Reconfiguring Home Network - Need an 8+ port Switch

[pastera]

Currently running a stupid patchwork of cheap wireless routers to get WiFi coverage but don't have enough hardwire ports

Basement consolidates the hard feeds
2 ports to "Library" - desktop and VOIP
1 Port to living room - occasional use
1 Port to office - occasional use
1 Port to reloading room (3D printer lives in there)
1 Port to Solar Inverter
2 Ports to the family room: need to expand these to five (two game consoles, a roku, Blu-Ray player and an access point)

I would like to isolate unrelated traffic: gaming, Roku and Blu-Ray, VOIP, Solar, and general household.

Looking at using one of these in the family room:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-Lifetime-Protection-GS108Ev3/dp/B00M1C0186/
Have the access point on one hardwire and let the switch segregate the gaming from the video.

And this for the Basement:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Rackmount-TL-SG1016DE/dp/B00K4DS67C/

Or just not care and cheap out with a two of these and only use one hard port to the family room: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Replacement-TL-SG108E/dp/B00K4DS5KU/

Third option is two of the netgear units

Any suggestions for an <$200 solution?
(Yes I know I am a skinflint and should purchase an enterprise level solution for 5x the cost)

 

[Choctaw]

Unless there is a specific reason that you chose that TP switch for the basement, the TP Link link that you posted states that there is a newer model out (which is $60 versus $97). https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Lifetime-TL-SG116/dp/B07GR9S6FN/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

I usually try to use Ubiquiti products whenever I can. They are solid and just work.

A few years ago I installed a dozen Ubiquiti POE cameras. Two years later they came out with a newer model that wasn't backward compatible. So for customers who wanted to expand or replace a camera they were faced with re-buying everything. Ubiquiti created a buy back program and sent me 12 cameras in advance so that I did not have any service interruptions. They gave me full credit for what I spent two years earlier. I think the new cameras cost me an additional $19 each.

 

[amm5061]

I'd definitely run two lines to the family room, one for the AP and one for the rest of the gaming and entertainment stuff. Same to the office/library to segregate VOIP and data.

Either product works just fine, but personally I'd stick the managed switch in the basement if your goal is to optimally manage your network. With two lines to the family room, dedicate one line to the AP, and the other to an unmanaged switch for the gaming and entertainment stuff.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I like the Netgear GS110TP 8 port gigabit switch, as it also has two SFP sockets for mini-gbics. I have four of them installed at the Hopkinton club, and use fiber support in three of them. I had the POE fail on one, diagnosed it via Teamviewer with Netgear support on a Friday night and had the free replacement under lifetime warranty by 10AM on Saturday. I don't know if you can segregate traffic, but it does have QOS (quality of service) and port priority configuration options.

I've also had good luck with Cisco, Ubiquity and EnGenius products.

 

[namedpipes]

Currently running a stupid patchwork of cheap wireless routers to get WiFi coverage but don't have enough hardwire ports

Basement consolidates the hard feeds
2 ports to "Library" - desktop and VOIP
1 Port to living room - occasional use
1 Port to office - occasional use
1 Port to reloading room (3D printer lives in there)
1 Port to Solar Inverter
2 Ports to the family room: need to expand these to five (two game consoles, a roku, Blu-Ray player and an access point)

I would like to isolate unrelated traffic: gaming, Roku and Blu-Ray, VOIP, Solar, and general household.

Looking at using one of these in the family room:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-Lifetime-Protection-GS108Ev3/dp/B00M1C0186/
Have the access point on one hardwire and let the switch segregate the gaming from the video.

And this for the Basement:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Rackmount-TL-SG1016DE/dp/B00K4DS67C/

Or just not care and cheap out with a two of these and only use one hard port to the family room: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Replacement-TL-SG108E/dp/B00K4DS5KU/

Third option is two of the netgear units

Any suggestions for an <$200 solution?
(Yes I know I am a skinflint and should purchase an enterprise level solution for 5x the cost)

Here's a 48 port gb switch for < $100

Cisco Catalyst 2940G WS-C2948G-GE-TX Managed Switch 48 Ports Gigabit | eBay

It is, however, refurb / not new.

