[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Managed or Unmanaged Switch for Multiple VLANs?

Hi,

Unnecessarily complicated explanation alert, all pretty new to me ...

I am in the process of planning future upgrades of my ISP at a remote site (to above 1GB) and with a few planned 2.5GB WAN/LAN routers/nodes I am in the market for a 2.5GB Switch. The question I have (I will explain the Topology below) is whether or not it needs to be a managed switch? In this note I am using Asus-Merlin on various ASUS Routers/Nodes; and plan a TP Link Switch.

Background:

At my local site, I have experimented setting up two VLANs Guest (52) and IoT (53), plus the Primary Network, but only configured one of them to an Ethernet Port, in "Access Mode" for the SDN IoT VLAN (53). My local Mesh node is connected via Wifi Backhaul, hence no other Ethernet Port setting is needed for that one wireless VLAN Guest (52) for either main or node.

LAN Port 2 then goes to an unmanaged 8 Port Switch, which (only) feeds a number of wired IoT devices, all on VLAN (53). My understanding is that Access ports are also known as “untagged” ports, since an access port will "strip the VLAN tag from the packet" i.e. for my case it doesn't really matter (or care) about the Tag identifier as there is only one VLAN (this begs the question whether I really even need to define a mode or SDN for that LAN Port 2 for my local setup, as I am not sending DIFFERENT Tags down one line (nor do I have different LAN cables feeding that 8 port switch)?

Planned Topology at Remote Site:

In any case the Topology at the Remote site is a bit different, essentially ISP -> WAN of Router, then out via ONE LAN Cable to an 8 Port Switch. The switch then has 5 Ethernet lines, one to each of 5 rooms, each with an AIMESH Node at the end (say).

Note that I do not need a different VLAN for different rooms; they all get all 3 VLANs. I would like to set up a Guest and IoT VLAN on the Router and also have the Primary Network (so 3 VLANs), all feeding all the nodes. In this case, let's say the LAN Cable goes from Port 2 of the Router to the switch, what do I choose for Mode and SDN Profile?

Clearly I cannot select "Access" as this is only for ONE VLAN Profile (although it is stripped anyway??), so this leaves either (a) "All (Default)/"Default" OR (b) "Trunk/Allow all Tagging".
Would it be correct that for (b) I would need a MANAGED SWITCH so the Tags are retained?

However if I want all VLANs to go to all Nodes, is it correct to say I do not need actually need any tagging so "All (Default)/"Default" is the correct setting?
And presumably I would not even need a managed switch?

Bonus scenario:

If at some stage I wanted to send separate VLANs to separate rooms, e.g. VLAN 52 to two rooms and VLAN 53 to two rooms (and Main to all 5 rooms), would it be correct that I would need a managed switch to do this and then would I select "Trunk/Allow all Tagging" and in the switch, assign the VLAN IDs for the rooms I wanted to send the respective VLANs to?

Thank you .

[Assistant]
As a rule of thumb, an unmanaged switch will either drop VLAN-tagged packets on the floor, or forward them without regard to the tags. It's seldom documented which, so you have to try it to see. But neither behavior is very useful in an environment where you need VLANs, unless you have the second behavior and are willing to regard all ports of the switch as trunk ports.

tgl said:
As a rule of thumb, an unmanaged switch will either drop VLAN-tagged packets on the floor, or forward them without regard to the tags. It's seldom documented which, so you have to try it to see. But neither behavior is very useful in an environment where you need VLANs, unless you have the second behavior and are willing to regard all ports of the switch as trunk ports.
Thank you for that, very much appreciate the concise explanation .

I’m still a little bit unsure about which switch for my use case, if I can get away with an unmanaged switch (which are much cheaper), that would be great.

You might be able to get away with a "smart" network switch. These often enable some of the capabilities of a level-3 managed switch, but not all, and they're cheaper than a "real" managed switch.
*My own unmanaged 2.5Gbps switch just passes everything through, regardless of VLAN tags.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Asus + L3 XikStor hardware

I may have bitten off a little (or a lot) more than i can chew and need some help from the experts around here.
I have accrued the following hardware:
1 x Asus 89X (main router)
4 x Asus TUF AX4200
XikStor SKS8310-8X L3 optical switch https://xikestor.com/sks8300-8x.htm
And he following device will arrive tomorrow.
XikStor SKS8300-12E2T2X
https://www.amazon.co.jp/2-5G-10G-photoelectric-temperature-controlled/dp/B0DHZ65CZX?ref_=ast_sto_dp

I...may (ahem), have bitten off a little more than i can chew and thus must seek assistance.

The Asus 89x and its (currently 3) TUF AX4200 nodes have been running temporarily in wireless mess - I know, I am a bad boy but it was of course only temporary until i got the switches and fiber in place and then i will switch over to AP mode and fiber backbones x 3.

I need the XikStor SKS8310-8X to play nice with the Asus gear and I know it limits the use of VLAN, but that is not my primary concern at this stage. I would just like these devices to talk to each other and behave like a network. Perhaps I need some assistance with the setup of the VLAN or whatever I need to do to get it playing nicely with the Asus gear.

[Assistant]
That is a lot of hardware for residential. What are you trying to accomplish ? What are your client devices, wired and wireless ?
i assume you have done a wifi strength survey of the building and know where to place the APs without significant overlap ?
What is your ISP able to provide for service ?

BTW, you may get better response posting in the ASUS AX subforum.

Yet another dead end project like the one last year...

Asus Network design
I am designing a network for several buildings over a reasonable area (not sure how many sq feet), but i estimate, ideally, it will require: A mesh capable primary router - I have 2 x AC88U and 1 x AX89X I think 4 x node routers - I have amassed 6 x AC68U a largish switch - I have a netgear 24...
www.snbforums.com

I like XikeStor address though. Will send them a snail mail with receipt and tracking. Sounds like fun.
Room 25-2-201, Champs Landing, Jiefang Road, Longzihu District, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, China.

degrub said:
That is a lot of hardware for residential. What are you trying to accomplish ? What are your client devices, wired and wireless ?
i assume you have done a wifi strength survey of the building and know where to place the APs without significant overlap ?
What is your ISP able to provide for service ?

BTW, you may get better response posting in the ASUS AX subforum.
Click to expand...
degrub said:
That is a lot of hardware for residential. What are you trying to accomplish ? What are your client devices, wired and wireless ?
i assume you have done a wifi strength survey of the building and know where to place the APs without significant overlap ?
What is your ISP able to provide for service ?

BTW, you may get better response posting in the ASUS AX subforum.
Click to expand...
That is not all but the core backbone of the network.

I have already run 40m and 20m 10G fiber and will run at least one and likely 2 more 30-40m fiber links.
The buildings are sprawling and hence the need for fiber and the currently 3 operational TUF AX4200 nodes. I have various older NAS, will build some TrueNAS boxes, and more than a dozen Linux machines. I want to be able to stream video, host old style large network games, remote work, automation and SCADA monitoring, and am investigating whether I can host my own SIP infrastructure. Eventually I will exceed the capability of the Asus equipment but for now that is what I am working with.

The ISP supplies 1Gb optical to my network and that is as good as it gets for here as it is deep in the countryside.

The overlap of the APs is not significant, but I am trying to project WiFi coverage as far outside as possible without being too close to areas where people sleep.

I will always try to cable as many devices as possible and resort to WiFi when there is no other option.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Netgear GS308e web interface only works on default VLAN

Good afternoon,
I have two managed switches on my one-armed router network, a Netgear GS305e (5 port), and a GS305e (8 port). I have created an Admin VLAN (10), which is one of four VLANS trunked from my Edgerouter X to switch port 1 on each of my Netgear switches. The switch uplink ports on the Edgerouter are each identically configured with a blank PVID, and VID set to 10,20,30,40.

On my GS305e, I can give the web admin interface a static IP in the Admin VLAN subnet (10.2.1.0/24), and I can access it from a laptop which is connected to the Admin VLAN. My GS308e, when configured the same way, becomes unreachable. The switch port configurations are below, any suggestions on what could be going wrong with the GS308e?

Thanks!
-Mark

[Assistant]
Bufflehead said:
On my GS305e, I can give the web admin interface a static IP in the Admin VLAN subnet (10.2.1.0/24), and I can access it from a laptop which is connected to the Admin VLAN. My GS308e, when configured the same way, becomes unreachable. The switch port configurations are below, any suggestions on what could be going wrong with the GS308e?

They're not configured the same - see port 2 on the 305e vs. the 308e

Bufflehead said:
Good afternoon,
I have two managed switches on my one-armed router network, a Netgear GS305e (5 port), and a GS305e (8 port). I have created an Admin VLAN (10), which is one of four VLANS trunked from my Edgerouter X to switch port 1 on each of my Netgear switches. The switch uplink ports on the Edgerouter are each identically configured with a blank PVID, and VID set to 10,20,30,40.

On my GS305e, I can give the web admin interface a static IP in the Admin VLAN subnet (10.2.1.0/24), and I can access it from a laptop which is connected to the Admin VLAN. My GS308e, when configured the same way, becomes unreachable. The switch port configurations are below, any suggestions on what could be going wrong with the GS308e?

Thanks!
-Mark
Click to expand...
Sorry, I meant a GS308e (8 port)

sfx2000 said:
They're not configured the same - see port 2 on the 305e vs. the 308e
I probably should have mentioned that. Yes, port 2 on the GS305e is connected to one of my Ubuiquiti APs, so it also trunks all of my VLANs. This was done to take advantage of existing cabling, my other 2 Ubiquiti APs are connected directly to the Edgerouter.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Run singlemode partly over OM1 Multimode (short bit)?

