) but haven't created any others.  Can anyone assist me with what router I should get and how I should connect my network up efficiently?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

I don't have the same setup of your new house but during the building stage I coordinated with the builders and made sure each room has two data ports.  I have a 8 port switch at the consolidation point.  I have a WAP installed centrally.  The internet is terminated in the consolidation point so I just connected it to my router and my router to the 8-port switch.

View solution in original post

13 Replies 13

Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

I don't have the same setup of your new house but during the building stage I coordinated with the builders and made sure each room has two data ports.  I have a 8 port switch at the consolidation point.  I have a WAP installed centrally.  The internet is terminated in the consolidation point so I just connected it to my router and my router to the 8-port switch.

That's what I thought. The port listings I have in my first post are only showing what I have decided will be data ports in the house.

So, I'll just get a solid router and have my internet connect to it, and then connect the router to the slm2024 switch.  The wrt610 I'll move centrally and use it as a WAP and just disable uPnP, NAT, and DHCP on the wireless router so the router at the can/consolidation point handles the addressing and DHCP.

I have a similar setup but it might be a little more advanced than yours - can't be for certain though.  I have two data ports (I can opt one of the data ports and change it to voice if need be) and a video port.  So, most of the rooms in the house have a 3 or 4-combo plate installed with all the structured wiring going down to the can/consolidation point where they tie into the patch pannels and the whips are used by the servicing providers.  The house also has 5 media/theatre zones and I can use any computer on the TVs with a bluetooth keyboard.

So, I guess my next question will be whether or not I really need to create another vlan.  Should I create vlans for (computers/servers/media)?  And, if so, what benefits will doing this provide me?

Thanks so much.

So, I guess my next question will be whether or not I really need to create another vlan.

Can your equipments support multiple VLANs and dot1q trunking?  If yes, it's all up to you.  Multiple VLANs in a home network is just nice on paper but I don't see the point.

I am also not 100% sure on when a VLAN would be required.  But, one thing to consider, is that if you go for vlans, your router will have to route between them in addition to routing to the WAN.

I currently have my wireless on one VLAN, .240 subnet.  My servers / printers / etc, are on their own network segment, and then all my wired people on one.  Each is a .240 subnet mask.

I think the goal and thing to consider is breaking up broadcast domains.  I am still new to much of this stuff, so if there are any experts, feel free to correct me.

I don't know how many L3 broadcasts come from any single device, or how to test it.  But, i broke them up anyways.  One good thing for me is with the VLANs, I can run a DHCP server for each set of VLANS.  The wireless clients get their own set of addresses, and wired clients their own.  This for me allows better control of the wireless clients though IP filters.  In case my AP gets hacked for some reason, I have different rules for it.  The wired ports in my house correspond to the VLAN switch ports.  So when I have LAN parties and such, friends can just hook in and go.

Again, I don't know how badly these VLANs are needed, but, for me the help segment different devices into their own network.

hobbe
Level 7
Level 7

I am not shure I understood you right but if you can, never just lay 1 cable always take 2 or 4. the cost is almost the same and you have much more for your money.

Never split the ethernet cable into two different rj45 cables

use good quality (cat6) cabeling.

make shure that the room you intend to have your server/switch/firewall and so on has apropriate cooling (even during summer months) and drainage.

if possible maybe a ups or atleast something to protect against electric malfunktions.

if you can use a vlan then ask yourselv what the possitive sides of it are.

it might be nice to stream video and such to both pc and tv.

HTH

i have studied Query

i think you dont have any crital data traffic

the only problem you are having is the selecting the proper router

if you dont have any routing issue of the networks or QOS i suggest to go for the linksys Dual band wireless routers

the specification of the routers are as below

  • Works simultaneously in both 2.4 and 5 gigahertz radio bands, doubling your network capacity
    • Use the 2.4GHz band for non-critical traffic, and to connect to many classic wireless devices like game consoles, older notebooks, DVRs, media players, etc.
    • At the same time, use the less-crowded 5GHz band for time-sensitive music, video streaming, or gaming -- avoiding interference with 2.4GHz networks or noisy devices like cordless phones and microwave ovens
    • Both bands use Wireless-N technology for robust speed and range, and more complete coverage throughout your home
  • Great for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony
  • Also connects to Wireless-G, -B, or -A devices
  • Double Channel Width mode doubles the throughput for Wireless-N devices
  • Specially designed internal antennas provide great range in an attractive, sleek case that looks good in any room, on a shelf or wall-mounted

Fast Wired Connections The Router also provides connections for 4 directly-wired network devices.  You'll get fast file transfers to network storage devices, printers, and other wired network devices. On-time delivery with QoS And, to deliver your time-sensitive Internet traffic efficiently, the Router features Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities.  QoS tells your network to give priority to packets in time-sensitive streams like Voice (VoIP) or media (audio or video), so that these types of applications can deliver less garbled conversations and smoother digital video.

So I finished setting up my home network.  Here's what I ended up doing, which works perfectly.