You can often find business class networking gear that's no longer "current" but still worlds better than the stuff you'll find at Best Buy.

 

[costac]

I have the netgear, works good for me.

 

[Dench]

Why do you want to isolate traffic in a home environment?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Why do you want to isolate traffic in a home environment?

Probably more about traffic priority than isolation. You don't want a large file transfer to interfere with VOIP or Netflix.

 

[drgrant]

Whatever you pick just do yourself a favor and don't make it too complicated. There is absolutely no need for traffic management on a home network.

-Mike

 

[WanMan99]

2x Netgear 1GB 8Port switches and you are done. I have been running my house on these for years. Spend the saved money on a really good router/Wifi setup.

 

[pastera]

Probably more about traffic priority than isolation. You don't want a large file transfer to interfere with VOIP or Netflix.

This - gaming consoles and kids devices will be set as lower priority traffic. They go through 250Gb/month of data while in school - it was twice that in the summer.
Also want to be able to isolate any guest devices from the trusted devices

 

[drgrant]

Probably more about traffic priority than isolation. You don't want a large file transfer to interfere with VOIP or Netflix.

It won't, unless someone is running on trash grade service or something. Even when I was on previous tiers of Comcrap, a box that I have grinding out backups etc 24/7 never interrupted my netflix, xfinity stream, etc, devices.

This - gaming consoles and kids devices will be set as lower priority traffic. They go through 250Gb/month of data while in school - it was twice that in the summer.
Also want to be able to isolate any guest devices from the trusted devices

That's pretty much background noise for a real broadband connection in a house. Not enough to make traffic shaping/QoS worth it. As far as guest access goes, if you can't trust them that much, then you shouldn't let them on your network at all. Protip: the feds are still coming to your house if your guests download kiddie porn on your guest network... lmao... I'm being facetious, but idea is the same... You're just adding needless complexity to your network that will basically have zero payoff and potentially a huge downside when something goes horribly wrong.

I would pretty much tell my friends to shoot me if I told them that doing that was ever a good idea, outside of special circumstances. (EG, you have a 3M DSL circuit in tinbuck 4 and you can't upgrade it).

-Mike

 

[namedpipes]

It won't, unless someone is running on trash grade service or something. Even when I was on previous tiers of Comcrap, a box that I have grinding out backups etc 24/7 never interrupted my netflix, xfinity stream, etc, devices.



That's pretty much background noise for a real broadband connection in a house. Not enough to make traffic shaping/QoS worth it. As far as guest access goes, if you can't trust them that much, then you shouldn't let them on your network at all. Protip: the feds are still coming to your house if your guests download kiddie porn on your guest network... lmao... I'm being facetious, but idea is the same... You're just adding needless complexity to your network that will basically have zero payoff and potentially a huge downside when something goes horribly wrong.

I would pretty much tell my friends to shoot me if I told them that doing that was ever a good idea, outside of special circumstances. (EG, you have a 3M DSL circuit in tinbuck 4 and you can't upgrade it).

-Mike

Two other reasons to go with a complex network.

You're familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

You're trying to BECOME familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

Beyond that, yeah. A couple of cheap Netgear switches and you're done.

 

[pastera]

Two other reasons to go with a complex network.


You're trying to BECOME familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

.

This

 

[JayMcB]

Here's a 48 port gb switch for < $100

Cisco Catalyst 2940G WS-C2948G-GE-TX Managed Switch 48 Ports Gigabit | eBay

It is, however, refurb / not new.

You can often find business class networking gear that's no longer "current" but still worlds better than the stuff you'll find at Best Buy.

Here are 3 reasons why I wouldn't do that:

48 ports is a lot for a home
Cisco Catalyst switches like that are made to sit in a NOC or Datacenter and the 1U switches have tiny high RPM fans that are noisy as Fvck
Cisco switches are enterprise level gear and they weren't known for their green power consumption. That thing will keep a room warm

Bonus: If you don't know Cisco Catalyst Switch IOS, which is at the command line, it's a bitch to configure, but it would be very easy to VLAN your data.

wr mem

As far as the NetGear switches....they're OK, and nothing you do at home should ever over-run a Gigabit full duplex switch port. Go that way.