Is it possible to shoot single mode over a short distance of OM1 62,5/125 multimode fiber? The length of SM fiber is maybe a few kilometer and the length of OM1 fiber is maybe 75 meter (250 ft).

Easy solution is to get a SM to MM SFP-SFP active media converter adapter but would like to avoid that because it power goes out internet dies to important equipment. Could get another UPS there also, but would like to avoid all this extra equipment if possible.

Is there a way to send the SM signal over that short distance of OM1 fiber? Is there specific SFP modules and patch cables that is needed? Dont know how long SM fiber, but its likely only a few km long.

[Assistant]
Pello said:
Is it possible to shoot single mode over a short distance of OM1 62,5/125 multimode fiber? The length of SM fiber is maybe a few kilometer and the length of OM1 fiber is maybe 75 meter (250 ft).

Easy solution is to get a SM to MM SFP-SFP active media converter adapter but would like to avoid that because it power goes out internet dies to important equipment. Could get another UPS there also, but would like to avoid all this extra equipment if possible.

Is there a way to send the SM signal over that short distance of OM1 fiber? Is there specific SFP modules and patch cables that is needed? Dont know how long SM fiber, but its likely only a few km long.
Click to expand...
it would be better if all of it was SM and with the correct cable. The reason OM1 isn't used is because it crates reflection errors in the cable because it was designed for an LED light source instead of a laser light source. OM3 through OM5 cables are cables designed for a laser light source.

Digilog said:
it would be better if all of it was SM and with the correct cable. The reason OM1 isn't used is because it crates reflection errors in the cable because it was designed for an LED light source instead of a laser light source. OM3 through OM5 cables are cables designed for a laser light source.

Just to expand on the good comment above - fiber and adapters work on wavelengths, and both adapters and fibers are optimized there.

Really short runs - e.g. less than 10 meters, might not matter - but it is suboptimal to mix-match things here.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Can torrents choke a switch?

I have two PCs connected to a switch, which is again connected to an Asus RT-AC68U (about to be replaced) in the attic running Merlin. My son was gaming on one pc, when I started downloading a torrent on the other. This resulted in his ping rising from 20 to about 500. This never happens if I download a torrent wirelessly from my laptop. We have a nice 300/300 fiber connection. Could this ping spike be caused by the switch not being able to prioritize his traffic? I have this unmanaged switch: https://www.dlink.com/dk/da/products/dgs-105-5-port-gigabit-ethernet-switch - is it a POS? I always thought that a switch was unnoticeable - it just works, but maybe I'm wrong? Any input appreciated.

[Assistant]
Not the switch but the router QOS not working for wired connections.

Holy smokes - didn't think about that. Will take a look at the settings and report back. Thanks!

May be something you can't fix. Flex QOS or Cake QOS may help. But...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Switch randomly stops connections

Hey all

I have a Tplink Deco BE65 BE9300 mesh system , this connects to a QNAP QSW-2104-2T 2-port 10GbE RJ45 and 4-port 2.5GbE RJ45 Unmanged Switch and this connects
To a TPlink 16port switch TL-SG116.

I’m having issues with the Qnap switch preventing any network throughput, everything connected to it just stops being accessible. If I remove power and reconnect then everything it fine.
It happens at least once a week but I’ve also noticed since I’ve started rebooting automatically the mesh system daily that it’s also occurring daily. Although last nice the Qnap stopped working at 11pm whereas the Deco mesh reboots at 6am.

Any ideas ? Both switches are unmanaged the only indicator on the Qnap is a warning light for loop detecting but haven’t seen that come on at all.

Thanks alot

[Assistant]
draw us a sketch starting with the ISP connection showing what is connected to what ports.
My guess is you have a bad cable or bad port/connection or incompatible 2.5 Gbit switch port with another 2.5Gbit port or a WIFI7 issue in that order. Possible also power adapter issue on one of the devices.
What spec are the lan cables ?

degrub said:
draw us a sketch starting with the ISP connection showing what is connected to what ports.
My guess is you have a bad cable or bad port/connection or incompatible 2.5 Gbit switch port with another 2.5Gbit port or a WIFI7 issue in that order. Possible also power adapter issue on one of the devices.
What spec are the lan cables ?

cables are all fairly new cat5 to cat7 but various specs, maximum 5metres,one is a thin low profile type. I do have a few 15m cables but they go from the main Deco router unit to the mesh units around the house.
I would try disconnecting them one by one but its so random. it may go 4 days without a hitch, and then suddenly nothing.
It does seem to have been worsened by the constant reboot of the Deco mesh units. Before it may occur once a week maximum, but recently its every other day.
thanks

Ive uploaded a quick diagram of how my network looks. thanks


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Which console cable for accessing Cisco switch from a Mac?

I've acquired a Cisco WS-C3560CG-8PC-S that didn't come with a console cable. I've downloaded the hardware installation guide and getting started guide, and have able to reset the switch to factory defaults, and am attempting to run the express setup. I've had limited success with using the web gui available at 10.0.0.1. I've not been able to telnet to the switch, or connect with GNU screen.

My questions:
1. I'm connected to one of the RJ45 ports. Connecting to the console port doesn't get me anywhere. Do I need to use the USB (mini B) console port for configuration instead of RJ45? Do I need both kinds of console connections?
2. I'm using a Mac (with Safari and Firefox), and the product manual says I need to use a PC with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows Server 2003 to complete express set up. Is Windows really a requirement?

I've installed telnet, know how to ssh, and also how to use GNU screen, and if there's a way to interact with the hardware through the terminal I'd prefer that. I'd appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction. My initial goal is to get this set up as a dumb switch.

[Assistant]
OMGponies said:
I've had limited success with using the web gui available at 10.0.0.1.
What is the problem?

If you don't have a Cisco RJ45 to DB9 serial cable, or a PC with a serial port, I suggest you get a USB A (or USB-C depending on what your Mac has) to USB Mini-B cable and see if the connection shows up on your Mac as a serial port.

I googled this question and found out that the "USB" console port has a doubtless-intentionally-nonstandard 5-pin connector, so it's unlikely to work with a normal USB Mini-B cable. I think you will need (a) an RJ45 to DB9 serial cable, and (b) a USB-to-serial adapter. Both are fairly easy to come by and not that expensive. I bought one of these a few years ago and had success driving some serial device or other with a Mac, the one time I used it.

tgl said:
I googled this question and found out that the "USB" console port has a doubtless-intentionally-nonstandard 5-pin connector, so it's unlikely to work with a normal USB Mini-B cable.
The 5-pin connector is the USB standard connector, as used by old digital cameras, PS3 controllers, etc. I've never seen any mention of a 4-pin version other than the warning in those Cisco instructions.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Is now the time to go to 5 Gbps or 10 Gbps home networking?

Has it been for a while ?

If so what do I need ?

Most important question is cat 5e cable fast enough for up to 10 Gbps or only 2 Gbps to 5 Gbps ?

[Assistant]
Before you invest in higher bandwidth LAN ask yourself if you really need it and do you want to spend big bucks? CAT5e properly installed might do 2.5 Gbps. But is it properly installed and tested?

You likely do not utilize a 1 Gbps LAN connection fully. So, save your money...

ng4ever said:
Has it been for a while ?
Depends on what you're willing to pay really, but 10 Gbps is nowhere close to 2.5 Gbps costs and as far as 5 Gbps goes, it will only start taking off this year, courtesy of the cheaper 5 Gbps Ethernet ICs from Realtek.
ng4ever said:
If so what do I need ?
That depends on your needs, but there are next to no 5 Gbps switches. Plenty of 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps options out there.
ng4ever said:
Most important question is cat 5e cable fast enough for up to 10 Gbps or only 2 Gbps to 5 Gbps ?
Cat 5e is good enugh for 2.5 and 5 Gbps, but not 10 Gbps. You need Cat 6 for runs of up to 50 meters, Cat 6A for up to 100 meters.

I've been running 10 Gbps between my PC and NAS for over five years, but finally invested in a five port 10 Gbps switch and will be able to have more 10 Gbps devices once we move into our new place.

Honestly, i wouldn't know why i would need that right now. As long i cannot get 10 Gbps on the WAN side, i don't see the point. My ISPs highest offering is 1000/50 which is more that i need to for my purposes, even if i have Nextcloud running that i use for my business. Even with 3/4 devices streaming at 4K, there is no bottleneck. My router is 10 Gbps ready but none of my other equipment is and i looked at 10 Gbps switches and the price doesn't justify the gain right now.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Home Network Design

This is a diagram of my home network, with one connection missing, I currently have the PC connected to the switch but every once in a while I have Internet connection issues, the home network appears rock solid. Should I have the PC connected to the router instead? My home network includes a Synology NAS so to me it is more straightforward to have the PC connected to the switch and then from the switch to the NAS. Although I do have wifi, this is all wired.

[Assistant]
SandLake said:
Should I have the PC connected to the router instead?

It doesn't matter much. Troubleshoot the connection issue between the switch and the PC.

See if the issue follows the cable you are using to connect the PC to the switch or if the issue is with one port or one half of the ports (sets of 4 or 8 possibly).

It may also follow the port on the PC. Or the driver version loaded. Any updates just before this started occurring ?


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Connection drops after new Netgear Switch: how to debug this?

