"Managed" switched between WAN and Router?

[icsy7687]

My home network is ever growing and changing. Let me try to explain what is going on...

In my apartment I have a tiny little "network closet" which can barely fit a switch in it. When I moved in there was a 10/100Mbps switch in it and the WAN is an externally accessible IP address. I have since replaced this switch with an Asus RT-N56U. Which is a rather small but decently powerful router, with Padavan's firmware on this.

This router then goes to a Linksys EA3500 which I use as an AP outside of this tiny little "Network Closet
Now, my freenas build runs all sorts of VM's, Jails and Services, as well as a slew of other wired and wireless devices which I require to be on the same LAN.

TL;DR Can start here...
I got to thinking instead of running a router shoved in a tiny little "closet" and an AP, I was thinking of getting a managed or a "pseudo" managed switch. My Asus router was acting a little wonky, so I was thinking about getting a decently powered larger router but these are too big for that space. But I got to thinking, if I can just get a gigabit switch where I can set it to point to a gateway (The router) and utilize the WAN connection, this would solve a lot of future issues!

So I was looking at this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HGLVZLY/?tag=snbforums-20

Getting it to point to the router is easy enough. But I am not sure if the router/other traffic will understand how to access the WAN. I was just curious if anyone other there had a suggestion or some experience with the matter.

I appreciate your time!

 

[L&LD]

Take out the network equipment from the 'tiny closet'.

All equipment needs room to breathe (it is probably overheating).

Do not put any network equipment, except for the wires, in there again.

A switch won't help you. An AC class router will.

I suggest the RT-AC56U in the $50 to $100 price point (depending on sales) and properly placed outside of the network closet instead. A switch won't help you much. Upgrading to an AC class router has many benefits and the RT-AC56U in particular has the processor power to give a nice boost to your network all by itself over the RT-N56U.

 

[icsy7687]

The door to the network panel stays open, so there is plenty of room to breath and there is not excess overheating.

Additionally this is where the patch panel (about 6 ports) is and the WAN connection. So to get every thing on the same network this is where it has to happen.

While I may still get another router, the goal would be to put a switch in there and keep the router out of there. But to do that I need to have the WAN and the Router physically separated and I would need to know if something like:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HGLVZLY/?tag=snbforums-20

Could achieve that.

 

[abailey]

I am having trouble trying to imagine what you are talking about physically. In other words I don't understand what the problem is. I get you want to take the router out of the closet and put it somewhere else. As I understand it your patch panel is in the closet so you want a switch in there. Okay so is the problem that you will have only one cable to go to the router and you want to run your WAN and LAN over the one cable? If so the best way to do that with consumer routers (at least that I know of) is to have a managed switch in the closet and one (could be a very small one) next to the router. That way you could run VLANs between the switches to utilize one cable. Just make sure the one in the closet has enough ports. Remember your WAN will take up one port itself.

 

[sfx2000]

Getting it to point to the router is easy enough. But I am not sure if the router/other traffic will understand how to access the WAN. I was just curious if anyone other there had a suggestion or some experience with the matter.

Thought here is that while it might be fun to tinker with, it's not recommended - unless absolutely needed - on the WAN/untrusted side, better to have the one drop, and secure it behind a firewall/router, and leave it alone..

Since you're running FreeNAS, have you considered perhaps doing something like pfSense - they're both BSD based, and if you're comfortable with BSD, pfSense is a far more powerful solution (in terms of capabilities and features) than any consumer based Router/AP.

I running pfSense on a netgate 2440 (same hw as the pfSense branded SG-2440) and it runs fantastic - I don't have the QoS performance issues that others seem to have with various Router/AP's from the big vendors - it just works...