 

[Dench]

This - gaming consoles and kids devices will be set as lower priority traffic. They go through 250Gb/month of data while in school - it was twice that in the summer.
Also want to be able to isolate any guest devices from the trusted devices

Gaming consoles are probably using the least amount of juice on your network.

If you want to have guests wifi crap on another network just have another router deal with it.

I'm using a 24 port cheap ass tp-link for my home wired network. Everything but the cell phones and thermostats is on it. I've never watched/streamed/downloaded/whateverd enough to even make that thing strain.

Not like New England internet connections 99% of the time are even going to get close to making any modern switch start to work.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

If you want to have guests wifi crap on another network just have another router deal with it.

Some wireless access points do a great job of guest networks. We use Engenius routers at the Hopkinton club. The in-house network that accesses our systems is passworded, and we also have guest wireless that is unpassworded and isolated from our internal network. Works very nicely.

 

[Dench]

Some wireless access points do a great job of guest networks. We use Engenius routers at the Hopkinton club. The in-house network that accesses our systems is passworded, and we also have guest wireless that is unpassworded and isolated from our internal network. Works very nicely.

Yeah that's probably the easiest route if he has more than 1 wifi antenna in his house. I have 3 with google wifi that can do a guest network but I don't have that setup. Definitely wouldn't recommend a non passworded guest network in a residential/commercial setting though.

I think the OP has good intentions with his goal here but at the end of the day keeping home IT environments simple should be the name of the game. I probably have one of the more complex environments around and I have gone way out of my way to keep it intentionally simple so it's easy to fix. The last thing you want to deal with is something broken, your tv is out, the wifi is out, the land line is out and now you have to deal with hardware you are vaguely familiar with because at some point in the past you thought it'd be a fun project.

I seriously can't think of any reasons the vast majority of home users would need a managed switch at home. It's a waste of money unless you have a specific need in mind that's tied to some sort of liability. Christ, the only reason my switch is a 1gb and not a 10/100 is I wanted to be able to move video files around faster between storage devices. Other than that I don't even need the 1gb ports. Definitely dont buy things with features you don't need because you will definitely pay for it. The 1gb ports almost doubled the cost of the switch (which is still dirt cheap either way since it's not managed and not a big name company)

Home networks don't need QoS either unless everyone in the house is watching 4k streams and you want to make sure yours is prioritized over the kids.

 

[amm5061]

Two other reasons to go with a complex network.

You're familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

You're trying to BECOME familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

Beyond that, yeah. A couple of cheap Netgear switches and you're done.

You forgot the most important reason: because you can and you're bored.

 

[drgrant]

Two other reasons to go with a complex network.

You're familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

You're trying to BECOME familiar with the equipment and how to work with it.

Beyond that, yeah. A couple of cheap Netgear switches and you're done.

If either of these things were true he would have not started this thread.

-Mike

 

[drgrant]

Here's a 48 port gb switch for < $100

Cisco Catalyst 2940G WS-C2948G-GE-TX Managed Switch 48 Ports Gigabit | eBay

It is, however, refurb / not new.

You can often find business class networking gear that's no longer "current" but still worlds better than the stuff you'll find at Best Buy.

Nope. Nope. Nope. I would shoot myself before I put a 29XX in my house. And I've deployed like 30 of the things at work. I can get FREE ones at work from time
to time when they get old. You know what I do with them? I send them to get surplussed and excessed. I don't want that shit in my house. Or even within a mile of it. I don't want it in my customers businesses
either, unless they need it. Nightmare fuel.

Unless you're going to commit to putting a UPS behind it (and even then, It's still stupid if you don't have a trunk and Vlans) nope. Just nope. f***ing thing will take 5 minutes to boot before it even passes a single ethernet frame. In an environment where it's clearly not needed. It's 10X more complicated than the $124 Netgear POE box that someone can grab off Amazon.

Enterprise level gear does not belong in a house. Not now. Not ever.

