networking - Multiple routes in home LAN

07
2014-07
  • Bart van Heukelom

    I can connect my switch to my router in 2 ways:

    • Via a WiFi to Ethernet bridge. This is what I'm currently using.
    • Via Powerline.

    In both case, these involve a regular ethernet cable going from my switch to a "magic device".

    Unfortunately, both go down from time to time, though the Powerline much more often. I was wondering, could I connect using both of them at the same time? So at least, when the WiFi bridge goes down, the Powerline can take over. And even better, combine their bandwidth? (The sum of which is, of course, still less than the uplink.) I've already tried connecting both without using any specific hardware, software or settings, but that just makes my switch always choose the inferior Powerline.

    For bonus points: The WiFi connection suffers from latency fluctuation. It's usually at a good level, but can sometimes go 100+ ms. Would it be possible to detect when this happens and automatically switch to Powerline until the WiFi is back to normal? I suspect not, since these circumstances change pretty fast.

    Of course the best solution would be to just lay a proper cable, but unfortunately that's not (easily) possible.

    • Answers
  • nachbar

    You probably cannot run two parallel load-balanced or failover connections with a consumer-grade router, but it is possible with something like the Edgerouter http://www.ubnt.com/edgemax. The Edgerouter lite is just under $100, and with two of them you could route the packets over WiFi, and then failover to Powerline when there were problems with WiFi.

    This is usually used for multiple Internet connections, but it should be able to configure as noted here https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX-Configuration-Examples/EdgeMAX-Policy-based-routing-with-WAN-load-balancing/ta-p/521957 and here https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX-Configuration-Examples/EdgeMAX-Automatic-WAN-failover-with-PBR-load-balancing/ta-p/511289

    The Edgerouter runs Vyatta, and more info is available in the first chapter of this: http://ftp.het.net/iso/vyatta/vc6.3/docs/Vyatta_HA_R6.3_v01.pdf

    But while this is possible, it is probably a lot of work to set up, so I would seriously consider whether a simpler solution might meet your needs better.


    • Related Question

    networking - Expanding our home network
  • dirtside

    Currently we have a D-Link DI-524, which is a wireless router with 4 wired Ethernet ports, and an uplink port. The uplink port is plugged into the cable modem, and 2 of the 4 Ethernet ports have our desktops plugged into them. Sometimes we plug in our laptops, too, for better bandwidth, or other computers for various purposes.

    We're renovating our house and putting Ethernet ports in each room. They're all running to a 12-port patch panel in the office, but clearly we're going to need a different router/switch in order to plug them all in.

    So the question is this: What should we get? We want to keep the wireless capability, but I'm having trouble finding any 8-port wired switches that also have wireless (and that fit into a home budget). I imagine it should be possible to plug an 8-port switch into 6 of the patch panel ports, use 1 of the remaining switch ports to connect to the cable modem, and the last port to connect the old wireless router in some capacity... and then we can plug the 4 ports on the wireless switch into 4 of the panel ports (leaving 2 panel ports unused, but that's fine for now). I thought I had a grasp on the difference between a switch and a router, but everyone seems to play fast and loose with the terms, so two different people saying "switch" might mean two radically different things.

    Anyway, unless someone knows of an affordable 12-wired-port-plus-wireless switch/router, anyone got any advice?


    • Related Answers
  • 8088

    A router generally assigns IP addresses via DHCP, and does DNS and gateway functions. Routers typically have switches built in (as is the case with your current wireless router). A switch only forwards packets (in simple terms).

    Think of it this way: consider no internet connection, a local only network. With two computers plugged into a router, you can just get to the other computer by typing \\othercomputer in your Explorer address bar. With the same two computers plugged into a switch, you're not going to be able to talk because there are no instructions to tell the switch where to send the packets.

    Now to the real question:

    Your wireless router is probably currently serving as your dhcp server, gateway and dns server. You should keep it that way, and add a switch into the network below the router. Plug the WAN port of the router into the modem, and one of the network ports of the router into your switch. Plug all of your PCs into the switch. You can still use the other 3 ports on the router for networking too, which gives you 10 ports (7 left on the switch and 3 on the router).

    enter image description here

    For an 8 port, I like these Netgear switches. I use them frequently for small networks at work. Next step up is this 16 port model.

    In any case, I would go for a Gigabit switch because pretty much all new computers have Gigabit NICs. If you're transferring movies from your desktop to your media center, you will definitely appreciate the higher throughput.

  • John T

    I don't see why you can't keep the wireless router and use a switch along with it. You can grab a simple SOHO switch to use with the patch panel. The one linked to has 16 ports and should suffice for future expansion. I don't see why a wireless switch is needed unless there is an extreme distance between the current wireless router and where you plan to use the switch. If that is the case, you could grab an inexpensive Wireless AP to go along with it.