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- Joined
- 25 Sep 2012
- Posts
- 125
Advice on planned home network changes appreciated.
Shortly after moving into our home, I had Cat5e installed to run the length of the house. At the time, it was to share internet throughout the house so the set up was:
router---Cat5e---Netgear GS108 (supplying TV, Sky HD Box, XBox One) ---Cat 5e---Netgear GS116 (supplying PC, Mac, network printer, Time Capsule for wifi)---Cat 5e---Netgear GS108 (supplying another Time capsule for wifi at the other end of the house)
All worked very well, coping with the addition of two added NAS and another Time Capsule in the same room as the PC, until we built an extension that allowed me to have a "man room" tinker with my PC, store parts and keep the two NAS and a Time Capsule (providing the wifi at the end of the house) all linked to the network by a Netgear GS116.
With me so far?
I want to replace the Cat5e with Cat6a as the Cat5e's 1Gbps is now the speed limiting component. But, it's just as easy to replace the single Cat5e "spine" with multiple lengths of Cat6a as it is just one length of Cat6a.
So, until such time that 10Gbs switches and components become more affordable, the existing Gigabit 8 and 16 port switches stay, each interconnected with 4 lengths of Cat6a:
Router---Cat6a---GS108---4xCat6a---GS116---4xCat6a---GS116
I'm not expecting much of a speed increase currently as the rate limiter will be the Gigabit components but will reduce congestion. As they get replaced with 10Gbps I'm hoping that the switches will support ethernet bonding. If not, I still have more than enough redundancy.
Sensible planning, overkill or just adding complication?
Thanks,
Rob
Shortly after moving into our home, I had Cat5e installed to run the length of the house. At the time, it was to share internet throughout the house so the set up was:
router---Cat5e---Netgear GS108 (supplying TV, Sky HD Box, XBox One) ---Cat 5e---Netgear GS116 (supplying PC, Mac, network printer, Time Capsule for wifi)---Cat 5e---Netgear GS108 (supplying another Time capsule for wifi at the other end of the house)
All worked very well, coping with the addition of two added NAS and another Time Capsule in the same room as the PC, until we built an extension that allowed me to have a "man room" tinker with my PC, store parts and keep the two NAS and a Time Capsule (providing the wifi at the end of the house) all linked to the network by a Netgear GS116.
With me so far?
I want to replace the Cat5e with Cat6a as the Cat5e's 1Gbps is now the speed limiting component. But, it's just as easy to replace the single Cat5e "spine" with multiple lengths of Cat6a as it is just one length of Cat6a.
So, until such time that 10Gbs switches and components become more affordable, the existing Gigabit 8 and 16 port switches stay, each interconnected with 4 lengths of Cat6a:
Router---Cat6a---GS108---4xCat6a---GS116---4xCat6a---GS116
I'm not expecting much of a speed increase currently as the rate limiter will be the Gigabit components but will reduce congestion. As they get replaced with 10Gbps I'm hoping that the switches will support ethernet bonding. If not, I still have more than enough redundancy.
Sensible planning, overkill or just adding complication?
Thanks,
Rob