whats a switch or hub?

Magic_x_uk · 16 Jun 2011 at 09:36

hi, quick question as no idea what i have or what i need.

In my lounge in one corner is the wireless router

In the other area of the lounge i have

ps3
wireless music player
laptop
and soon a htpc

they all wirelessly talk to router.

if i wanted to make them all 'wired' to router. would i have to feed 4 cables to router or is this what hubs and switches are for?

ie:

switch or hub (whatever it is called) placed behind my AV unit with all devices, ps3, music player, laptop and htpc wired to it and then one wire going to router?

as i have no knowledge about this.

Hopefully someone can help.

Also wanting to maybe add a nas at some point to router too.

Duke · 16 Jun 2011 at 09:59

Yep thats right. A switch (hubs are not around anymore really - old tech) will allow you to plug in all the devices into it and then a single lead back to the router. So if you have 4 things to connect, you'll need a 5 port switch.

Dist · 16 Jun 2011 at 10:10

If you want to add a NAS to your LAN in the future too then rather than connecting it to the router it could be better to connect it to a switch, because depending on how new your router is it may not have Gigabit Ethernet ports on it, which would limit the throughput of your NAS. Switches on the other hand have for the most part been Gigabit Ethernet capable for a long time, and you can get gigabit switches realy cheap now.

Magic_x_uk · 16 Jun 2011 at 13:43

Thank you,

Dist, can you link me to something perhaps that OCUK sell so I see what you are meaning. as I am sure there are plenty of switches on the market.

The router I have at the moment is a netgear DG834Gv2

I also have a brand new netgear DGN1000 / N150 that i have not yet used.

Dont know if it is worth using as my present one seems to work fine.

hellarda · 16 Jun 2011 at 14:46

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-011-TP&groupid=46&catid=1626&subcat=

thatll do the job

EDIT if you want to expand in the future http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-012-TP&groupid=46&catid=1626&subcat= would be better

Magic_x_uk · 17 Jun 2011 at 08:21

Top stuff thank you.

So would I be able to add a NAS to my present router as in previous post? (or add it to the switch)

and what about using this new router?

PS: anyway of adding a USB external HD to a switch?

Dist · 17 Jun 2011 at 10:31

Both of the routers you mentioned only have Fast Ethernet ports, this will mean they are limited to 100 Mb/s, so although you could connect a NAS to those ports it wouldn't transfer files as fast as if it was connected to the switch, although it still would be fast enough for doing things such as streaming a HD movie off of it to one of your devices.

As for attaching a USB external HD to a switch that wont be possible. Switches have hardware and software that is designed around performing the simple task of taking in frames and sending them on through the correct exit port to the destination.

Magic_x_uk · 17 Jun 2011 at 10:46

so basically.

I buy a switch and attach all my items (ps3, htpc, music player (SKY HD Box any point?) to it and send one of the wires from the switch to my router.

then when I get round to it I buy a NAS (no knowledge on NAS's) and stick that also onto the switch and everything wireless or wired in my home will be able to access the NAS?

Thanks.

kae2 · 17 Jun 2011 at 10:53

In a nutshell, yes.

How about a HP Proliant Microserver? They've just extended the £100 cashback offer, again, so you can get one of these for ~£120, and they're a lot more flexible than any NAS.