Building a Gaming Lan - Switch not working

JGBR

JGBR

JGBR

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I set out to build a high speed (1gbps) home network for gaming, file sharing etc that does not require wireless or internet access.

I plugged my multiple devices, Nas, Windows 7 computers (about 5) into a switch.

Nothing, no one can idenitfy the network, or talk to one another.

Im confused, I was under the impression swtiches can work a network alone or do I need a router to?
 
A switch is essentially the same as a router, although it is much less intelligent and does not pay any attention to the data being transmitted.

It is the most basic form of networking, it simply allows each computer to see what the other computers connected to it can see. Whereas a router is far more intelligent and can remember address' etc etc.

Have you configured each computer in the Network and Sharing Center?
You need to configure all the options in here such as network discovery.

Then you could have the problem of Firewalls, which can easily block incoming and outgoing communication, in which neither computers can be detected.

This may also help you: SEE HERE
 
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Switches can work, but you would need to set up every device manually. Its much easier to buy a small cheap router that can do this for you.
 
JGBR said:
I set out to build a high speed (1gbps) home network for gaming, file sharing etc that does not require wireless or internet access.

I plugged my multiple devices, Nas, Windows 7 computers (about 5) into a switch.

Nothing, no one can idenitfy the network, or talk to one another.

Im confused, I was under the impression swtiches can work a network alone or do I need a router to?
Click to expand...

A switch will not have DHCP server built in. You'll need to choose a suitable RFC 1918 address scheme and manually assign ips to each device.

Something like 192.168.14.0/24 (to avoid any other normal internet usage) so

first device 192.168.14.1 mask 255.255.255.0 - gateway leave blank. DNS also leave blank.

Second device 192.168.14.2 mask 255.255.255.0 - gateway leave blank. DNS also leave blank.

Third device 192.168.14.3 mask 255.255.255.0 - gateway leave blank. DNS also leave blank.

Fourth device 192.168.14.4 mask 255.255.255.0 - gateway leave blank. DNS also leave blank.

Netbois advertisement "should" mean you'll be able to ping each machine by the hostname, if not you'll need to add the hostnames into each host file on each computer.

c:\windows\system32\drives\etc\hosts (open with notepad)

Entries like

192.168.14.1 computer1
 
I have so many devices I went and bought a really good switch. Do i need to connect a router to that switch as well?
(I have a netgear Prosafe 9port gigabit switch)

( All computers work fine because their secondary ethernet ports are connected to a different network for internet access - I do not wish to have the same network for house hold data transfer etc so i essentialy have two networks in the house , one dedicated to net, the other to data,streaming,gaming etc)

I thought just having a switch, you plugged it in and off you went...
 
Emphacy said:
A switch is essentially the same as a router, although it is much less intelligent and does not pay any attention to the data being transmitted.

It is the most basic form of networking, it simply allows each computer to see what the other computers connected to it can see. Whereas a router is far more intelligent and can remember address' etc etc.
Click to expand...

You are thinking of a Hub, a switch does indeed pay attention to the traffic that is being sent/received, hence it switches the data. Switches are Layer 2 devices (as in they work at Layer 2 of the OSI model) and they use MAC Addresses to identify what device is on each port; a router is a Layer 3 device as it routes traffic based on IP address.

For a home LAN you don't need a router, unless you want to share an internet connection between all of the connected devices. It doesn't sound like all of the devices on your LAN have IP's in the same subnet (if they have IP's at all) have you set them statically or do you have a DHCP server on your network? If neither, you will need to do one or the other :)
 
JGBR said:
I have so many devices I went and bought a really good switch. Do i need to connect a router to that switch as well?
(I have a netgear Prosafe 9port gigabit switch)

( All computers work fine because their secondary ethernet ports are connected to a different network for internet access - I do not wish to have the same network for house hold data transfer etc so i essentialy have two networks in the house , one dedicated to net, the other to data,streaming,gaming etc)

I thought just having a switch, you plugged it in and off you went...
Click to expand...

See my post then - you will need to choose a different subnet, DNS is going to be your only issue as you'll have two networks so the host file will be your only option but you'll need to choose a different name to stop traffic flowing over the wrong interface (as they'll be available by both interfaces).
 
JGBR said:
I just saw the post below, they are cheating to avoid the problems on two networks by just attaching a cheap router to the switch as well....


http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18221820
Click to expand...

You don't need more kit, you just need to config the subnets so they're independent, otherwise you'll just end up using one network.

