# What is the best router/switch for 6+ connections



## woj027 (Sep 3, 2007)

I currently have a Linksys wireless router that has 4 or 5 outputs besides the wireless g. Now with DECA, one of those outputs is currently being used. I have 6 Cat5e outlets throughout the house that may be used at any given time (1 for PC almost always on, 1 for TV/Reciever with internet functions, and 4 others for occasional use - improve connection speed for laptop downloads)

Should I buy an 8 port switch and just connect the router to the switch then to all the various outlets? Or should I do something else? Spend more money on something that essentially will do the same thing? 802.11n?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Getting an 8 port ethernet switch is probably the easiest thing to do - zero configuration on your part - just plug and go.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

What scooper said.
KISS applies


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## woj027 (Sep 3, 2007)

Marlin Guy said:


> What scooper said.
> KISS applies


who you calling stupid? :grin:


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## zx10guy (Nov 16, 2008)

I'd probably look for a 12 or 16 port switch. The price difference isn't that much and it ensures you have plenty of growth space within the switch. Remember, it's always better to keep layer 2/LAN traffic all within the switch as the traffic is traversing the switch's backplane. If you run out of ports and end up uplinking/cascading switches, you will bottleneck throughput between switches over the single uplink connection which is always slower than the backplane.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Cisco Catalyst 3560 24 port swich.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

RasputinAXP said:


> Cisco Catalyst 3560 24 port swich.


I have a couple in my garage ready to ship  Oops, actually 2900 XL.


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## zx10guy (Nov 16, 2008)

RasputinAXP said:


> Cisco Catalyst 3560 24 port swich.


It's not a 24 port one but it's still a 3560:


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Is it home rack or you just steal a thunder ?


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

I would pick up a Linksys or Netgear Gigabit Switch with at least double the amount of ports you think you need. This will give you room for growth which I am sure you will eventually need for something.

Personally I picked up a 24 Port Dell Managed Switch several years ago and its been working great. I do however have an 8 Port Netgear Switch in my entertainment center to deal with my 2 D* HD DVR's, Slingbox and HTPC. So you can uplink without much of an issue with Gig since getting upward of Gig speed with a single system is really hard to do these days. I know that will change as time goes on but I don't think you will notice the difference.

Any of the Major Brands will work fine and if you aren't looking for any bells and whistles like Managed or PoE then just pick up whatever you find on sale and you should be fine. No need to pick up a WAY over priced piece like Cisco or Extreme Networks (My personal favorite). They are made for Enterprise Environment with features most people will never use in a home environment.

Hope this helps



woj027 said:


> I currently have a Linksys wireless router that has 4 or 5 outputs besides the wireless g. Now with DECA, one of those outputs is currently being used. I have 6 Cat5e outlets throughout the house that may be used at any given time (1 for PC almost always on, 1 for TV/Reciever with internet functions, and 4 others for occasional use - improve connection speed for laptop downloads)
> 
> Should I buy an 8 port switch and just connect the router to the switch then to all the various outlets? Or should I do something else? Spend more money on something that essentially will do the same thing? 802.11n?


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## zx10guy (Nov 16, 2008)

P Smith said:


> Is it home rack or you just steal a thunder ?


My home network rack.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

zx10guy said:


> My home network rack.


Eh, common. What are two 5505 doing there ?


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## zx10guy (Nov 16, 2008)

P Smith said:


> Eh, common. What are two 5505 doing there ?


When I bought the first 5505, it just came out. So the licensing set up wasn't well known in terms of what the various features are. The first 5505 I purchased had the base K9 license. I didn't know that it limited the ASA to only 2 forwarding VLAN interfaces and a DMZ. I needed more forwarding VLAN interfaces. Looking at the pricing of a license upgrade or purchasing another 5505 with the Security Plus License, I opted to purchase a new one. The older 5505 is being used as WebVPN concentrator while the newer 5505 is the main internal firewall/router for my network.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would imagine what' s your workload at home, or perhaps your home is the workplace ?

[Just for curiosity - do you have Visio schematic of your network and devices ? I see much more interesting gadgets in your rack and in that standalone stack. I would think you should be a professional in networking to keep all those boxes at home. CCIE ?]


