Help Optimising network hardware / connections

[TdC]

It was when I was running PS3 media server and / or Tversity - I would regularly get something like 'media protocol error' and random disconnects on the PS3 via WiFi. Video streaming was also touch and go even with 720p.

I eventually got fed up and decided to run a length of Cat5 and all has been perfect.

Yeah 1080p streaming, even on wireless n is hit and miss. Cable is the way to go there.

yeah, in the end, cable is the only really fast way. I've got a fairly modern house, but it doesn't have ethernet in the walls. something I'd deffo consider if I had more things on the network.

 

[old.user4556]

I'm lucky in that I'm on the top floor of a block of flats with access to the loft, so running cables from two of the rooms (from the study and the living room) into my "comms room" (cupboard ) was a reasonably simple task and much less of a headache than problematic wireless.

 

[Killswitch]

It's pretty much impossible to buy a actual "hub" nowadays...even the cheapest network device is a switch, which basically means line-speed on all ports (sort of...bear with me here).

The thing to look at is how fast the devices you are connecting can realistically generate and send traffic. Even a pretty crappy 3.5" HDD is quite capable of maxing out a 100Mb/s network port, but once you get to gigabit, nothing you're likely to have at home is going to be pushing the best part of 120 gigabytes per second.

If you're wanting to move large files around or stream to/from multiple sources, it might make sense to use a gigabit switch to interconnect those devices and then uplink that to your Sky router. That said, I regularly stream 720p HD TV shows from my laptop to my PS3 over 802.11g with no issues at all.

I have my TV, my Sky box (Anytime +) and my PS3 connected to my router and everything else uses wireless and I have no issues at all.

Dave

CCNA/CCDA/JNCIE(x2)/JNCIS(x2)/CEH and general network/hacker badboy

 

[Embattle]

Yes and no.
Yes, I want to limit access those devices I personally allow. Pretty much all routers have this capability to a greater or lesser degree.
However, I also want to be able to cut off eldest daughter's netbook from the net, but keep the wifi going. There are times when I don't want her on FB/YT/IMVU but I don't mind her streaming from the media PC on the LAN.

The URL Filter enables you to tie it in to the Time Schedule, it would probably require you to use the Fixed IP function of that computer. Other than that not seen anything else that does it easier as yet.

 

[cHodAX]

It's pretty much impossible to buy a actual "hub" nowadays...even the cheapest network device is a switch, which basically means line-speed on all ports (sort of...bear with me here).

The thing to look at is how fast the devices you are connecting can realistically generate and send traffic. Even a pretty crappy 3.5" HDD is quite capable of maxing out a 100Mb/s network port, but once you get to gigabit, nothing you're likely to have at home is going to be pushing the best part of 120 gigabytes per second.

If you're wanting to move large files around or stream to/from multiple sources, it might make sense to use a gigabit switch to interconnect those devices and then uplink that to your Sky router. That said, I regularly stream 720p HD TV shows from my laptop to my PS3 over 802.11g with no issues at all.

I have my TV, my Sky box (Anytime +) and my PS3 connected to my router and everything else uses wireless and I have no issues at all.

Dave

CCNA/CCDA/JNCIE(x2)/JNCIS(x2)/CEH and general network/hacker badboy

Well, we need to differentiate between bits and bytes for a start. Standard ethernet Gigabit is capable of transfering 125 megabytes per second or so which can be maxed out by a single hard drive these days. A solid state drive will be left waiting on gigabit, never reaching it's maximum potential.

Then you have the issue of chipset performance, most consumer level gigabit chipsets inside hub/switches/routers aren't actually capable of sustaining those peak speeds over long periods. Especially when it is dealing with packets from multiple devices on the network at the same time. For instance, your X360 or PS3 is online, your PC is streaming high definition video to another device on the network, the missus is connected via wifi and on youtube. Not only is the chipset dealing with the raw data requests and handling those datastreams but there is a great deal of cpu overhead just processing those packets, redirecting them to the correct devices, running a SPI firewall that is inspecting all traffic and also performing QoS. It is also dealing with the work coming over the wifi, running security on that datastream and peforming decryption/encryption.

A gigabit router/hub/switch can easily be stressed these days, now 10gigabit is a challenge.

 

[old.user4556]

Ok, so my Sonos ZonePlayer (fucking aaaaaaaawesome, will post seperately) arrived so I've expanded my network thus:

Router ---> Netgear 5 port 100 Mbit switch (in living room)

|---> PS3
|---> Sky HD
|---> Sonos ZonePlayer​

 

[Zenith.UK]

Ok, so my Sonos ZonePlayer (fucking aaaaaaaawesome, will post seperately) arrived so I've expanded my network thus:

Router ---> Netgear 5 port 100 Mbit switch (in living room)

|---> PS3
|---> Sky HD
|---> Sonos ZonePlayer​

So you're with Sky Broadband and have Anytime+? It's the only reason I can think why you'd want to connect your Skybox.

 

[old.user4556]

Yeah I've just had it enabled.

 

[Kryten]

One thing I never see from routers/home "hubs" is actual throughput capacity. Yes, I understand they're home devices but considering the chipsets being used I suspect 4 x 100Mb might actually be pushing it. But I could be very, very wrong. If so, I'd certainly use the router as a gateway device only and do all switching via a dedicated gigabit switch. Probably wouldn't actually matter that much but with dedicated network storage and more than one PC it might be worth a look.