Mixed GigE & 100MB LAN setup - please advise

Hi, I'm setting up a home LAN which inlcudes some mixed speed kit, but I'm confused about how to set it up.

I have a small server with a Gigabit interface, 2 desktop PC's also with Gigabit and a wireless laptop.

I also have an ADSL connection and ADSL router (I may replace it with a wireless one).

At the moment one PC is connected to ADSL, and the server is connected to the other PC.

I'd like to connect them all together such that:

- The two GigE desktops can access the GigE server.
- One Desktop and the wi-fi laptop can access the ADSL conection.

So I have hosts connecting over GigE, 100Mb Ethernet and also wireless.

What should I use to connect all these together and how should I set it up?

Do I need a Gigabit Ethernet router or a Switch, or should I try adding multiple NIC's to the PC's? And what about the ADSL router? Do I need to set it to act as a bridge and if I do that am I at risk from disabling the firewall? Also where should I put the wireless? At the ADSL router or elsewhere?

Any advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

You need to give a bit more info to get good help
1. is it a multiport ADSL router connecting via ethernet?
if not, get a new wireless router with multiple ethernet ports
else get a wireless access point, and connect the ethernet PCs to the router.
2. is it a usb ADSL router? - ditch it as unsuitable for purpose
3. are there any other considerations, like distance of connection or problems with routing cables?

Hi and thanks for responding

My current ADSL router is an Ethernet model (100Mb) with only one port. I can either replace it with a multiport wireless ADSL model (like a Zyxel p2602hw) or possibly connect it to a Wireless access point or switch or other router?

One concern I have is that there are almost no ADSL routers with GigE ports, so how do I connect the GigE units together? Witha router or a bridge?

No other issues with distance or cables at the moment.

If the GigE machines are close enough to use cables, get a Gigabit Ethernet switch and cable up your three GigE machines. Run a cable from the switch to a wireless router, and that sorts out your wireless laptop as well. So, you have GigE between the GigE machines and 100 Mbit for where is doesn't matter.

The only question is how many ports you need on the GigE switch. You'll have used four so you might want to consider an eight-port switch. If you keep your exisiting router and buy a WAP, that would need a fifth port anyway.

Edit: just reread you post - do you want only one desktop to access ADSL and for the server and other desktop to be unable to do so?

Edited by Hawthorns (Thu 17-Aug-06 12:21:30)

Thanks for the advice. Yes that's right, it would be preferable if the server and 2nd desktop are protected from the internet both for security and because they don't need to.

The server is a small NAS box running a linux variant, but it has my data / backups on it, and I would like to keep it safe.

The 2nd desktop is a media centre used only as a music/video player. Keeping it disconnected from the internet, means not having to install antivirus, anti-spyware etc, and helps with keeping a clean configuration constant. No updates breaking anything etc. I would like it to access the NAS server though since I keep some of my videos on it.

Sorry didn't mean to overload you on detail there.

Thanks again for your help!

Got it (I think)!

I think you could do it with two networks: a GigE network with your server and two desktops (and a GigE switch); and a second network with one of the desktops, the laptop and the ADSL router/wireless/switch. The desktop with access to both networks would need two NICs.

Don't you want to have access from your laptop to the server for backups/shared storage?

No, it's a work laptop, so it just needs to connect to the office VPN (standard software vpn client).

Your solutions sounds good I think. One question I'm confused about. Can In have 3 devices connected with a switch only? Don't they need a router? Of course I prefer a switch since its a lot cheaper

Yes, that's exactly what a switch does.

Perhaps a diagram helps. The =s are gigabit links, the -s are 100 Mbit links.

Desktop 1 ====\

              GigE switch === Desktop 2 --- ADSL wireless router -- (wireless) -- laptop

Server =======/

You could perhaps achieve a similar effect with a router (but this would be as well as your ADSL router) but you're getting towards quite a complex setup - although it would have the router's firewall to help ensure network isolation.

Sorry about the lines splitting, it didn't do that in the preview. I should also point out that while it's easy enough to find GigE switches, I think a GigE router might be difficult to find and v. expensive.

To start you will need a Gigabit Ethernet switch, this would be connected to a Wireless Access Point and also to your router. The router would have an IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet of 255.255.255.0 and DHCP would be disabled, all computers would have static IP's and be connected the the same physical network. The server would have an IP address of 10.194.100.1 and a subnet of 255.255.255.0. The computers requiring access to both networks would have two IP's. Computers only requiring access to one network would only have one IP on either network.

If you require any clarification just reply and I'll try to help out.