New 10Gb SoHo + Home Media Network

[Tyler Hawes]

I know just enough networking to be a danger to myself and others and really need some advice for how to setup my home / studio network. Any help is very much appreciated...

NETWORK HARDWARE I HAVE:

Asus RT-AC5300 wi-fi router
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC5300/

Netgear ProSAFE M4100-D12G 12-port gigabit router
https://www.netgear.com/business/products/switches/managed/M4100-D12G.aspx#tab-techspecs

Netgear ProSAFE XS716T-100NES 16-port 10Gb Smart Managed Switch
https://www.netgear.com/business/products/switches/smart/XS716T.aspx?cid=wmt_netgear_organic

CLIENTS/USES:

Studio/Office where I have a 10Gb server and a few 10Gb workstations / render nodes (and gaming machines come evenings/weekends . They need to talk fast to each other, get Internet access, provide FTP/HTTP server, and be able to VPN for remote access. I also want wi-fi available here for when working on laptop, etc.

Media/Entertainment Room where I have several devices (Xboxes, Playstations, Rokus, etc., etc.) that I'd like to wire connect (for speed/reliability) and some over wi-fi (i.e. DirecTV which only does wifi). They need to be able to see each other, but also pull media files that are served from my studio server.

Firewall needed for all, but esp. for office


QUESTIONS I HAVE:

So obviously the 10G switch is for the office and the 1G switch is for the media room. Where I break down on deciding what is best is where the Internet connection should feed to and where to put the AC5300 wifi. I could see putting the AC5300 right off the modem and then hang the two switches off of it, and then use it's Firewall? Or would the XS716T be superior / more flexible at the gateway and hang the AC5300 off one of the switches as simply a WAP? And what to use for firewall? Should I run a separate network and mask for home vs office network? VLANs? Those are the questions that are overwhelming my decision making process.&nbsp;</p><p>Can anyone tell me if there's one or two clearly best practice ways of configuring this?

Thank you!

PS: If you're wondering why 10Gb, I'm a filmmaker and I work with 4K uncompressed frames all day long, as well as CG rendering. Need high throughput.

 

[sfx2000]

Have you had a chance to review the main site - there's a great series on 10Gb implementation that might be useful...

 

[thiggins]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...ions-of-a-10-gbe-network-newbie-part-1-basics

 

[L&LD]

=> ProSAFE M4100-D12G => Media Room devices
Modem => RT-AC5300
=> ProSAFE XS716T-100NES => Studio/Office devices


Locate the RT-AC5300 in the 3D center of the area(s) you need covered with WiFi.

Use the RT-AC5300 as the main router and adjust your network as needed (if needed), afterwards.

But the locations of the main equipment won't need to be moved from where the above layout guide will place them.

Make sure you run more than a single Ethernet cable to all locations you're trying to connect.

Ideally, you should use the highest quality Ethernet cable for all wiring runs between your equipment (and have it professionally tested too).

But the minimum I would be looking at today is;

From the Modem to the centrally located WiFi router, I would run at least 4 cables, CAT5e or better.

From the RT-AC5300 to each switch, I would run at least 5 cables (12 to 16 would be better if you want to have full leeway on future configuration choices) of CAT6a or higher (to at least the Studio/Office switch).

With the above in place and operational, just using the network as you need it, will give you ideas of where to improve upon the above. And you'll be able to quickly reconfigure roles/connections as needed without worrying if 'a' was better than 'b' (because you'll test and use the one that 'is' better, not the one that 'should be' better).

 

[Tyler Hawes]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...ions-of-a-10-gbe-network-newbie-part-1-basics

I did read it but it was over a year ago. Thanks for the link; I'm going to go through it again.

 

[Tyler Hawes]

But the minimum I would be looking at today is;

From the Modem to the centrally located WiFi router, I would run at least 4 cables, CAT5e or better.

Ideally I'd do that. But the house actually came prewired. They didn't run extra cable to each room, but if it all works and tests out, at least I would have to run cables through the home.