Hi,

I'm having issues where a wired device keeps cutting out every 5 minutes or so. And only for a like.. 5 seconds. Enough to be annoying, and when I turn on a VPN, it keeps telling my I'm not connected to the internet. (After that I auto reconnects after the couple of seconds have passed). I'll try to give all the necessary details.

So I have a Asus RT-BE86U router connected to a switch. The problems started when I upgraded the switch to a 2.5 Gbit one.

So the old setup was router (with various wifi connected devices or course) to the Netgear gs308 switch. In that switch were my Mac Mini (with a 10 Gbit port), a synology Nas (1 Gbit), a raspberry pi (1 Gbit), an Apple Tv (1 Gbit) and another router (RT-AX86U, 2.5 Gbit) for a Mesh connection with wired backhaul.

To make better use of 10 and 2.5 Gbit ports and to be future proof I upgraded the switch to a MS308. The manual said I could mix and match different ethernet speeds (100, 1Gbit, 2.5 Gbit). But now I have these issues.

Is there anything you can think off that could be causing this? Anything I should look into? Or.. did I just get a bad unit?

Thanks a bunch, hopefully the English is ok!

[Assistant]
Try replacing the ethernet cable with a known good cable. CAT6 should be fine.
You can also try moving your existing cable to another lan port on the switch.

Did you list the old switch model number in place of the new one above ? They are both the same gigabit switch model number.

degrub said:
Try replacing the ethernet cable with a known good cable. CAT6 should be fine.
You can also try moving your existing cable to another lan port on the switch.
Hmm the cable was good with the old switch. But I'll try a different port.

Did you list the old switch model number in place of the new one above ? They are both the same gigabit switch model number.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: PC speeds keeps dropping to 100mbps

Having a issue with my gaming PC
It’s hardwired from a RT-BE88U router 15m cat 7 cable I think ISP is BT 900mbps
Every so often it’s drops to 90mbps and on the Asus web interface it’s shows the yellow warning on the connector
Quick unplug and plug back in PC end gets it back to full speed and it goes back to green

Thinking just replace the cable but anything to check before I do

Thx

[Assistant]
Bad Ethernet port on the router or PC. Bad cable. Try another router port.

Try a known good cable as well.
If it is a long cable, adding a 5 port switch in between may work wonders.

15m is nothing beyond a cheap cat5. If that doesn't sort it there could be an application managing the LAN on the PC (many motherboard manufacturers include a management app with the driver) with some kind of power saving in operation.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: How to keep my security camera traffic off of my house ethernet when NVR is in a different location than cams?

Currently my NVR is across the house from my POE cameras which are attached to a switch. The NVR and switch are connected through my home ethernet. This results in a constant 120+ mbps of traffic going through my ethernet.

I'd really like the switch to connect straight to my NVR so the cam traffic isn't taking up bandwidth on my ethernet. I have a coaxial cable that goes from the switch area to the NVR area. I think I could use this to connect via MoCA. Is that right? If so, then my problem is that I'm not sure how I would connect my NVR to my router so that when I use my phone app, the NVR can send out the substreams for viewing.

Any ideas?

[Assistant]
One way would be to go from the PoE cam switch to another switch. This second switch would connect to the NVR and the router. This way all the cam traffic to the NVR would go switch to switch then NVR. Other LAN Ethernet traffic would not be bothered by the cam traffic and you would still have access to the NVR.
All my PoE cams and NVR are connected to a managed PoE switch. I have one other cam that connects to an 8 port switch that is connected to my router.
You can get a Netgear four port switch on Amazon for $15.00.

bbunge said:
One way would be to go from the PoE cam switch to another switch. This second switch would connect to the NVR and the router. This way all the cam traffic to the NVR would go switch to switch then NVR. Other LAN Ethernet traffic would not be bothered by the cam traffic and you would still have access to the NVR.
All my PoE cams and NVR are connected to a managed PoE switch. I have one other cam that connects to an 8 port switch that is connected to my router.
You can get a Netgear four port switch on Amazon for $15.00.
Click to expand...

Unmanaged switches (for PoE cams and the NVR) would achieve this? That would be great because when I upgrade to faster internet service, I didn't want the cam traffic slowing things down.

Unlikely to even notice 100-200 Mbit/s continuous traffic on a 1Gbit/s network based in the router switch. Maybe as a gamer you would see some latency build at the router. The switch moves packets for LAN to LAN at wire speed. Only if the traffic is going out/in to the WAN port does the traffic start to hurt.
Yes, the idea of keeping this traffic isolated on independent switches is better than using the switch in the router, particularly if you have APs running into the router switch. Otherwise, the router CPU should not be involved in LAN to LAN traffic and routing not affected.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Trying to combine two switches is driving me insane...loopback?

Basically one of my two network switches crapped out and I bought a new one, but am now having numerous issues (loop backs?) trying to connect the two where the main one works, but the second router only allows one port to work at any time. So looking for what is the best way to connect these.

Hardware is as follows:

Xfinity xb6 in bridge mode (Rogers ISP into this)

Asus RT-AX86U

YuanLey unmanaged 28 Port Gigabit PoE with 2 uplink ports

BV-Tech unmanaged Switch with 2 uplink ports

The XB6 is connected via Eth 1 port into the Asus internet connection (WAN?) blue port.

From the Asus, I have port 1 (called a Gaming port) going into the uplink port of the YuanLey. Most functions on the YuanLey work fine, but it clearly doesn't like having all 8 of my POE security cameras plugged into it + 2 POE Access Points. The cameras worked at first, but keep conking out. So I wanted to use my BV-Tech POE port and dedicate it to my 8 security cameras.

But can't seem to get the BV-Tech switch to work without creating what I assume is a loop back per another discussion.

Pretty sure I've tried everything at this point:

- Connecting the Uplink Port on the BV-Tech directly to Port 2 on the Asus

- Connecting Port 2 of the Asus to a random port on the BV-Tech

- Connecting from the uplink port of the YuanLey switch to the uplink port of the BV-Tech switch

- Connecting from a random port on the YuanLey switch to the uplink port on the BV-Tech

None seem to work right. The only other thing I can think of is, do I need a cross-over cable instead of a regular LAN cable, and if so, which ports/devices should I be connecting?

At a loss here.

[Assistant]
pbc said:
Most functions on the YuanLey work fine, but it clearly doesn't like having all 8 of my POE security cameras plugged into it + 2 POE Access Points. The cameras worked at first, but keep conking out. So I wanted to use my BV-Tech POE port and dedicate it to my 8 security cameras.

But can't seem to get the BV-Tech switch to work without creating what I assume is a loop back per another discussion.
Click to expand...

Just to put another spin on this: did you check that the total draw of your cameras and APs doesn't exceed the switch's power budget? I'd think that a 28-port PoE switch could power ten devices, but who knows with no-name gear. You didn't describe the BV-Tech switch's problems in any detail, but maybe it's maxed out its power budget too. You could try splitting the devices across both switches, perhaps.

pbc said:
None seem to work right. The only other thing I can think of is, do I need a cross-over cable instead of a regular LAN cable, and if so, which ports/devices should I be connecting?

Crossover cables have not been a thing since "Fast Ethernet" days. All devices supporting 1Gbps or better Ethernet standards are required to auto-negotiate the cable usage, so as long as your cable connects all 8 pins it's fine.

EDIT: hmm, wait a minute. Now that I read the specs on that BV-Tech unit, its regular (non-uplink) ports are only Fast Ethernet (10/100Mbps). That means you very well could need a crossover cable to connect to one of those ports, depending on what is at the other end. That doesn't explain your problems with the YuanLey, but I'm still suspicious about the power budget on that one.

Strangely. I built a quick crossover cable and connected it from an unused port on the YuanLey switch to the uplink on the BV switch and everything worked for a while including the cameras which I connected to the BV switch.

But of course now the cameras stopped working. Maybe you’re right about power draw, but I’m pretty sure I had them all plugged into my BV switch before the other switch crapped out and they worked fine.

Weirdly, I ask can no longer connect to my Sonos system. Says it is not on the network. Even though I literally see the Sonos device connected to an IP address.

God I hate networking/switch/router issues.

I hear ya

The power budget theory doesn't seem too hard to test. Start with just one camera connected. If it seems stable after awhile, add another. Repeat till problems occur.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: BGW320-500 + SL-SWTGW215AS + RT-AX86U + ORBI(RBR50)

Hi everyone. I hope someone can help with this issue. AT&T technical support seems stumped.

I currently have the following network hook-up:

On the Cable Modem:
Fiber -> BGW320-500 (5G ethernet) -> SL-SWTG215AS (port 6, 10G max)

On the Switch:
Port 1: 1 of 2 link aggregation (5G max) [trunk 1]
Port 2: 2 of 2 link aggregation (5G max) [trunk 1]
Port 3: Orbi to extend wifi (1G)
Port 4: Office Computer (1G)
Port 5: RT-AX86U 2.5G LAN port
Port 6: BGW320-500 using 10GBase-T SFP to Ethernet plug (SL-10GE-T)

On the RT-AX86U:
LAN 4: Port 1 switch (1 of 2. trunk1)
WAN: Port 2 switch (2 of 2, trunk 1)
2.5G: Port 5 switch

On the Orbi:
Internet: Port 3 switch
Lan1: NAS1 (synology port 1)
Lan2: NAS2 (synology port 2)

The switch is set up with two VLANs (untagged, unnamed):
VLAN 1: Port 6, trunk 1
VLAN 2: Port 3-6

BGW320 Set to IP PASSTHROUGH, all wifi turned off
DHCP done in RT-AX86U using Merlin firmware , all wifi turned off
ORBI (RBR50) in AP mode connected through the switch supplies wifi to the network with the aid of a satellite ORBI companion (RBS50).

