Question by Thomas(lowr_noma): Suggestions for speeding up my home Local Area Network.?
I have a Centos server at home providing SSH, for file sharing on my home LAN through samba but also to be able to access files away from home I can SSH to my DYNDNS name.
Currently I have a fiber to the home connection which is 20Mbps synchronous so I have 20 down AND up! This is perfect for when I tunnel video through SSH because I can pull up my server display and there is virtually no lag from work to home and vice versa.
From that screen I can VNC to my home apple computers and windows pc’s without the need to open them to risk of the outside world. I also have my XBOX 360 on my LAN direct connected, the rest are wireless with exception of the server.
My issue is that sometimes when copying files, or playing Xbox it bogs down my router and slows down and I end up taking a lot of time to do cross LAN backups and file transfers and lag on my gaming is somewhat noticeable.
I currently run everything through a WRT54GL which now is about 4-5 years old. I would like to get a Cisco 2960 8 port Gigabit switch but my issue is going to be how to implement the port forwarding and still use the WRT54GL for the wireless devices.
Since my internet is a direct connection with no modem (A box outside runs Ethernet directly into the house), I would have to plug that into the Cisco and allow it to do the DHCP and NAT’ing. I can plug one of the LAN ports on the WRT54GL into one of the LAN ports on the Cisco and have DHCP off on the WRT54GL so that both will be on the same subnet. I’ll just give the WLAN router a static IP and exclude it from the range on the Cisco, then install the DYNDNS daemon on the Linux box.
I feel like the bottle neck of my network is the processing capability of the WRT54GL router’s processor, and by going to a Gigabit capable router that is Enterprise level and designed for 99.999% uptime and high load the overall speed of my network should be faster, plus the processor of the cisco should be able to handle it more efficiently.
So my question for yahoo answers members is: should I be looking at a Cisco 2960 or is there anything cheaper that’s comparable that will fit my needs? I can get one of these for around 380$
Thanks for the comment, ratter_of_the_shire, I guess I forgot to include in the original question, I have the knowledge and equipment available to build a server to do these things but I don’t want to do that because 1, it eats a lot more electricity, 2 there are more points of failure, and 3 I have nowhere to keep it.
I would prefer to stay hardware based and in a small footprint i.e., something I can sit under my wireless router, I actually have a Cisco Pix 501 I could use but I don’t know if it’s any faster than the WT54GL, I did originally purchase the GL version of the WT54 with plans to install dd-wrt, but now that I need it to be up all the time, I don’t want to risk bricking it then having to wait a week for a new one to come in the mail. I also do not really have the money right now for a new router, which is why I wanted suggestions. So that I could start saving for whatever I plan on getting.
Best answer:
Answer by ratter_of_the_shire
Cisco is way overpriced. Install openWRT on your current router to see if it clears anything up.
Otherwise build an embeded system with dual gigabit and a unmanaged switch. ? One for the WAN, and one for the LAN,.
You current router can be set into router mode, and connected the the switch
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153188
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100010066%20600052097%20600015690&IsNodeId=1&name=1Port%20%20-%2012Ports
Add a case. memory and hard-drive and for about the same price as the cisco you have a system that can do NAS, DHCP, dydns, NAT, with FreeNAS, and much more if you care to install Linux on it rather than BSD.
Another option is one of those buffalo routers, with dual-n wireless. They have a 400MHz processor, and more memory than most router. Adding WRT makes it close to an enterprise class device.
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