Network Design Question

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plugnpl4y

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Mar 5, 2007
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Components I have:
- Linksys WRT-160N (running DD-WRT)
- HP MediaSmart WHS
- Netgear GS108 switch

I have many wired devices (+1 wireless) in my home and between streaming HD content and torrent traffic my router hasn't been able to keep up. I want to redo my network to take the routing strain off my router and put it on the WHS, leaving the router only as a WAP. I also want to take advantage of gigabit speeds which my router does not support.

I've enabled the DHCP server built into WHS and my wired devices communicate well enough via the Netgear switch. The only exception being I can no longer navigate to the devices based on their name, I must use their IP, why?

How can I add my WAN connection to the network and enable my router as a WAP?

I've looked up tutorials on turning my router into a WAP but I haven't found anything about coupling that with my unique situation.

Thanks in advance
 
Your ISPs modem connects into your router right now, right? Are you wanting to use your WHS as a router? Sooo, that means it is running multiple NICs and you have connected your ISPs modem into the WHS?

I'm confused.

If your ISP's connection runs into your router it must remain a router, not a WAP.

You said you have a Netgear switch. Does everything connect into it? If so, there is no routing involved for your house network unless you are running VLANs through your router.
 
Right, but his wireless router is currently his gateway so he cannot disable the routing function without killing his access to the 'net.
 
Yea, I was assuming he would setup his routing on something else. I know WHS is built on Server 2003 but can you even use it as your main router? Would that really be faster than his DD-WRT router? I wouldn't think so.
 
I wouldn't think so either which is why I am confused.

Additionally, if his equipment all runs through the switch then why would his router be overloaded? The only way is if he has his network subnetted into multiple VLANs. Assuming this isn't the case then I don't see any benefit of repurposing the router as a WAP.

Too much assuming going on and you know what assumption makes.

OP, a diagram of what your network looks like would help.
 
Thanks for the responses. I've done up two diagrams lets start with my current (all wired connections are cat5e). Edit: I forgot to show the MicroCell but I'm sure it's presence doesn't really matter, it's currently connected to my router. In the proposed diagram it would be connected to the switch.

CURRENT_NETWORK.jpg


As you can tell my router is the bottleneck as it does not support 1000Mbps speeds. I believe it's also the reason why streaming video from my WHS to my HTPC sometimes becomes choppy.

I'm sure I could stick with my current setup if I replaced my router with a better one, but I don't want to buy anything if I don't have to.

***

Here's my proposed. It places the DHCP and routing functions on the WHS (this is currently working). What isn't working is the WAN... my modem supports a USB connection, since I don't have two NIC's on my WHS I'm wondering if this will work; I haven't tried it yet. As you can see, I'd like to disable the DHCP and routing functions of the router and use it strictly as a WAP for my laptop.

I believe this setup would be optimal because my WHS is my torrent server and the source for all of my streaming content. If it would work as proposed it would eliminate some network traffic and I'd have a 1000Mbps to all the devices that can utilize it.


PROPOSED_NETWORK.jpg
 
Last edited:
No, don't do that. Keep using the router but plug the router into the switch. Plug all of your stuff into the 1000Mbps switch, and nothing into the router except for the modem and the link to the switch.


modem ----- router ----- switch ----- WHS
____________|____________----- PS3
____________|____________----- 360
_________WLAN__________----- HTPC

(ignore underscores)

The only thing is that your WLAN will be limited to 100Mbps for accessing any non-WLAN stuff. You'll need a router (or a WAP) with a gigabit port otherwise, though it wouldn't be that much better because WLAN sucks.
 
dandragonrage said:
No, don't do that. Keep using the router but plug the router into the switch. Plug all of your stuff into the 1000Mbps switch, and nothing into the router except for the modem and the link to the switch.
Click to expand...

This was my intention when I bought the switch. However, with the routing responsibilities still falling on the router... traffic between two items plugged into the switch will still pass through the router (throttling down to 100Mpbs). Is that not correct?
 
plugnpl4y said:
This was my intention when I bought the switch. However, with the routing responsibilities still falling on the router... traffic between two items plugged into the switch will still pass through the router (throttling down to 100Mpbs). Is that not correct?
Click to expand...

The router has no control or even knowledge of internal traffic (except the odd packet the switch sends out to all ports for discovery, but that won't affect anything).
 
modem ----- router ----- switch ----- WHS
____________|____________----- PS3
____________|____________----- 360
_________WLAN__________----- HTPC

Let me make sure I understand correctly. In the diagram traffic from the WHS to the 360 will NOT look like this:

WHS -> switch -> router -> switch -> 360

Instead it will look like:

WHS -> switch -> 360
 
Right. WHS -> switch -> 360. The router is only responsible for outside traffic. Well, that and initially assigning IP addresses.
 
What plugnpl4y wrote is correct.

I thought your proposed diagram was what you were trying to do but it just didn't make any sense.

In simplest terms, routers route traffic between networks. All of your stuff is on the same network so nothing will pass through the router except internet traffic.

Your laptop will be on the slowest link since it is wireless. The 100mb link won't restrict it since the wireless is slower.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I'll hook it up according to this diagram and run some tests. My misconception about the router/switch really over complicated things.

SUGGESTED_LAYOUT.jpg
 
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