All cables to/from the switch are 3ft cat6 cables. Cable from the NAS to ORBI are a little longer (6ft)
All firmware is current.

A few obvious observations and why the network is the way it is (mostly from evolving over a few years):
1) The ORBI is a little old. It can't possible supply 5G wifi speeds. The best it can do is 500ish...maybe 600 in ideal conditions.
ANS: Yes, I understand. I am in the process of updating to faster speeds, working on this "next".

2) The RT-AX86U can already provide WiFi 6...forget the ORBI.
ANS: I agree, except that the range won't work for my entire house. I have to use mesh or some sort of extender product. I originally used the RT-AC86U for its on-board VPN and routing capabilities only and used the Orbi's for wifi. I just recently upgraded to the AX86U. Maybe I can get rid of the ORBIs but I did not want to take on that work just yet.

The RT-AX86U currently reports 43 clients connected to my network.

Sorry about the long setup to my questions.

Here is my question:

I am having an annoying connection problem in which the BGW320 disconnects from the WAN (flashing red, then back to solid white). Sometimes for just seconds at a time. Sometimes for minutes or hours at a time. Most of the time when I have the issue there is no outage in my area. Sometimes it seems like the modem's errant behavior is foreshadowing an AT&T network outage. Most of the times when it happens it just seems like the modem is misbehaving. It doesn't happen all the time continuously; sometimes everything is working great for a few days or weeks and then the modem gets on the fritz again.

The AT&T tech support is not sure what to make of this modem behavior. They can see on their side that I am having the disconnect issues and they can see that fiber line is working "perfectly". It seems like there is something faulty at the modem, except they have replaced the modem twice already.

Is it possible that the switch could "overwhelm" the BGW320? How do I know if this is the case? It's surprising that something connected to the ethernet ports of the BGW320, even a faulty device, could make the entire modem go down for seconds, minutes, or hours at a time. If the switch is overwhelming the modem, is there something I can do to?

Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks,
Jose

[Assistant]
1) Does the fiber terminate in an ONT wall mounted or directly into the BGW320-500 ?
A lot of issues with loss of WAN can be fixed by directly terminating the fiber into the BGW in my experience.

2) Does the WAN loss occur if you configure the BGW as router ( no pass thru) with wireless off and all your gear disconnected ?
What happens to WAN loss after you connect your router and LAN to the BGW ?
BTW, double NAT is really not an issue unless you are running a server for external (WAN) access.

This sounds like a ATT field issue with their fiber delivery to your service location. i would bet on the termination in your BGW or the field fiber cable tap. Bad cable or termination somewhere. Field tech should be able to sort it if he can see the WAN disconnect. ATT tries to do everything remotely, but you may need to have a tech visit.

I don't see why all this complication is needed. Also had to google what SODOLA switch is.

ISP Gateway suspected issues - test with the Gateway only. What's behind it - irrelevant and AT&T technical support won't care.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Buying a 10GB Pcie Ethernet Card

I wanted to get the ASUS 1XG-C100C because I'm trying to stick to Asus much as possible my decision anyway why should I care about Marvell firmware tell me the pros about this

Or if the ASUS 1XG-C100C truly sucks as someone mentioned here on another post should I just get this
tp-link tx401 chipset: aqc107

[Assistant]
The TX401 is a solid card. Currently using one on an Asus Z790 board.

fryedchikin said:
The TX401 is a solid card. Currently using one on an Asus Z790 board.
Someone said Asus one sucks because it doesn't support something called Marvell firmware why should I care about that???

freddyjuarez said:
I wanted to get the ASUS 1XG-C100C because I'm trying to stick to Asus much as possible my decision anyway why should I care about Marvell firmware tell me the pros about this

Or if the ASUS 1XG-C100C truly sucks as someone mentioned here on another post should I just get this
tp-link tx401 chipset: aqc107
Click to expand...
Honestly, if it is within your budget, buy an Intel, X550 or X710. No worries, no trouble and just works with basically everything else. Plug it in and never look back. Don't stick with brands, look at chipset.

I have 2 X550-T2 in my network and they work with even with the most picky OS'es such as FreeBSD. You can find them on ebay for about 100 USD.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: 1 Gbps, 2,5Gbps and 10Gbps long distance on OM1 62.5/125µm multimode fiber. Experience?

After some research I found that the normal length limitations of OM1 optic fiber have been extended quite a bit. The OM1 62.5/125 multimode limitations have been extended from 275 meter up to 2km on 1Gbps and from 33m up to 300 meters on 10Gbps. Or more...?

Do people here have experience with adapters that extends the length almost 10 times from original specifications? What is the longest 1Gbps and 10Gbps over OM1 fiber people got? Have anyone been able to get 2km for 1Gbps and 300m for 10Gbps stable? What equipment was used?

Interesting 10Gbps length test on OM2
640 meter - 10G XFP LR with 1310nm
1740 meters - 10G XFP ER at 1550nm
How to achieve a robust 10g Ethernet link, using old multimode fiber OM2 / OM1
For a few weeks running now, we have been covering the subject of multimode optic installations, something which used to be standard practice in very many 20-year old buildings. In those days, they were mainly of the OM1 (62,5/125) and OM2 (50/125) type, which were widely used at the time, for...
www.flexoptix.net

Below is a list of parts I found.

1 Gbps SFP modules
Here are some modules I found. Most are not specific. Only one I found says support 2km on OM1. All of them is 1310 nm.

OM1 - 2km
Transition Networks TN-SFP-ESX6 Gigabit Extended MM SFP 1000Base-SX 1300nm Mmlc 2km 62.5micron (TN-SFP-ESX6)
Gigabit Extended MM SFP 1000Base-SX 1300nm Mmlc 2km 62.5micron
The TN-SFP-XXX Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers are designed for bi-directional serial optical data communications. The device is designed for use in Switches and routers compatible with Small Form Factor Pluggable Multi-Sourcing Agreement (MSA).Temperature: -10C to 85C, Min TX Power
www.hardwarejet.com

Only mentions MMF multimode
SFP 1000BASE-SX+ 1310nm LC MMF DDM 2km (Model: LO-SF-1G-SX31)
SFP 1000BASE-SX+ 1310nm LC MMF DDM 2km
SFP SX+ multimode optical module, 1Gb speed, LC duplex connector, 2 km range
fibermarkt.com

Only mentions OM2 50/125µm multi-mode
Generic Compatible 1000BASE-LXL SFP Multimode 1310nm 2km Transceiver (OSP1250-312xCR)
Generic Compatible 1000BASE-LXL SFP Multimode 1310nm 2km Transceiver
1G Multi-mode 1310nm 2km SFP SX Optical Transceiver from Manufacturer at Affordable Factory Price,5-Year Warranty & Money-back Guarantee.
www.optcore.net

62,5µm MMF/OM1 1km - 50/125µm/OM2 2km 50/125µm
D-Link SFP-SX-MM-2K comp. 1G Multimode 1310nm 2km SFP (F24-DL-SFP-SX-MM-2K)
SFP Multi-Mode 1310nm 1 Gbit/s
SFP modules for data transmission on multimode fibre with 1310nm with up to 1G
shop.fiber24.net

50/125μm or 62.5/125μm Multi-mode - "Max 2km"
SFP: 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet Multi-mode Fiber Extended Temperature (SFP-M-2KM-G-W)
SFP: 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet Multi-mode Fiber Extended Temperature SFP-M-2KM-G-W
Multi-mode 2KM 1000BASE-LX Gigabit Ethernet Fiber SFP
www.pepperl-fuchs.com

1km on OM1, 2km on OM2
HP SFP-SX-MM-2K comp. 1G Multimode 1310nm 2km SFP (F24-HP-SFP-SX-MM-2K)
HP SFP-SX-MM-2K comp. 1G Multimode 1310nm 2km SFP
HP SFP-SX-MM-2K Compatible Multi-mode 2km 1310nm SFP Transceiver
shop.fiber24.net

Only melons SMF/MMF but not what multimode version.
Generic Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 1310nm 2km DOM Duplex LC/UPC SMF/MMF Optical Transceiver Module Hot (SFP1G-SX-31)
https://www.fs.com/products/75793.html?now_cid=81

2.5 Gbps SFP modules
There is also few 2.5Gbps SFP modules. I thought they would support longer distance than 10GBase-LRM modules but specifications says no. All is 850nm.

Only mentions MMF ... Up to 300 meter.
Generic Compatible 2.5GBASE-SX SFP 850nm 300m DOM Duplex LC/UPC MMF Optical Transceiver Module (SFP2.5G-SX-85)
https://www.fs.com/products/190345.html?now_cid=4080

Up to 300m on 50/125µm MMF
Optcore 2.5G Multi-mode 850nm 300m SR SFP Transceiver (OSP2488-8503DCR)
Optcore 2.5G Multi-mode 850nm 300m SR SFP Transceiver
2.5G STM-16/OC-48 multi-mode 300m SR SFP Transceiver from Manufacturer at Affordable Factory Price,5-Year Warranty & Money-back Guarantee.
www.optcore.net

300m transmission with 50/125μm MMF
Multi-rate 2.67G multi-mode SFP 850nm, 300m, 155M to 2.67G
Multi-rate 2.67G multi-mode SFP 850nm, 300m, 155M to 2.67G
The SFP-9000-85 is a multi-rate multi-mode SFP 850nm, 300m, 155M to 2.67G transceiver using 850nm wavelength and reaching up to 300m distance on 50/125um fiber.
www.robofiber.com

Over OM1 170 meter, OM2 200m, OM3 550m, OM4 500m, OM5 ?
SFP-2.5G Series - 1-port 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet SFP modules
https://www.moxa.com/en/products/accessories/sfp-modules/2-5-gigabit-ethernet-sfp-modules/sfp-2-5g-series#specifications

10 Gbps SFP modules
For 10Gbps the 10GBase-LRM (Long Range Mode) standard at 1310nm officially extends to 220 meter or 720 ft. 10GBase-LRM over OM1 and OM2 multimode apparently needs a "mode conditioning patch cord" to work. All is 1310nm except Ubiquiti that is 850nm..

