Router / Switch

[Dom606]

Hi,
I have a cable modem plugged into a 4 port D-Link router, which works fine. I need to add another device or two to the network.

Should I buy a 4-port switch and plug it into the router, which will give me enough ports?

On the other hand, should I buy an 8-port switch and plug all my devices into the new switch, which would connect to the router?

In other words, does it make any difference if more devices are plugged directly into the router and less on the switch or vice versa?

Thanks

 

[BadBigBen]

Best way, in my opinion, would be to have all devices attached to the switch...

reason: a switch is a hassle free device to connect various devices on the same network, where as a router is used to connect at least two different networks (in your case, the home network and the internet)...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[BionicJohn]

Yes, just get a switch and add it on. It couldn't really be easier. The router will sort it out automatically, though once it's all running you may want to reserve addresses for each device, especially any printers.

Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008
Anfield: Capital of Football since 1892
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[Dom606]

Hi Ben and John,
Thank you so much for your input. I will purchase an 8-port switch and connect it to the router. Then connect all the computers and the network printer to the switch.

I am a novice at this networking stuff and wanted to get some expert opinions before doing something wrong.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. It is much appreciated.
Dom

 

[BadBigBen]

Dom - Glad to have helped... now where do I sent the bill to? Just Kidding... keep us posted how it turns out and if you have any problems...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Dom606]

Hi Ben and John,
I installed a D-Link 8-port switch and connected it to my D-Link router.

Everything came up fine and all computers and printer work as they should.

John mentioned that I might want to reserve addresses for each device, especially any printers. Since ever thing is working is this really necessary?

Thanks again for your help
Dom

 

[BadBigBen]

if you give the printers their own STATIC IP, then you will always be able to print...

normally, all will work fine with dynamic ips, but there are situations where the printer will receive a totally different IP, e.g. my company moved, when we redid the network one of our printers had gotten a different IP due to the prolonged power outage on the printer and the use of the a new DHCP server (router)...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Dom606]

Thanks Ben,
That makes sense to me, believe it or not!

I will assign static IP addressess to keep the network happy.
Dom

 

[edfair]

Normally the printer is the only thing that needs the static IP. But you might want to restrict the assigned addresses to a narrower range than the router comes with as default.

I agree that the 8 port switch makes things neater but a 5 port might have been sufficient. The router may have been a switch also. The product specs would have covered it.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[cdogg]

Yes, I agree with Ed. You can have the best of both options. I would say keep the dynamic IP range in place to make PC management easier. Usually this range starts at 192.168.0.100 on D-Link routers. Then you can assign static IP's to the printers using any of the available addresses outside that range. For example, you could set a static IP of 192.168.0.50 to a printer without worrying about any conflicts.


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[wahnula]

I agree that the 8 port switch makes things neater but a 5 port might have been sufficient.

Well, Ed, my experience is just the opposite. I realize there are probably (3) unused ports on the OP's router, but I'm a fan of planning for future growth. When I had to buy a switch for my small-office, I looked at a four-port and an eight-port. I bought the eight-port, thinking I would be prepared for the future.

Well, the future came & went, two network printers, a second WAP, and another wired workstation later I'm out of ports.

On the home front, I have a 4-port router and a 4-port switch, and with the addition of my Roku Netflix box, am down to a single spare port.

Point is, if the difference in price is not too bad, always go for the biggest switch you can afford. When I was buying for the office there was quite a price difference between an 8-port and a 16-port, so that decision was easy at the time.

The future will only bring more devices connecting to the Internet, so plan for the future and buy as big as you can afford.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[Dom606]

Thanks for all the input guys. I have four computers and one printer currently on my home network. My plan is to purchase a networked external storage device down the road (SAN).

I have the cable modem plugged into the D-Link router. The router is then plugged into the eight port D-Link Switch.

With four computers and one printer plugged into the switch, I have three empty ports. The SAN will take another leaving two open ports on the switch. Therefore, a 5-port switch would not fit my current needs.

Anyway, it sounds as if the thing to do is dedicate an IP address to the printer only and let the other devices obtain their IP dynamically.

Right now, I have not assigned a static IP to the printer and everything is working fine.

 

[BadBigBen]

Are you sure about the SAN? and not a NAS server...

A storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices (such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes) to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system. Although the cost and complexity of SANs are dropping, they are still uncommon outside larger enterprises.

Network attached storage (NAS), in contrast to SAN, uses file-based protocols such as NFS or SMB/CIFS where it is clear that the storage is remote, and computers request a portion of an abstract file rather than a disk block.

source: Wikipedia





Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Dom606]

Ben, you are correct of course. I am looking at purchasing a NAS for my home network.
Sorry about that.
Dom

 

[BadBigBen]

No need to apologize, I figured that, but others might have thought, "wow, the guy is rich..." or "overkill..."... LOL...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Dom606]

If I were rich, I would hire someone to do all this network thngy stuff

 

[BionicJohn]

I am looking at purchasing a NAS for my home network.

I bought my undergrad son a Buffalo 1TB NAS External Hard Drive which has proved excellent after some tricky-to-install firmware updates. (The latest batch probably use the latest version.) Otherwise it's plug and go, and will even manage downloads by itself. iTunes identifies it immediately, and it's fast though backing up an 80Gb laptop drive does take more than few minutes.

Its price has gone up considerably (about 50%) in the last three months, but there's the credit crunch for you.

Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008
Anfield: Capital of Football since 1892
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.