-Mike

 

[HarryPottar]

I have to parrot drgrant, keep it simple otherwise you opening yourself to nightmare of family support.

If you have a good reason then look at managed switch that’s supports vlan. I would really question good reason.

I have a managed switch because my work requires it and I have no choice, but I’m constantly playing IT with the family.

If I could I would have one router with one switch. Actually if wishes where real I would just like one lead to my own machine and sod the rest.

 

[namedpipes]

Ok! Ok!

Not a good fit for the OP!

 

[Golddiggie]

I got this Linksys switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0N87GC) just over a year ago to replace the old HP switch I had (24 port) that the management console/page would no longer work (used an old version of java IIRC). The Linksys router was a lot quieter (pretty much silent since no fans) but I can still manage it and such (as/when needed). I use it for the core of my home lab, so I needed a decent amount of ports. I've been thinking about adding a VLAN to segregate iSCSI traffic from the rest of the network, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The other month I ran a long (75') ethernet cable down to the basement, from the home office room, so that I could relocate the gear. I'm only using one other port on my home router (so two from the switch) and that's to connect to my printer.

While I wouldn't mind getting a hold of a more business/enterprise grade switch, I don't have a need for it right now. Not sure if I ever really will. Well, other than to actually bang away at it to learn the interface. But with the places I've been working at, that kind of thing is handled by another group.

I'm glad I moved the gear down into the basement. I should have done it long ago. Less noise in that room now. Plus the thermostat (which is right outside the closet the gear was inside of) is no longer reading higher than it should. Which means the bedroom isn't colder than it should be.

 

[drgrant]

Ok! Ok!

Not a good fit for the OP!

FWIW I apologize for the tone of my post, but if you saw the inside of my office now, and the pile of 29XX on the left side, it would all start to make sense....

I recently had a 2960X, barely used, just decide to shit itself for no reason. "copy run start" yielded a flash error. You know what it did when I rebooted it? It bricked itself. It won't even boot into
rommon now.

-Mike

 

[Dench]

I'm glad I moved the gear down into the basement. I should have done it long ago. Less noise in that room now. Plus the thermostat (which is right outside the closet the gear was inside of) is no longer reading higher than it should. Which means the bedroom isn't colder than it should be.

My entire IT set up is in the basement including the computers. I have 2 gaming rigs in 4U cases, the switch, modem is jammed in the back somewhere, the VOIP phone base, the patch panel, the friggen printer for some reason, and at one point a spare wifi AP. All that shit runs to the floor above to my desk tops.

I even conned comcast over to come and put a new coaxial line straight to the rack instead of another extension on the cable with cheap parts.

 

[Golddiggie]

@Dench I don't have room for a full rack in my basement (where I am now). I'll probably get a rack when I've moved to the next place (will be my own house). At that point I plan to have/get three servers to run ESXi on them as well as a higher end NAS/SAN for the VMs to live on. Of course, 10Gb networking will also come into play. We're talking a few years out. With the way the pricing of 10Gb hardware is going down, it will be easy to get all that for not stupid money.

I like having my router on the second floor (on my desk), since that gives me coverage to everywhere I want to use it. Solid Linksys router (EA8500) where I'm not going too far away from it. I could probably have it in the basement too, but my modem (cromcast) is also on my desk. So easier to just have the two together. My color laser MFP (Xerox WorkCentre 6515 PS) is also right next to the desk.

Reminds me, I need to renew my VMUG Advantage membership soon.

 

[Dench]

10gb at home? why?

 

[JJ4]

While I'm considering moving to Ubiquiti at some point, I've been running the following setup for years and it's cheap, easy, and works great:

TP-Link Archer C9 - https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1900-Smart-Wireless-Router/dp/B00PDLRHFW
NETGEAR 16-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Plus Click Switch, ProSAFE https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-Managed-Lifetime-Protection/dp/B00R92CI20?th=1

The C9 sits in the basement and I get decent coverage throughout my 2 story house. It would be better if I moved it to the top of the basement stairs so that it was more centralized. I've never even used the management features of the switch.

 

[Mesatchornug]

10gb at home? why?

for the 4K VR pr0n. obvy