Best Ethernet / Network switch setup?

[TheMacNerd]

My grandma recently gave me a relatively new Cisco gigabit ethernet / network switch because she never used it.
Here are the devices that need to be wired:

Here is the current setup:

Internet / Wifi Modem upstairs, my bedroom / "tech studio" is in the downstairs / basement of the townhouse. There's a shop in the basement with two benches with 4 wall outlets each. I was thinking after I clear a space I could put a high-end PC or Mac Workstation there with Ubuntu Linux / Mac OS X.

In my basement, there is an ethernet cable and HDMI Cable coming out of the wall where my Smart TV will be.

The Cisco Network Switch has 8 Ports. I have wireless USB adapters / dongles for my desktop PC I own.

- Smart TV (getting it for this XMas)
- XBox360 Game console
- SATA Hard disk drives (Multiple) (after I purchase the enclosures) (to use as SAN/NAS) (hooked to the switch & the modem)
- Maybe? a desktop PC/ Mac Pro Workstation (in the shop area)
- A network HP Color Printer

More information to know:

The basement / bedroom I have is 1/2 finished. I'm staying in the finished 1/2 where my current desktop PC & laptop for school are. The ethernet cable is coming out of the finished 1/2 of the basement where my Smart TV & Xbox360 will be. When I moved the cable installer technician reccomended if we don't already have one, an ethernet splitter.

I want the ethernet switch downstairs, in my tech studio / basement. It is acceptable if it goes into the shop area / unfinished section of the basement. The wireless / network printer must be connected to the switch.

Here is what my theory on a setup for me might look like:

On one of the workbenches in the shop area, plug the network / ethernet switch into one of the 4+ wall outlets (I have power strips as well). Plug the printer to the switch, the desktop pc and / or server, as well as the SATA hard drives. The TV can be plug into the cables coming out of my wall. The Xbox plugs to the TV.

Is this a good setup? Or is there something better to suggest?

 

[Svein]

I do not understand your question. Do you want us to comment on the power connection or the Ethernet connections?

When I moved the cable installer technician reccomended if we don't already have one, an ethernet splitter.

Sorry, such a device does not exist. In order to connect several networked devices together, you need an Ethernet switch (like the Cisco switch you mentioned).

The Cisco Network Switch has 8 Ports. I have wireless USB adapters / dongles for my desktop PC I own.

Yes, but I doubt that the Cisco has any Wi-Fi interface.

On one of the workbenches in the shop area, plug the network / ethernet switch into one of the 4+ wall outlets (I have power strips as well). Plug the printer to the switch, the desktop pc and / or server, as well as the SATA hard drives. The TV can be plug into the cables coming out of my wall. The Xbox plugs to the TV.

A drawing would help...

 

[meBigGuy]

I can't following what you are describing.

The general setup is Cable/DSL Modem <-> WiFi and Router <-> Ethernet devices. One of the ethernet devices can be the ethernet switch, which will give you more Ethernet ports.
(an Ethernet Switch is essentially an ethernet expander or splitter, although it is more complicated than a simple splitter)

The parts may move around, for example the WiFi part could be implemented within the Modem. Or, even the Router/WiFi/Modem could be one unit. But the basic flow is I indicated.

 

[Routaran]

Yeah, your network setup is fine. Your PCs and the NAS are on the same gigabit switch so you will have the highest possible transfer rates between your large storage devices (assuming the NICs on the devices also support gigabit speeds)
You may stream media from the NAS to the TV but streaming won't be able to saturate that gigabit link. Even if your router only does fast ethernet (100mbps) your smartTV and Xbox won't notice any difference.

The only time you will see any significant effect of not having gigabit is if you are doing large simultaneous transfers across multiple systems (we're talking 10s or 100s of GB)
Outside of that, it doesn't really matter how you setup the network inside your home. The average user never really goes that much over 10mbps, your average 1080p video on youtube just needs around 7-9mbps to run without pauses for buffering.

Long story short, the way you plan to plug things is is fine. Just avoid wifi if possible. Wired connections are always superior.

 

[TheMacNerd]

I'm just wondering the most effecient way to use the ethernet switch. That's my question.

 

[meBigGuy]

The switch provides, at its simplest, a way to turn 1 long cable run into many ethernet ports.

They also can be programmed to setup subnets and such if you need to isolate sub networks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_switch

What is the model number of your switch?

Draw a diagram of the network, or the network you want, and we can comment on use of the switch.

For example, from the wikipedia article, you switch MIGHT (or might not) support such features as:

• Turn particular port range on or off
• Link bandwidth and duplex settings
• Priority settings for ports
• IP management by IP clustering
• MAC filtering and other types of "port security" features which prevent MAC flooding
• Use of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) technologies
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) monitoring of device and link health
• Port mirroring (also known as: port monitoring, spanning port, SPAN port, roving analysis port or link mode port)
• Link aggregation (also known as bonding, trunking or teaming) allows the use of multiple ports for the same connection achieving higher data transfer rates
• VLAN settings. Creating VLANs can serve security and performance goals by reducing the size of the broadcast domain
• 802.1X network access control
• IGMP snooping

 

[TheMacNerd]

Cisco SG100D-08

 

[Routaran]

I'm just wondering the most effecient way to use the ethernet switch. That's my question.

You want as many devices as possible connected directly into the gigabit switch, prioritise devices that generate the most LAN traffic. By this I mean, devices within your own home that send large files to each other, not downloading/uploading from the internet. Like your fileserver & computers.

Devices that will not be transferring data between devices at home (like Xbox/Playstation, smart TV, etc.) can go anywhere. These devices exchange data almost exclusively with the internet (downloading games/updates, netflx, etc.) and will top out at your internet connection's speed, gigabit link is irrelevant.

 

[meBigGuy]

It's an unmanaged switch, so none of the features I mentioned are available.

In addition, Cisco has gotten bad reviews for this switch on Amazon, in that all ports are not gigabit.

You should read the Amazon reviews, and the product manual.

Think of it as a simple ethernet hub. One port to many, with some limitations as described in the reviews.