Network, router+ switch help.

Armadillo · 2 May 2012 at 17:14

Currently I have all my machines connected directly to my netgear dg834GT. This needs to moved, but all my network cables are routed nicely to it's old spot. Some of the machines also have gigabit ports on them and the netgear is only 100Mb.So I was going to buy a gigabit switch, put that in the netgears old position connect the machines to that, and then run a single cable from the netgears new position to the switch.

So first question, this will work fine? Machines will still be able to acess the internet this way?

Also have some wireless devices, these would still be connecting directly to the netgear, rather than through a switch. Will everything on the network still be able to see each other, or will I have to play around with it?

Finally, difference between switches? Some say managed, others unmanged. Difference? What type do I want? Don't really need any advanced features (bandwidth throttling etc) just want it to connect my machines.

Thanks.

ots3go · 2 May 2012 at 17:23

What you're suggesting is correct and ideal.

In that setup everything will still see each other and the router will only be used for routing to the internet, DHCP & possibly DNS. (and a 100mb connection into the switch for wireless devices.)

As long as your WAN link doesn't provide more than 85mb~ bandwidth you'll be fine on all fronts.

You'll only need an unmanaged switch unless you need QoS, VLANs etc.

KIA · 2 May 2012 at 17:30

Armadillo said:
So first question, this will work fine? Machines will still be able to acess the internet this way?

Yes.

Armadillo said:
Also have some wireless devices, these would still be connecting directly to the netgear, rather than through a switch. Will everything on the network still be able to see each other,

Yes.

Armadillo said:
Finally, difference between switches? Some say managed, others unmanged. Difference? What type do I want? Don't really need any advanced features (bandwidth throttling etc) just want it to connect my machines.

Unmanaged will be fine.

ChrisD. · 2 May 2012 at 17:31

^ KIA is spot on.

Armadillo · 2 May 2012 at 20:41

Thanks for the help.

Audigex · 2 May 2012 at 21:37

As long as you're only expecting gigabit speeds between the machines directly connected to the gigabit switch, you'll be fine. The thing to bear in mind is that your internet and wireless connected machines are at the other end of a 100Mbps link to the gigabit machines - so if you transfer between wireless and wired you're limiting your bandwidth with that link.

If you don't do much moving of files, it's not really going to be a problem, but if your internet is >20Mbps, you might be better off getting a gigabit (and wireless N router) in order to not cause a bottleneck.