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## bikenski (May 25, 2010)

I count at least 4 Routers and 3 Firewalls in that home network, in addition to the switches. I've been thoroughly out-geeked!


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

I gotta go with CCIE on that one. Wow, that's a lot of awesome hardware.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

All that nice hardware and a crappy Westel DSL modem from the phone company?


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## zx10guy (Nov 16, 2008)

First off...OP....Sorry for the thread jack.

As far as my home network stack is concerned and its use, I am not a CCIE but will eventually try to get the certification. I do work with a lot of Cisco gear at my job. A lot of gear that many people only dream about touching. I routinely work with the big Catalyst 6500 switches along with their SAN fabric switches to WAAS to the ASA firewalls to the ISRs and Call Manager. Since I like to tinker, I put together the equipment to play around with configurations I want to test out based off of designs I put together at work.

For those wondering, I have 2 1841 routers with T1 cards, a 2611XM with 2 T1 cards, 2960G 8 port gig switch, 3560 9 port PoE switch, 1 ASA 5505 with the base K9 license, 1 ASA 5505 with the Security Plus License, and 1 1861 router with Call Manager Express/Unity Express. The other gear I have is mostly the ProSafe SMB line from Netgear....GS748TP, FVS338, WG102, GS108T, and WNDAP350. I also have a Linksys 5 port smart switch I use in my A/V rack.

Yes, it's a shame I am ham strung with DSL. I can't anything faster in my neighborhood or I would have. Paying a premium for T1 doesn't make sense right now. It sucks because I do some hosting on my network and to manage that meager upload bandwidth is killing me. I recently consolidated my server farm into two servers: one file server and one VM server.










And yes, I use Visio to diagram my network. Here's an old one I put together which is really out of date based on what I am currently running.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

That old Compaq server looks familiar - is it DL360 ? 

Thanks for pictures and VSD.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I have a desktop AND a laptop.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

You guys are way too neat.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

It's a shame if you're sys/netadmin. Please say you're just a geek ! 

[Why I see those European plugs ?]


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

woj027 said:


> I currently have a Linksys wireless router that has 4 or 5 outputs besides the wireless g. Now with DECA, one of those outputs is currently being used. I have 6 Cat5e outlets throughout the house that may be used at any given time (1 for PC almost always on, 1 for TV/Reciever with internet functions, and 4 others for occasional use - improve connection speed for laptop downloads)
> 
> Should I buy an 8 port switch and just connect the router to the switch then to all the various outlets? Or should I do something else? Spend more money on something that essentially will do the same thing? 802.11n?


Buy this: http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DGS-2208-8-Port-Desktop-Switch/dp/B000FITKK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282959225&sr=8-1

then connect the router to the switch and all your LAN devices to the switch.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Thats how I have mine, linksys router to a switch. Everything plugged into the switch. Went from a weekly router crash to never having the router crash. Network up time has amazed me. Dont know why its more stable with the switch, but it is.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

That's funny I work with Cisco equipment all the time and sure they are the "Best" but they are WAY over priced and for anything but mission critical applications I think there are many more affordable options that will perform just as well if not better in some cases. 

In our facility our smaller installs have Cisco 6500's and our main distribution routers are Cisco 7613's (we have 6 of them) Yes we are the "Internet" =)

My home network consists of...
Verizon FIOS 35/35
Dell Managed 24 Port Gig Switch
2 - Netgear GS108T Managed 8 Port Gig Switches in two different Entertainment centers. These switches are AWESOME check them out sometime. 
Netgear / Aruba WS709TP WLAN PoE Controller with 4 PoE access points throughout the house with 2 different SSIDs one public and one private with the traffic routed through a VLAN Trunk and split on the Dell Switch. 

I also have 2 Gateway to Gateway VPN Connections to other locations and this whole set up has been running rock solid for years. 

All of this is monitored through PRTG... 

Choose your equipment wisely and it will serve you well for a long, long time. Sure something better / faster will most certainly come out but you can more than likely still utilize your older equipment in some way.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

P Smith said:


> It's a shame if you're sys/netadmin. Please say you're just a geek !
> 
> [Why I see those European plugs ?]


because they're not his


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