OM1, 220 meter
LRM 220m over OM1 multi-mode 10G rate SFP+ 1310nm (SFP-1000-LRM)
LRM 220m over OM1 multi-mode 10G rate SFP+ 1310nm
The SFP-1000-LRM is a 10G Base-LRM multi-mode 10G Ethernet rate SFP transceiver using 1310nm wavelength and reaching up to 220m distance over old type OM1 multi-mode fiber. Module is speciallt designed to be used on older 62.5/125um fiber plant.
www.robofiber.com

300meter / 984.3' (850nm) but dont say what MMF
Ubiquiti Unifi 10G Multi-Mode Optical Module (UACC-OM-MM-10G-D)
10G Multi-Mode Optical Module - Ubiquiti Store
SFP+ transceiver that supports 10G connections up to 300 m using multi-mode fiber with a duplex LC UPC connector.
store.ui.com

220m @ OM3 MMF, 300m over SMF
On Reddit someone said they run over 200 meter on FDDI fiber (Older then OM1) with this SFP module
https://www.fs.com/products/11590.html

All 10Gbps FS modules
220 meter (850nm) and 300 meter (1310nm). But mentions OM3 and&or OM4
10/25/40G LWL-Module | SFP QSFP-Module - FS.com Deutschland
Die 10/25/40G-Lösungen von FS bieten Hochgeschwindigkeits-Konnektivität bei geringem Stromverbrauch und hoher Packungsdichte. Sie sind ideal für eine Vielzahl von Anwendungen wie Rechenzentren, Unternehmen und Hochleistungs-Computernetzwerke. Klicken Sie hier, um Ihre 10/25/40G-Transceiver...
www.fs.com

220 meter max over OM2
Multi-Vendor MSA Compatible 10G-SFP-220 SFP+ Module (10G-SFP-220)
Double Fiber 220 m SFP+ Optical Transceiver: 10G-SFP-220
10G-SFP-220 is Multi-Vendor MSA Compatible SFP+ Double Fiber Transceiver supporting 1.25-10.31 Gbps data rate in 220 m distance over Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF).
edgeoptic.com

ipolex - 10GB LRM - OM1, OM2, OM3 - 1310nm up to 220m
Amazon.com

iploex - 10Gbe SR - OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 - 850nm 300m
Amazon.com

Mode conditioning patch cord
Information about these cables
220 meters over OM2 multimode fibre at 10Gbps - EDGE Optical Solutions
There are new and there are old fibre optic cable infrastructures. Some network operators have old type OM1/OM2 cables installed between sites.
edgeoptic.com
The cables
https://www.fs.com/products/11911.html
SM SC to MM ST 62.5/125μm Mode Conditioning Fiber Optic Patch Cable (PVC)
SM SC to MM ST 62.5/125μm Mode Conditioning Fiber Optic Patch Cable (PVC) Manufacturer, Affordable Factory Price & 5-Year Warranty.
www.optcore.net
62.5/125 OM1 Mode Conditioning Fiber Optic Patch Cable

[Assistant]
62.5nm is a very old standard multi-mode fiber standard. They were switching to 50nm 35 years ago. I worked with a lot of fiber back then. They had long range and short range back then.

coxhaus said:
62.5nm is a very old standard multi-mode fiber standard. They were switching to 50nm 35 years ago. I worked with a lot of fiber back then. They had long range and short range back then.
As I have been reading most comments when people asked about OM1 the answer has been to replace it. But there are OM1 installations that would cost alot to replace, but instead of that they maybe can be upgraded from 100Mbps to 1 or even 10Gbps with new SFP modules, special patch cables, very clean fiber connections and some luck.

This is a comment at Reddit where a person was able to get 1Gbit over almost 2.5km (8200 feet) over 62.5/125. Upgraded it from 100FX to 1000-LX (SM) single mode optics on both ends and using normal 3ft orange LC to ST patches instead of mode conditioning patch cord. Running for 2 years. That must have been a perfect installation to be able to achieve that.

Found good chart at Wikipedia about 1Gbps.
Gigabit Ethernet - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

1000BASE‑SX - S = short wave length (860nm) - OM1 275m - OM2 550m - OM3 1km
1000BASE‑LX & 1000BASE‑LX10 - L = long wavelength (1310nm) - OM1, OM2, OM3 550m
1000BASE‑LSX (1310nm) - OM1 1km - OM2 2km (Typo on Wikipedia page where it is reversed.) - OM4 2km

So all these long distance (1km+) SFP modules for OM1 and OM2 I listed is 1000BASE‑LSX. Some of them is named 1000BASE-SX and 1310nm and that according to Wikipedia page is wrong. 1000Base-SX is 860nm. This explains why all of this is so confusing.

When coming to 10Gbps the same confusing names are also there if Wikipedia article is correct.
10 Gigabit Ethernet - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
10GBASE-SR & 10GBASE-SW (850nm) - OM1 33m - OM2 83 meter - OM3 300m - OM4, 400m
10GBASE-LRM (1300nm) - OM2, OM3 220m

So with all the different names and specifications for the SFP modules, is the manufacturers a bit lazy then writing the product specifications?

Other comment about FDDI, OM1 and OM2 about 10Gbps and switches found on Wikipedia
Multi-mode optical fiber - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Older FDDI grade, OM1, and OM2 fiber can be used for 10 Gigabit Ethernet through 10GBASE-LRM. This requires the SFP+ interface to support electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) however, so not all switches, routers and other equipment can use these SFP+ modules.

Would still be nice with more stories of how long distance people have been able to get 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps and 10Gbit over old 62.5/125 OM1 fiber, and even older FDDI.

(As I have been trying to understand all this Im writing these posts with extra information so this thread will be picked up by search engines when others searching for anwsers)

Can't help you on the labeling and spec. part, but we were the alpha and beta tester for 62.5/125 fiber modems for an IBM token ring system that ran over 2 km in a chemical plant in the late 1980s ;-). 100Mbit was just fine for that system.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Potential Intel I225-V/I225-LM fix

Someone over at the MSI forums have found a ne firmware for those willing to test it, that the poster claims fixes the drop-out issues that almost everyone has experienced with the Intel I225-V/I225-LM network chips.

See: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?...rev-1-x-lan-controllers-firmware-1-94.400892/

[Assistant]
TheLostSwede said:
Someone over at the MSI forums have found a ne firmware for those willing to test it, that the poster claims fixes the drop-out issues that almost everyone has experienced with the Intel I225-V/I225-LM network chips.
This thread is a little old, but the issue can be addressed by the OS. But drivers should be patched by now. Their power saving profile was not correct in the driver source code everyone compiled drivers with. So for the Linux users, their fix for this earlier this year is changing kernel parameters so that the PCIe bus is always on and at full speed.
Code:
pcie_port_pm=off
pcie_aspm.policy=performance


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: New house Inc small office switch

I am in the middle of a big house renovation which includes a full rewire and addition of a wired network.

I am looking at putting in a 48 port switch as current prediction is I need arrange 22 ports.

All ports are mainly going to used for PCs(in the house office and bedrooms) but some will need to be POE to power IP CCTV cameras typically hikvisions. Don't need a thing fancy, I see this sat in a small wall rack with an associated patch panel.

I was looking at a used Dell PowerConnect 7048P as its fully POE but as its older was wondering if its POE capability was up to the task?

Other option is to just have POE in tbe loft where the cameras will be fed from a dedicated switch. Not sure what the best set up here would be?

[Assistant]
if the switch is in an area that does not tolerate fan noise, i would split the function keeping the large switch fanless and move the POE application to the loft switch or possibly multiple switches or individual power injectors for the cameras so that the whole operation is fanless and quiet. Shorter distance for POE is always preferred but maybe not required as it depends on the distance, cable losses, and device requirement.

Not sure why you are going to use a 48 port? Are you planning to run a lot of servers and things or just a basic setup? Are you planning on a wiring closet with cooling? The 48 port switches generate more heat. I doubt you can find one without fans. How many watts of POE power and what level of POE power do you need?

I would make sure you use good CAT cable since it is going in the walls and it will be hard to replace. And that means pure copper the right diameter. AT&T will have good cable. I have used a lot of it in the past.

Thanks guys, I can see maybe 6 CCTV cameras being powered from the POE. I have an 8 port POE switch currently in my present house. So I think the idea of putting that in the loft probably works best.
The main switch is just a hub where the rest of the network cables come back to in the home office. This is the ground floor, upstairs is a mirror of rooms, with a network port in each. The green triangles are proposed netowrk ports with the number next to it. Rack I think lower left in the pink circle on the wall inside the home office.
thi


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Prosumer NIC's with MACSec, VLAN tag, and other support?

What are some good PCIe NIC's that support MACSec, VLAN tagging, have secure hardware isolation, and good driver support?

