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cheechm · 18 May 2009 at 20:20

Spec for me please!!

I have two incoming broadband connections to my house. The house is about to be redone. We are taking this oppurtunity to install a "central server". I eed help speccing this. What I will eventually need:

Load Balancing (for 2 networks)
Network Distribution (including wirelses (3 PCs) & wired (2 PCs and PS3)
Central Backup point
Central Media server (For AppleTV / PS3)
2TB Diskspace
Printer Server
Built-In Web server
CCTV capabilities

The cable runs will be around 30m (everything seems to be 30m from the incoming connections) so would CAT5 suffice?

TIA

Dist · 18 May 2009 at 20:34

I can help with some advice on some of the points you mentioned, some stuff such as CCTV i am not too clued up on though.

For cabling make sure you use cat5e as it supports gigabit ethernet. You could use cat 6 to make the place more future proof, but its harder to work with.

As for load balancing, what type of load balancing are you expecting? Sending certain types of traffic on one connection and other types of traffic on another, such as http, VOIP etc.. on one connection, and gaming on the other is not too difficult. If you want to go for more complex load balancing where both connections are used at the same time for the exact same thing, well then you are going to need some expensive kit that is not generaly aimed at home use.

cheechm · 18 May 2009 at 20:37

Load balancing in terms of: When some one is downloading big files or backing up online, I want to be able to play my PS3 multiplayer without having connectivity issues. So choose one connection constant high speed downloads etc and the other for web browsing/PS3 playing.

Azuse05 · 18 May 2009 at 21:03

Well a Daytrek access point can do that across two lines.

cheechm · 18 May 2009 at 22:03

They look good. Anybody had any experience with Draytek routers?

Skidilliplop · 19 May 2009 at 09:54

Backing up online? at home? That doesn't seem right to me.
If you want to manage multiple connections you can probably achieve it with QoS. An online backup isn't going to need all the bandwidth all the time as if it's a full on backup it's going to take ages, what's an extra 20 minutes ontop of 6 hours? Orrr it's a live sync just adjusting changes in which case it shouldn't need a huge amount of dedicated bandwidth all the time. This is easily manages without having to shell out for dual lines and load balancing. You just band the traffic according to it's real time needs and it should just sort itself out.
What kind of stuff are you backing up online??

cheechm · 19 May 2009 at 16:00

Meant the work computer syncs whenever anything is changed.

I've alraedy got two incoming lines. I have BT Option 3 on both, but with wireless some computers can only reach one router while others can only reach the other router.
Therefore I want all computers to be able to connect to both broadband lines, but for it to be balanced so that if one computer completly pwns one of the connections I can still game on the other.

Skidilliplop · 19 May 2009 at 16:09

Tbh i reckon you could just keep one line for work and one line for play, provided QoS is setup on each no one PC can hog either connection. I think load balancing is a bit OTT in this case as the lines arn't going to be running near capacity all the time. Online gaming doesn't require much bandwidth and should be able to run alongside other services fine.

cheechm · 19 May 2009 at 16:16

Skidilliplop said:
Tbh i reckon you could just keep one line for work and one line for play, provided QoS is setup on each no one PC can hog either connection. I think load balancing is a bit OTT in this case as the lines arn't going to be running near capacity all the time. Online gaming doesn't require much bandwidth and should be able to run alongside other services fine.

Its more for the evening when everyone is on, and there are 3 people watching BBC iPlayer, 1 playing PS3 and another downloading torrents.

Skidilliplop · 19 May 2009 at 16:29

I'd try it with QoS first as it'll cost you nothing. If it doesn't work then invest in an expensive router. But iPlayer doesn't use a lot of bandwidth and if you've got 5meg through your option 3 or more then you shouldn't have an issue. Iplayer only needs about 1mbit per stream.
As for torrents, I'd tell them tough ass and set it to the lowest QoS band. you could even route this traffic over the other connection using software.
They're still going to get probably 3meg down minimum even sharing the connection.

Hades · 26 May 2009 at 21:09

cheechm said:
They look good. Anybody had any experience with Draytek routers?

I've had a 2800VG for several years. I don't use it for load balancing but in terms of general quality I love it. Does everything I need and more. It's on 24/7 with no problems and I'd certainly buy another.