NIC 1

DHCP

Nic 2
Manual setup of IP and Subnet, blank dns and gateway. Disable netbios advertisements and create a host file entry (different to the computers actual hostname) on each machine for every machine on this subnet.
 
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So what would happen if i didnt want to do all of that work and plugged in an old router as well to the switch?

You mentioned forcing the machines to use certain connections
 
You'r really complicating things for yourself having two separate networks, you won't saturate the entire network by gaming/sharing files/streaming between PC's as that's what a switch is designed to stop happening! I'd highly recommend you set up your network something like this:

9jxI1.png


This lets your router handle DHCP, DNS and Internet access while keeping all gaming/streaming (local)/file sharing(local) on the switch at Gigabit speeds, if you have Gigabit NIC's in all machines of course.
 
What about internal security - two networks surely safer and faster?

My Networks

NETWORK1 : MODEM - ROUTER (1)-ROUTER (2) (3MACHINES) - Router (3) (5 Machines, Printer, Wifi)

NETWORK 2 : SWITCH - NAS,PRINTER 2, 3 MACHINES
 
JGBR said:
So what would happen if i didnt want to do all of that work and plugged in an old router as well to the switch?

You mentioned forcing the machines to use certain connections
Click to expand...

You would end up with two gateways - not good. Also you say you want to segregate traffic.

A computer by default will advertise its hostname / ip out by netbios advertisements, by not controlling this you will end up with traffic flowing over the wrong interface, unless you stick to IPs only, but then netbios could still mean the gaming network is used for file transfers.

Example

Computer 1 hostname Computer1

NIC 1 192.168.0.1 advertises Computer1 as 192.168.0.1
NIC 2 192.168.14.1 advertises Computer1 as 192.168.14.1

User on computer 2 wants to game with computer 1, how does it know to use the 14.x network vs the 0.1 network.

The only way to get arround this is to disable netbios and stick to using multiple host file entries for each computers interface.

Host file

Computer1 192.168.0.1
Computer1gaming 192.168.14.1
 
As I said, your really complicating things for yourself. The way you want to set up the network isn't even the "proper" way to have a multi-subnet network. What are your concerns about internal security? If it's people seeing shared files then set up permissions, if it's external attackers then I think you may be over-reacting - a simple home router has a sufficient firewall to protect your network from outside so long as your network users have common sense and an up-to-date antivirus.

ecksman has described how to set up your network the way you have envisaged it but I think it's a bad way to go about it, this is just my 2p of course - it's your network :)
 
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JGBR said:
What about internal security - two networks surely safer and faster?

My Networks

NETWORK1 : MODEM - ROUTER (1)-ROUTER (2) (3MACHINES) - Router (3) (5 Machines, Printer, Wifi)

NETWORK 2 : SWITCH - NAS,PRINTER 2, 3 MACHINES
Click to expand...

But all the machines are connected to both networks. Apart from the NAS, which is accessible through many PC's.
 
network 2 is the one that is not working

Im failing to understand network topology I guess as im building a network within a network but not connected and the machines are not understanding how to deal with it lol

Basically i think people are saying, you can ansemble a second network but is a nightmare to resolve so bundle it all into a network.

I have however 3routers and a switch...
 
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JGBR said:
network 2 is the one that is not working

Im failing to understand network topology I guess as im building a network within a network but not connected and the machines are not understanding how to deal with it lol

Basically i think people are saying, you can ansemble a second network but is a nightmare to resolve so bundle it all into a network.

I have however 3routers and a switch...
Click to expand...

Yes, go to a single subnet and it'll be much easier without any real concerns.

You should only need one router. If you require more ports then expand with more switches not routers.

for instance 4 port router (very comon) plugged into 4 switches to expand the switching capacity. If you can, keep devices on the same switch where possible but I doubt any home network would saturate gigabit.
 
So is their any tips on keeping bandwidth up/good practice, IE dealing with internet load and internal load

Switches over routers? etc.

online says routers are faster...
 
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JGBR said:
So is their any tips on keeping bandwidth up/good practice, IE dealing with internet load and internal load

Switches over routers? etc.

online says routers are faster...
Click to expand...

You can buy managed switches which offer QoS, though I've never seen a home network which requires it.
 
So ive got 3 routers, an 8port switch and modem with machines, multiple wifi devices and network devices.

How do i use the kit, in what format to get the best bandwidth,performance and security.
 
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