Assistance Requested in Home Network Set-up...

[frankjp302]

Hello,

I am looking for some assistance in choosing components for my home network. I would like to set up a gigabit network. I do have a few pieces already, but these do not need to be used. I have DSL from SBC with their standard modem. I do a lot of video work so the faster speeds of gigabit should be a great help.

My home was built a couple of years ago and as part of the build process I had structured wiring installed. So, I have a control panel which has ports for every internet connection. each room of my home has a wired internet port. They all are wired directly back to the control panel, home-run style. The DSL is separated from the phone line at the control panel and hooked up to the modem.

I have a D-Link DGL-4300 connected to the router and use the 4 ports from that to hook up just four rooms. I would like to hook up the rest, there are a total of 9 ports if I remember correctly. A couple of ports in different rooms have standard 5-port 10/100 Linksys switches installed. One port has the Linksys USB2.0 Network Storage Link with a couple of drives for network storage shared with my main desktop

So, I am thinking I need the router to then connect to a gigabit switch which I would then connect to all the ports so all rooms are active. I know that the Storage Link is 10/100, so to upgrade that I believe I would need to get a Gigabit Storage Link, of which I think only Buffalo makes something like that. My existing switches are 10/100. I do have a 5-port gigabit swtich from D-Link, DGS-1005D that I haven't used.

I guess I would like to know if I am thinking correctly in what I need to upgrade.

The router has good reviews and is a gigabit router, so I believe works well. As for the switch, I don't think the D-Link one I have supports Jumbo frames. So, my first thought is an 8-port Gigabit Switch that supports Jumbo Frames to go from the router to all the ports in my control panel. I would like to keep the 10/100 Storage Link for now and upgrade later to see what might become available. I don't want to buy the Buffalo Tech product as I don't really need another HDD at the moment. I have researched and found no other alternatives...?

My wife has a home office where she uses a switch(Linksys 10/100) to connect her laptop and VOIP phone. Here I would upgrade to a Gigabit 5-Port Switch as well.

All in all, we would have the following:

*DSL Modem to DGL-4300 Router
*DGL-4300 Router to 8-port Gigabit Switch(suppose this can be a 5-port with 4 ports ofrm the router as well)
*8-Port Gigabit Switch to each room
*Room 1 has 5-Port Gigabit Switch connecting to Main Desktop and NAS
*Room 2 has 5-Port Gigabit Switch for Laptop and VOIP Phone
*Room 3 has a Linksys A/G Wireless Access Point
*Room 4-9 are active ports

Some questions:

1. To have gigabit speeds, does every component on the network need to support Gigabit speeds?

2. To allow for Jumbo Frames, does each component on the network need to support them?

3. Related to the above two...if one component(NAS) does not support Gigabit/Frames, would it be then that anything communicating with that component would be 10/100? But, communicating with anything other than that would be Gigabit speed?

4. Is there anything wrong with hooking up external USB drives to the desktop and using that as network storage?

I have done a lot of research, but I only know enough to know that I don't know enough to feel overly confident in setting this up.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Fint]

1. To have gigabit speeds, does every component on the network need to support Gigabit speeds?

2. To allow for Jumbo Frames, does each component on the network need to support them?

3. Related to the above two...if one component(NAS) does not support Gigabit/Frames, would it be then that anything communicating with that component would be 10/100? But, communicating with anything other than that would be Gigabit speed?

4. Is there anything wrong with hooking up external USB drives to the desktop and using that as network storage?

I have done a lot of research, but I only know enough to know that I don't know enough to feel overly confident in setting this up.

Thanks for all the help!

1) No, you can mix 10bT, 100bT, and gigabit just fine.

2) You can't mix jumbo frames with non-jumbo-frame using devices.

3) gigabit devices talk to gigabit devices at gigabit speed; gigabit devices talk to 100bT devices at 100bT speed.

4) No, but USB1 is pretty slow.

 

[frankjp302]

Thank you for helping me understand better.

So, if I understand correctly, "ALL" of the components on the network need to support jumbo frames, regardless if they are not being communicated with?

So...If you have Part A, Part B, and Part C all on the same network. If Part A & B support Jumbo Frames, but C Does not...that means that even if it's A&B communicating that it will not support Jumbo Frames? I just want to be clear.

The NAS Link has a USB2.0 Interface, as do my HDD's so I would at least get the USB2 speed I believe.

Again, I really appreciate your help.

Frank