[Assistant]
I want the network info structure to support all VLANs using switches. I want clients to just flow across my info structure without knowing or caring about network info structure. So, NICs don't matter to me.

I can see using a NIC with tagging if you build a basic software router but I use a layer 3 switch so even my pfsense router does not need VLAN tagging. Networking to me is separate from clients and servers.

SDF07S said:
What are some good PCIe NIC's that support MACSec, VLAN tagging, have secure hardware isolation, and good driver support?
MACsec and VLAN tagging, and isolation is software based systems that can run on any network interface.
Driver support? Sounds like you are into building a server gateway system than just buying someone's router. Which is fine because I'm doing the same thing. But I am doing it to thoroughly reaserch them so I can compile an unbiased summary of the good bad and ugly in each one. Since I still have my 486 computer with IPCOP, plus an old xenon server running a modified version of linux that ran a web data center network, I can compare and contrast all of them. But I will tell you this right now, all of the current systems are going through growing pains of development since their operating systems are working the bugs out of them.

As for my home network I am using IPFire which is a fork of IPCOP. Which I used before. However, I have it set up a certain way because the way the developers advance the project and their method of utilizing the blue network is incorrect to the original design of IPCOP. A member of this forum pointed out to me something I forgot to look at in addition to these PC router operating systems. Which is the PCIe slot WIFI cards that the person classified them as client cards. Which is, they build them with a single lane which will limit this throughput to 1Gb. So the wireless options with PCIe are limited. Not very much performance difference between them and the two lane M.2 wifi. I find this area networking better utilized with embedded systems (hardware routers) than a single board computer.

I tried IPcop back 25 years ago when I was running my email server. I had trouble with blocking for my email server so I dumped it pretty quickly without exploring it much.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Ienron switches any good for managed switch?

So I saw this in a thread at another site that lead me to the Amazon page for it. I have an Ienron 4 port 2.5G + 10G SFP+ 2 Port Switch with a VLAN on/off toggle. It seems to work well and I have 1 10G port on my Intel X540-T2 card going to the switches 1 10G SFP+ port with the other 10G SFP+ port going to my gaming and NAS media Unraid server, while my main PC is connected to one of the 2.5G ports. I happen to see that they now have some managed switches and have seen reviews including from Lawrence Networks talking about these and similar devices with little to no cons. The switch below has a lot of features with a nice price to boot. Wanted to get thoughts possibly on anyone that owns some of the higher end stuff from this OEM.

Ienron
30 Port 2.5G Managed Layer 3 PoE Switch, 24 x 2.5 Gigabit Base-T Ports, 6 x 10 Gigabit SFP Switch, Ethernet Switch, Smart Switch, Flexible DHCP/VLAN/MAC/ACL/QoS/SNMP V1/V2/V3/IGMP
Amazon.com

[Assistant]
Is it easy to find the support site for the OEM? If not then it's probably just a different name on a box that's available from multiple vendors. If you think you are ever likely to need support (or even a decent manual that you can read) then you'd probably be better off going with a device from a company that can offer that support - and there is often little price difference.

Crimliar said:
Is it easy to find the support site for the OEM? If not then it's probably just a different name on a box that's available from multiple vendors. If you think you are ever likely to need support (or even a decent manual that you can read) then you'd probably be better off going with a device from a company that can offer that support - and there is often little price difference.
Not really looking for manual type support. More of quality or problems.

The problem is that if the brand is an unknown quantity, you don't know what you are buying. Agreed a "basic" network switch is something you should plug in and forget, but when you move to "smart switches", it's going to have some software component and you need to know the SFP+ ports are properly compatible.
If the difference is only a couple of dollars, I'd go with a name I know and can get support for. *I'm not being a snob, it's just personal experience with unknown brands!


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Ethernet coupler broke my VPN

tl;dr When I connected 2 Ethernet cables that run between my 5g home internet receiver and a PoE injector (which then connects to my router), my router-based OVPN client broke. Huge drop in download speeds, near total standstill in upload speeds (0.xx mbps) …. And huge packet loss (15%, 26%, 44%) ….. the traffic over the WAN interface appeared to be unaffected. MTU was previously optimized and all’s well. Latency also shot way up over the VPN run when the coupler was in place. Also, at times, the vpn connection appeared to be unstable with the coupler in place. Thoughts?

Note: I do have higher than previously experienced latency at this new address, even without use of the coupler. But with the coupler, it shoots way way higher.

This is the coupler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKNWJSRK?tag=snbforums-20

——————
OKAY. So, Even though I only moved 5 blocks away, Verizon 5g home internet made me get a new receiver from them for the new service address. I wanted to run Ethernet cable from this new receiver (window mounted on one side of a room, to my router, sitting on an adjacent wall. The cable only reached if I left it dangling from wall to wall, and I wanted to tuck the cable away using cable clips around the perimeter. And no, there’s no way to just use one long cable, as the end of the cable that attaches to the receiver is screwed in place.

[Assistant]
What is the PoE injector used for on this connection, to power the 5g receiver? What is the router you're connecting to??

It seems unlikely that what is basically just a cable would only effect the VPN and nothing else. TCP automatically compensates for bad connections whereas UDP (typically used for VPN) doesn't. So that might be the difference and you're just not noticing the problem with "normal" internet traffic.

As a test I would setup a continuous ping from one of your PCs (not through the VPN) to somewhere like 8.8.8.8 and monitor it over time.

JTnola said:
The cable only reached if I left it dangling from wall to wall, and I wanted to tuck the cable away using cable clips around the perimeter. And no, there’s no way to just use one long cable, as the end of the cable that attaches to the receiver is screwed in place.
The water proof connector is just a jacket and the cable is plugged into it internally. There are a few types, but all of them just slip on the end of a standard cable with crimped plug ends. But there are some that are pre-made cables and if you have one of those, you buy the connector that you add the Ethernet wire to.

As far as VPN just being effected, that might be caused by CCA Ethernet wire or kink in the cables that in both cases cause signal distortion in the wire.
There is about a half of dozen things that can cause it and any changes in wire can be the cause of it.

Try a 5 port unmanaged switch instead of a coupler.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Any recommendations on Flat network cable

Fiber modem can't be moved, looking to place ax86u pro in the middle of my house would need 10meter

Many thanks for any help

[Assistant]
Look at something similar PanDuit surface mount conduit to hide a round cable.
example -
FS1X1WH6NM - Panduit
Learn about Panduit P200930 Wiring Duct & Duct Covers and other Wiring Duct & Accessories. Contact Panduit today.
www.panduit.com
Has a clip on flat cap to hide the cable.

Or you can get 50 ft , preterminated, white CAT6 flat cable. Can be more susceptible to electrical noise than round cable, so keep it away from fluorescent lights, appliances, TVs, etc. Should be individual twisted pairs with overall shield if you can find it.

Alarm / camera installers are pretty good at fishing cables through difficult places and usually pretty reasonable cost.

If you also have unused coax (RG6) you could use a pair of MOCA 2.5 modems between the two points. Full bandwidth Gbit/s both ways. That's how i implemented my ATT Gbit fiber connection to my wiring closet. Works a treat.

dokey1907 said:
Fiber modem can't be moved, looking to place ax86u pro in the middle of my house would need 10meter

Many thanks for any help
best flat cable is going to be cat 8. I run cat 8 instead of cat 6 in welding shops so if you are looking for a cable type that will shield it from noise, that is going to be the best.

i bet you do Surprised it is not in metal conduit too !
With either choice make sure you don't fold or crimp the cable. Cat8 will be more difficult to do that, but i don't know offhand what the minimum bend radius is.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: POE vs plug power adpaters

I have a domeescit network with some switches, AP.s etc. I have some POE switches with some empty ports.

For example, I have a NVR with 100 BaseT ethernet and 12V 1 A requeriments. I can use supplied power adapter or I can use POE splitter. ¿what is best?

Idea is using avaible POE ports for providing energy to devices instead of using power adapters. Avoiding power adapters simplify installation

Is a good idea?

[Assistant]
Are you sure this NVR can be PoE powered?

Some NVRs have PoE-out for powering attached to them PoE IP cameras, but I've never seen PoE-in on an NVR.

An NVR with 12V 1A power requirements (most likely external power adapter, 12W) doesn't have any PoE guaranteed. Small NVRs for 8x PoE cameras have at least 60W power supply and most often internal. Common 802.3af PoE is 48V up to 15.4W per port. PoE cameras are in about 4-12W each range.

Tech9 said:
Are you sure this NVR can be PoE powered?

Some NVRs have PoE-out for powering attached to them PoE IP cameras, but I've never seen PoE-in on an NVR.
I can power it with a POE splitter


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Isolating IP cams and NVR from the rest of the network with VLAN

I am a total VLAN noob trying to work my way through this. I'm trying to isolate my IP cams from my home network due to security risks I've heard regarding IP cams. My Asus RT-AX88U Pro router is located centrally on the second floor of my house in sort of a hallway loft that is open to the downstairs (there is only a handrail separating them). So it's sort of an ideal place for the wifi from my Asus router. My network box is in the garage which isn't real convenient for me to put my Asus router there as it's on one end of the house and there is a lot of HVAC ducting blocking wifi signal.

That said, I believe my Asus router supports VLANs but given that the NVR is attached to the router in my loft, and the IP cams are all attached to a POE switch in my garage, can I make it so that just the IP cams and NVR are isolated on their own network? I tried sketching an example below:

I haven't bought a managed switch yet since I'm not sure if this will work.