Equipment:

Cable Modem (Motorola Surfboard - Docsys 3 modem) for high speed internet.

Netgear ProSafe Gigabit 8-port router (For DHCP, NAT, Firewall, etc.)

SLM2024 - 24-port Switch (Layer 3)

WRT-610n (Wireless Access Point only)

For those that may come after me, here's what I did:

Connect the Cable Modem to the ProSafe gigabit router (addressing for the cable modem is 192.168.100.1) (addressing for the router is 192.168.1.1)

Set the DHCP scope start/end addresses to (192.168.1.21 - 192.168.1.254).

Nothing necessary on the switch for pre-configuration

Set the Wireless Router on a static IP address of 192.168.1.20 and turn disable upnp, NAT, and DHCP.  Enable Remote capabilities and administration.

The wireless router is just being used as a Wireless Access Point so the .20 addressing puts it out of the DHCP scope but puts it in the same subnet for the router.  You can then administrate and connect wirelessly without any conflicts.

All computers will start with an initial address of 192.168.1.21. The layer 3 switch manages all of the ports so it remains in the .254 addressing space so you can administrate the switch.

With my setup I'm getting 22-25 mb download speeds and 5-9 mb upload speeds in the house.  I'm happy with the results and am securing everything now.  I also run a small media server (4 TB).

I hope that helps.

This was a pretty neat post. Nice project. You should post pictures!!

Thanks everyone.

I'll post some pictures in a few days.  It's been quite a project but I'm very happy with the results now and everything is going smoothly.

dweaver2009
Level 1
Level 1

Nice little setup.  Great details.

Darby

Great job. Kindly share the pix with the rest.

Elricstorm
Level 1
Level 1

I've attached 5 pictures.

Board View:

This is the overall 8x4 board where I've placed the can and the SLM switch.  The little box in front is a small acer media server (4 terabytes) which I use for storing media, pictures, etc.

Switch:

This is the SLM 2024 - 24 port Gigabit Switch.  It's very quiet and works well with everything.

Can:

A basic can that I setup which has the patch panel at the top of the can, my modem and router in the bottom along with a small surge strip.  I may change out the surge strip later on, but for now - this works fine.

Modem - Router:

The bottom box is the Docsys 3 modem from motorola.  You need docsys 3 to really take advantage of the high speed download packages a cable provider gives you.  I purchased my own to cut down on the monthly lease charge and made it simpler.

The top box is the 8-port gigabit router which I use for managing DHCP routing, NAT, and the firewall.

The modem connects to the router and the router feeds down through the bottom of the can and into the switch.

Patch Panel:

The patch panel basically is divided into three color schemes that I created.  The blue cables are for voice; the green cables are for data; and the black cables are for cable.

The original patch cables that I had purchased with the can were not very good.  They were rated fine but they were too thin.  So, I used thicker coaxial cable so that no degradation occurs.  Because of the thickness, I ended up having to bow tie the cables in a medium loop.  Again, it works very well.

Summary:

I hope the pictures help.

The only thing I didn't post (due to the 5-pic limit) was a picture of my WRT-610N Wireless router.  It sits upstairs in the entertainment room and is plugged into a direct wall data jack.  The broadcast range is huge.  I currently have zero issues with any ports or wireless access in the house.

I also just finished working out the video pieces as well for the multimedia in the house.  It all ties into everything as well.  I used velcro straps for cable ties on my lines and black ties for the cabling that belongs to the static video equipment (which is not posted).  For the video equipment and sound equipment I actually have a universal remote that's tied into a command center and receiver which allows me to turn on any device in the house (TVs, Cable, Ipod, XM Satellite, Xbox 360, etc.  I can go to watch or listen mode and decide which room I want to use, which device to turn on and then the universal remote becomes the master.  I tied my computers into the command center so I can use any computer in any location and view it on the 63-inch plasma TV in the great room and utilize it with a bluetooth setup.

There's still a lot more work to be done but it's getting there.

Here's the video setup on the opposite wall in the basement but crossed over and comes down into the can so it utilizes 4 of the bottom data ports:

The Video and Cable boxes:

These are setup all downstairs so you don't see any components.  Everything is controlled wirelessly so I can do the following:

Select -> Watch -> Great Room -> Cable DVR 1 -> and then I'm watching cable in the great room from the Cable DVR 1 box (the two boxes are located on the top shelf).

I can select -> Listen -> Ent Room -> Ipod -> and then I'm able to listen to the ipod in my entertainment room.  It's fun.

I attached another couple of pictures.  The half ent room is just one side of the entertainment room.  Notice in that room you don't see a lot of cables laying under the desk.  The two white boxes behind the computer desks I custom built myself (designed myself) and I thew a picture of those as well.  Basically I purchased some 2" grommits and built boxes so the cables can lay down in the boxes.  I put in floor AC outlets that come up from the bottom of the box.  So everything is hidden and no dust collects on the cables, cords, etc.

I hope you like.  I'm doing a lot more work on the house as well.

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