Network Newbie Questions

[parkimar]

Hi All,

I've finally decided to take Sage more seriously and get the whole house benefits, and to that end had a couple of questions.

Quick rundown of my current system -

Sage Server - AMD Athlon II X2 240, 3GB Ram, 4.5TB HDD
2 Extenders (HD100 & 300)
HDHR for Unencrypted QAM
Router is a Linksys WRTG54S 10/100 with Wireless G
I also use this as my main PC.

I currently have a cable from router to living room and master bedroom for the extender there, 1 to the server and 1 to the PS3 in the basement - then from the living room I have 4 port old hub I found, that has the HDHR , the HD300 and another wire run to the basement for the XBOX 360.

As it stands it runs nicely (I use a Wii for netflix so thats wireless).

I would like to add a couple more extenders to the eldest 2 kids rooms (and in a couple of years maybe to the youngest 2 as well) and not experience network issues + I will be adding an HD PVR shortly (Santa may be running late).

My initial thought is to take a similar spec PC which runs with a Dual core Phenom processor (I have 1 upstairs the kids never use) , dedicate that as a server and change the hub and router to be gigabit and wireless N (1 router, 1 8 port switch - I normally manually assign IP etc) .

My thought was that would allow me the extra cable runs for 2 more extenders, improve performance by dedicating a more powerful PC as the server. (I think I will probably rerun the cable to be cat6 as well - but that will be phase 2 of this).

Does anyone have any input / recommendations they would like to share before I start the purchasing ?

Any input appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[KeithAbbott]

First, I would make sure that either your motherboard has a gigabit NIC built-in, or purchase a PCI/PCIe gigabit NIC card for the computer that you plan to use as the server. An eight port gigabit switch may be a little tight, by the time you use one port to connect to the router, one port to connect to the server, that leaves six ports to connect to the HDHRs and your extenders. I would connect the XBOX 360 to one of the router ports, unless you are using that as an extender also. Try to keep all of the SageTV equipment connected to the gigabit switch if possible. Also, you are using hub and switch interchangeably, but they are quite different in nature, and I would not personally bother with a hub. I use several of these switches, and am pretty happy with them: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833156251

You didn't mention if you planned to connect any of the extenders via wireless or not. I would recommended wired connections. Also, cat5e cable easily supports gigabit speeds, no need to spend extra money on cat6 unless you really, really want to.

[parkimar]

Thanks - The to-be server does have a gigabit NIC in it (I should have put that in my first post - sorry).
The switch looks perfect (I've found it on Amazon as well - bit more expensive, but in stock) - thanks for that. (Any recommendations for a router ? - I figured I could get away with a four port since I manually assign IP , etc - but wasn't sure).

I wasn't planning on using wireless with the extenders (although before I ran cable to the lounge I did run the HD300 wireless for about 5 days - it ran pretty well and that was on a G network).

Thanks for the input - most appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[KeithAbbott]

Not sure I can help you too much there. I am currently using a Linksys WRT54GL flashed with Tomato firmware. I only use it for internet access for an Ipod Touch and a Nintendo DSi, and maybe occasional laptop internet connectivity. Prior to that, I had a D-Link DIR-655 router connected, but was not happy with it (had some lockups with the wired network ports that required rebooting the router to correct). But regardless, I am only using the router as a wireless access point, I use a separate wired Netgear router connected to my cable modem.

Based on your original post, the only thing that you mentioned that is using wireless is a Nintendo Wii. Unless you are using any other wireless equipment, your current Linksys router might be good enough. I have our Wii connected via the optional ethernet adapter to a wired switch, for maximum speed and zero issues. As you can tell, I like to connect everything possible via wired connections, and only use wireless when portability is a must.

[parkimar]

So If I understand correctly, keep the existing router and put the cable modem into that, connect it (router) too the GigaBit switch, put the Server, HDHR and the extenders on a Gigabit switch , and put the other systems (Original PC, ps3 and Xbox360) on the old router as well (or I guess they could go on the GB switch but doubt that would be any gain for them). ?

Thanks for the help here.

Cheers

Mark

[KeithAbbott]

You understand correctly. Assuming the original PC, ps3 and Xbox360 all have fast ethernet NICs (and not gigabit NICs), there would be no gain for them. Chances are, the primary reason they are on the network is for internet access anyhow. Connecting them to the gigabit switch would just increase network traffic on the switch, possibly detracting from the SageTV network traffic, and would actually slow the internet connection (imperceivably, but still) for the original PC, ps3 and Xbox360 due to the added hop to get to the internet.

[parkimar]

Perfect - thanks for all the help - really appreciated - I've ordered the switch !

Cheers

Mark

[PiX64]

for your router question, have you considered a do it yourself router?

if you have an extra light weight PC sitting around not doing anything then you pretty much have all you need. (you may need to purchase an extra NIC)

I use pfsense for all of my router applications. IT is built on FreeBSD and is rock solid in my opinion. IT will allow you to do as much or as little complex networking as youd like. You can simply run through the setup when installing the OS, and that it, or you can setup VPN (mutliple types) NAT, etc. you name it you can pretty much do it.

in my experience pfsense has been perfect for the home setup. way better than any of those garbage sudo hardware not really harwarde based routers :-)

http://www.pfsense.org/