[Assistant]
Seems to me it would be a lot simpler and cost effective to place the NVR in the garage along w/ the IP cameras. Then you could grab an old router and place it between the private and IP Camera+NVR networks. After all, by definition, a router creates a new VLAN/LAN behind its WAN.

The only issue at that point is whether the IP Camera+NVR network should be facing the LAN or WAN of that router.

If it's WAN facing, then the IP camera/NVR network has NO access to the private network or the internet. It lives in total isolation, where only the private network can visit. But there's no DHCP server on the WAN side, so you'd have to statically configure those devices for IP. And I don't know if your IP Camera+NVR network is internet-dependent.

OTOH, if it's LAN facing, the IP camera+NVR network would have access to the internet, but you'd need to configure the firewall to prevent upstream access to the private network. And you could enable remote access over its WAN for administrative purposes from the private network.

IOW, if you have a suitable additional router available, support for at least one additional VLAN (perhaps more) is already available. It's just being aware of it and how to orient the hardware and configure the firmware appropriately for the given situation.

All that said, the devil is always in the details, and you might very well require something more akin to a managed switch, VLANs on the ASUS, etc. But I just think too many ppl don't consider what's probably already available, esp. if it's simpler and more cost effective.

I could put the NVR in the garage but it's hooked up to a monitor and mouse on a desk in the loft for real time monitoring and for reviewing video. I don't think I could have the same setup in the loft otherwise. I don't really like the IP cam traffic going through my home ethernet as it takes bandwidth and it would be better plugged directly into the NVR, but I think I would lose the real time monitoring and reviewing video in the house. Dialing into the NVR's IP address gives a very limited UI.

This NVR perhaps already has separated cameras and control network. You don’t need to route cameras traffic through your LAN. Cameras connected to the NVR and remote monitoring on LAN is the most common setup. Doable even with cheaper NVR models.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Looking for info on Coaxial cabling.

Hey all,
As you know, over the past few months i've had random signal issues and dropouts with my Cox connection anything from unreasonably slow speeds to random dropout of the connection to the internet directly. I've had quite a few techs out who have checked the tap outside, and have run tests from the outlet that's active in the apartment and things would be fixed and break again within a couple weeks. Recently They had scheduled an appointment with Cox construction, to run a new line from the tap to my apartment. When the guy came out he was very helpful, and my neighbor upstairs said he had been having a similar issue. In the neighbor's case, his closet was wired wrong (wiring closet) and that fixed it for him.

So (Jim from Cox) and I checked my wiring closet and all seemed ok, and that was Thursday even. Fast forward Friday until this morning, The issues of extremely slow upload speeds and the connection dying on upload started again.

So, I took the panel off the wiring closet and look at how it was set up. Here is what I found:

There are about 4 cables in it. One was connected straight to another cable by a coupler. One was connected to an inactive splitter. One was not connected at all. I unscrewed the cable that was on the coupler, and put the one not connected in it's place, and my speeds came back strong, and have been holding since, and that's been a couple hours ago where when I was having the issues, the connection would go screwy again with in 5 to 20 minutes of modem power cycle.

My question would be, why would there be multiple connections coming into an apartment with signal, but one would have unreliable signal. I didn't check the cable connected to the splitter to see if it has signal. I do know the two jacks in the bedroom aren't connected, as I tried the modem on each, and it never got a connection. So there is only one active coaxial jack in here.

How are apartments typically wired, when it's a building? and is there something I can get to look at what's coming in from the other lines?

As it stands now, it looks like my apartment may have been wired wrong at some point and no one ever fixed it, but only time will tell. Jim did say he would reschedule the new cable run. He left it up to me. However, so far this seems to have fixed it, since things were consistently bad, and simply changing the cable connected to the outlet improved things instantly. I was starting to think I got a bad modem, since everything else but a new line had been done until this point. So it was between the Line and modem as to where the problem was.

[Assistant]
Terminate any open ports on the splitter, if it is used, with 75 ohm termination caps.

degrub said:
Terminate any open ports on the splitter, if it is used, with 75 ohm termination caps.
I was actually wondering about that. It seems like everything left unused was left open. It was behind a wall plate, but I was thinking unused wires, or the splitter should be covered / terminated. What about just removing the splitter and caping the unused cables? I also might do a test and put my modem on the spitter to see if it's even live, or if it's just in there. I'll look for termination caps either way. Thanks.

EDIT: By the way in talking to the cox representative this morning on the phone. The company as a whole seems dumb. They over provision the 1G plan, but if you want their gateway with a 2.5G port, you have to pay for the 2G plan. So they give you data on the 1G plan you can't use, unless you buy your own modem with a 2.5G port to take advantage of the over provisioning. Leaving stuff unterminated in the wiring cubby is probably the second dumbest thing, although, I didn't realized I needed to terminate the open stuff either until you mentioned it. However, common sense says it should have been, even though I wasn't 100% sure.

iFrogMac said:
Jim did say he would reschedule the new cable run.

Why don't you show Jim the box next time he comes? He knows better what's needed.

You have 2x active lines coming to your unit for whatever reason, both are connected to a splitter upstream. The one with the coupler goes directly to the room where your modem is located, the unused splitter is perhaps for the other room. You don't have to terminate unused not connected cables.

iFrogMac said:
I was starting to think I got a bad modem

Sounds like it.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: NICGIGA Switch Experiences?

I'm looking for an inexpensive multi-port 2.5GbE switch.
Has anyone had experiences with NICGIGA?
Specifically this 16-port link is to Amazon US, and is often selling at $159.

[Assistant]
No personal experience with this brand, but ServeTheHome has reviewed a few of their switches and they tend to be solid.

Have 2 of the unmanaged 2.5gbit switches, one PoE, one non-PoE. Zero issues.

Servethehome has tested a bunch of their products, but not specifically that one.

NICGIGA Archives
www.servethehome.com


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Best CAT cable to block RFI and EMI?

I have been using some Cat6 550Mhz UTP Ethernet cables I bought from Mono price about 5-10 years ago. Never occurred to me that I might be better off with some type of shielding on my cables. All of my cables are UTP. What's the best type of shielding to block out RFI and EMI? My wifi duties are dedicated to an old N66U so there's no beam forming, just radio signal blasting everywhere.

Thanks for your time

[Assistant]
Hi rN!
Sorry, its maybe just my bad éngli$h, but i dont get your problem. I have a ~2ft long Cat7 cable that i stole from work in '19 (ok, it was on the e-waste pallet and i was the one who estimated the prices for internal reuse, so i estimated it for zero bucks for myself...) The only thing is special about it that the four twisted pairs have separated shieldings, and the pairs are inside of a big, fifth shielding. It is a really stiff cable, you could fight off drunk peoples with it, but not convenient to use it in wiring, especially crimping it. Oh yeah, almost forgot, it has a fully shielded RJ45 too.
I think what are you afraid of, is that your wifi signals will interfere with your ethernet cable signals. Your wifi is working around 2,4GHz and around 5GHz, while your ethernet is working under 500MHz, so there will be no interference. Its like asking that if bright light could cause your hearing to malfunction. Btw, if you are still concerned about shielding, you can get in-wall cables or outdoor cables with "shielded" stamps. But you have to crimp them -with shielded RJ45 connectors. It... is... not a fun! (at least when you have to bring em to 2x48 port switches...)
Hali,
M

Your wifi signals (2.5GHz and 5 or 6 GHz) are just insignificant noise. Electronic devices right next to your cable might, might overlay some RF voltage on the signal pairs, but the twisting phase cancels most of that out. Those are most vulnerable at the termination. A large motor starting (washer, dryer, etc) might cause a brief spike since it emits on all frequencies.

Are you seeing dropped packets ?
Are you seeing reduced bandwidth that you can attribute to a specific cable in a specific location ?

Otherwise, you are likely trying to solve an insignificant issue or none at all.

Yeah, UTP = Unshielded Twisted Pair. Its meant to be unshielded and still cancel out noise.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Cable selecting help for 5 attached townhomes

See Picture- Long story short, I live in an attached townhome in California that was built in 1985 and has horrible existing RG58 coax and 1980s phone wiring throughout my house, as well as the four townhouses attached to me built on my block. I am the very last house at the end of these five houses, so the fifth out of five in a row. The length from the cable demarcation closet to my house is over 165’ total. All of our attics are attached and separated by drywall firewalls in the attics, with access holes cut through each for wiring runs. All phone and cable runs use the same conduit from the panel/closet, and up into the first (Home-1)attic where they emerge from the conduit, and then all cables run together from there into each of the other 4 homes attached attics in no conduit, and then onto whichever cable/phone setup they have in each neighbors home. Currently all five of us have only old RG6 coaxial cable to the first two houses (Home-1 & Home-2) from the demarcation closet, or only ancient dual RG58 coaxial cables from old 70’s/80’s analog cable television systems ran to the last three houses (Home-3, Home-4, & Home-5), including mine at the end.

The HOA in our community, as well as the all of the local cable companies (Cox Communications is main provider here) refuse to run new wiring into our houses as it is the homeowners responsibility for indoor wiring, which I understand. I have lived in the same house for 24 years and sick of never having any type of internet connection, bad phone lines, and almost no good cable TV connections to speak of. Everything is limited and my house crawls along just to be able to have cable TV at this point, let alone high speed anything. All of the cable companies just walk away and say there's nothing they can do as the wiring is too old and our HOA would have to upgrade everybody's wiring in the 300 house neighborhood at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which the HOA flatly denied due to costs and being able to coordinate wiring multiple homes together at the same time and trying to schedule with multiple different homeowners for same day installations through multiple home attics. After this many years, that's not good enough for me anymore. I do heating and air conditioning sales and design, and used to be a mechanical installer for over 15 years. I have banded together with my four other neighbors and have come to an agreement that I will go into each of our attics individually and run new coax, ethernet, phone, fiber preps, whatever is needed, to each of their attics from the demarcation closet on the side of the first house on block. I will mark and label each run for use for each of my neighbors and myself now, as well as future proofing all of our homes for the future. I will be doing all of the work myself, as well as paying for all of it for each of us to get this finally done and good wiring into my house at the end is the main goal. That is how frustrated they are, and especially myself seeing how I am the farthest away and the most affected by having almost nothing to speak of connection wise in my home.

I have offered to do this to not only improve my home connections finally and live happy, I also want to help them because they are all great neighbors of mine for many years who are also as frustrated. I know how to fish wires and have all of the tools and materials for fishing wiring long distances. What I will do is remove each of our houses existing old coax cables from the demarcation closet that runs into each of their attics, and run new coax cables into each person's home. I will also prep them a new ethernet cable, phone cable, as well as fiber optic cable, and leave long spools of marked excess wiring in each attic for them. I will be doing this all on my own time and money to help myself and my neighbors as our HOA and every cable and networking company refuse to go through each of our five separate attics and help us. Just looking for some advice and knowledge on which cabling and conduit types I should be running to each of our houses? I want the best for myself and my neighbors that I can buy right now and still be reasonable, but also accommodate the far distances, especially for my house at over 165’ away, for cabling used in today's market and for future proofing our homes. Looking for any and all help with suggestions before I start the project shortly. Once I have access into each of my neighbor's attics over the course of a day or few days, I'll be able to run preps for each home into the attic as I go along until I FINALLY get down to my home at the end. I want to run what is best for my home, since I am the furthest away from the closet, and once in my home, I can do all of my own cabling and drops throughout my own home from my own attic. I want to get this done now and for it to hopefully be the only time I need to do this for my house and theirs. They will be free to do whatever they like with what I prep for each of their 4 attics. All of us have accessible attics, and easy access for future changes to extend off any of the prep I leave each of my neighbors and myself in our attics. Thanks for any help and suggestions!

[Assistant]
Understand the frustration. Think twice about doing it though.

The insurance companies involved, the city/county and possibly the HOA, will have a field day against you if it comes to light that you personally, unlicensed, and not commercially installed new cables, even if to code, for the condo block and if there is any type of fire claim, particularly if it crosses the attic fire stops. i hope they used metal conduit and firestop caulk/grommets in the existing. The cable would be plenum grade as minimum ( i don't know CA code - confirm).

A better solution may be to trench or mount on outside of wall to your unit and penetrate the to the attic above your unit. Make the demarc point on the exterior wall of the unit. Exterior grade (wet, direct burial) cable.

If the cable co or fiber based co are only doing one block, they may not be willing to make the investment for the new run just to get to the block. They may want the entire neighborhood.

Best solution may be to have your block hire a pro to do the installation. That way you are protected as well as your neighbors.

I don’t know about CA/US, but I own a property in a condominium corporation in ON/Canada and no unapproved, unlicensed or uninsured work is allowed in any shape and form even if the person doing it is called Bill Gates. This includes work inside individual units and not limited to common elements only. Similar to @degrub advice above - leave it to professionals.

degrub said:
Understand the frustration. Think twice about doing it though.

The insurance companies involved, the city/county and possibly the HOA, will have a field day against you if it comes to light that you personally, unlicensed, and not commercially installed new cables, even if to code, for the condo block and if there is any type of fire claim, particularly if it crosses the attic fire stops. i hope they used metal conduit and firestop caulk/grommets in the existing. The cable would be plenum grade as minimum ( i don't know CA code - confirm).

A better solution may be to trench or mount on outside of wall to your unit and penetrate the to the attic above your unit. Make the demarc point on the exterior wall of the unit. Exterior grade (wet, direct burial) cable.

If the cable co or fiber based co are only doing one block, they may not be willing to make the investment for the new run just to get to the block. They may want the entire neighborhood.

Best solution may be to have your block hire a pro to do the installation. That way you are protected as well as your neighbors.
Click to expand...
All will be still be done to code, and I work with building permits and cites around me daily in my line of work, and low voltage wiring is not a code concern for our city on retrofit work, only new builds and remodels. The city will not allow a trench behind our homes as it is the top of a city owned hill and not HOA, and they do not want any work to undermine the hill, even by a a little bit, we tried. One of the next door homeowners in our group of 5 homes is a HOA board member and is also in, and said we are breaking no violations of the HOA code as we all have shared attic agreements in our community for things like wiring and plumbing between condos. This has been in discussion for a long time between the 5 of us homes, and all are in agreement. I am only running through existing attic pathways to get new cabling to my attic only. All of my cabling will now be in protected conduit and not just laying across 4 other attic joists in adjoining attics, and strapped to code away from any attic accesses. I will also be using metal conduit and firestop caulk/grommets in each firewall pass through, as they are just run through open cut holes now since build in 1985. If anyone did not want me to just prep them wiring and leave in the attic, that would be fine, but all have been in agreement. I hear what you are saying, but still we are going to move forward as we have tried all, and estimates have been rediculous just for cable runs in these pretty easy attics.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: How to Connect ONT to Managed Switch to Router

Apologies in advance if I misname anything, or am a little unclear - I'm kind of a noob at this.
I'm currently in the process of switching from Xfinity (gigabit fiber) to Quantum Fiber. My original setup with Xfinity was:
The communication box in my home has an 8 port unmanaged switch in it that connects all of my rooms' ethernet jacks.
My modem is in my living room with a coax being fed to it. From it an ethernet cable runs to (one of) my Asus GT-AX11000 Pro's WAN port, giving it access to the internet.
From one of the LAN ports of my GT-AX11000 Pro, I run an ethernet cable to the wall jack, thus connecting my home's mesh nodes and other wired devices.
Everything works great.
Quantum Fiber came out and gave me a C5500XK ONT. I'm thinking of the following:
It now lives inside of my communications box, as that is where the fiber optic cable comes in to our home.
Turn the ONT device from PPoE to Transparent Bridge Mode (VLAN 201) in order to avoid double DHCP.
Use a managed switch in the comm box to plug into the ONT (and connect all the other rooms as they have been).
Set port 1 to untagged VLAN 201 and plug the ONT cable in to that port.
Leave the other ports at their default?
Use another managed switch in the living room.
Set port 1 to untagged VLAN 201 and plug the GT-AX11000 Pro WAN cable in to that port.
Leave the other ports at their default?
Plug a cable from any one of the GT-AX11000 Pro LAN ports in to any other of the managed switch's ports.
Plug the wall jack's cable in to any other port on the managed switch (to connect it back to the rest of my home network, so they can still be hardwired to my router).
Does this sound feasible? Is there a better way to do this? Am I going to make my home network slower than my current Xfinity setup (due to a single cable going from the living room wall to the managed switch)?

Thanks

[Assistant]
"Turn the ONT device from PPoE to Transparent Bridge Mode (VLAN 201) in order to avoid double DHCP."

Double NAT actually. There is almost no reason to avoid this and no penalty to avoid double NAT for a nominal residential service. IF you were running a server that requires WAN internet exposure you would have to create static routing rules to get past the double NAT. Second, any time there is an issue with the ISP service, they will want to access their device for testing, usually in router mode .

Is your ISP using IPv4 or IPv6 ?

degrub said:
"Turn the ONT device from PPoE to Transparent Bridge Mode (VLAN 201) in order to avoid double DHCP."

Double NAT actually. There is almost no reason to avoid this and no penalty to avoid double NAT for a nominal residential service. IF you were running a server that requires WAN internet exposure you would have to create static routing rules to get past the double NAT. Second, any time there is an issue with the ISP service, they will want to access their device for testing, usually in router mode .

Is your ISP using IPv4 or IPv6 ?
Click to expand...
Okay thanks for the clarification. They're using IPv4 as far as I can tell. the IP I get assigned before going to bridge mode is v4, though I don't know if there's a V6 option.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: ..

..

[Assistant]
Something to look at...

MEGA 2.5GbE Switch Guide Update with 21 New Models Added
In our new Mega 2.5GbE Switch Round-up 2024 edition, we cover 21 new switches. New options have more ports, PoE+, management, and more
www.servethehome.com

15W doesn't seem that incredible. I've got a TRENDnet TEG-S380 8x2.5G fanless which is spec'd at 12.4W max --- and there's a newer "2.0" version spec'd at 7.26W. It's unmanaged unfortunately, but a simple management CPU shouldn't add all that much to TDP, and surely the 2.0 chassis could do it. (Sadly, even if you were okay with unmanaged, I'm not sure this one meets the "doesn't suck" requirement --- I've had compatibility issues with some client gear. Maybe the 2.0 revision fixed that, I dunno.)

tiddlywink said:
I have been following those. Very few are managed and fanless. I barely trust tplink so the no-name chinese models are not on my radar.

Not everyone needs a managed switch - and some of those as basic unmanaged switches are pretty decent deals - most are file/save/copy - e.g. same CCA and Chipsets...

But I can see the view that going with a known vendor - Trendnet/TP-Link over in ethernet land are good enough - one can jump a couple of levels up into the Netgear Pro-Safes, and for premium, there's Cisco...

One can also look at Microtik and Ubiquiti - not companies I normally deal with, but the HW is good - just can't vouch for them, as I know them only by reputation for ethernet switching...