Making This Happen

you would need to set that up as 2 in 2 out or 1 in and 3 out and i think the switch will just see them as 4 connections if its a normal 1 but for you id go smart/managed so you can priortise lanes or traffic and set up VLANs
Yeah, I guess I might as well have the capability there if I want it. So, is managed gonna be best for me? Also, fully managed, or smart managed switches?
 
smart will be easier to use but you dont have the same flexability you do to control things with fully managed. if you go fully managed id also have the modem in and a separate wifi unit/(s) for wireless signals if you get me
 
smart will be easier to use but you dont have the same flexability you do to control things with fully managed. if you go fully managed id also have the modem in and a separate wifi unit/(s) for wireless signals if you get me
No, I don't fully understand. But will a smart switch have the controls that I would likely need?
 
I think you need to ask someone like Hmmblah who has lots of professional networking experience.
 
This diagram on the Netgear website has actually told me a couple things. I think that I can put it Modem -> Smart Switch -> Routers -> Wifi, and sub switches. Also, it looks like the smart switch can filter who has access to what lanes... but can it do 3 lanes instead of just 2 shown in the diagram?
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OMG... My brain is melting out of my ears slowly. I don't even know what I need any more. I might just get a basic gigabit switch, and lock it down with software.
 
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I think you're making this too complicated for a home network.

I'd pick up something like the ASUS RT-N66U and flash it with DD-WRT. If you're really that concerned about security, put the wireless in a separate VLAN. Otherwise just use WPA2 personal, don't broadcast the SSID, and use MAC filtering.

From there use a basic gigabit switch with enough additional ports to connect everything. The only feature I'd be concerned about is jumbo frames.

Putting 4 NICs in your server is useless. Are you going to load it with a high end raid controller (expensive) or a bunch of fast SSDs (also expensive)? You would also need fast disks in all your PCs. If not you won't saturate all the NICs anyway. If you're only streaming some movies and moving files about all you will need is a single gigabit NIC.

If you want to use link aggregation, basically teaming 2 NICs together, you will at least need a "smart" switch or a managed switch to support this. Again, I really don't think you will need it.

If you have access to Server 2012, you could set up a domain. Each PC would be joined to the domain. Each user would have their own account. You can set up permissions to deny or allow users access to the files.

I'd start simple if I were you and go from there. If you just have a basic modem (it doesn't do NAT or any routing) you will need to plug the modem into the router, then the router into your switch.
 
Oh holy crap. So much of this is beyond what I know. Maybe I should just make everything easy to get to, but make it all locked down and encrypted... So that it's easy to get to, but you need the password... Seems easier for a N00B to set up.
 
i agree with hmmblah.

start simple and work up. Use permissions, workgroups to seperate computers from each other, then get into the more advanced netowrking later.

keeping a network seperate for guests can be done by using the 'guest network' feature in most new netgear routers. even the new VM superhub lets you do this. or go modem, router1, sepertate router (2) cascaded off of 1st router and attach a switch to router 1 for the rest of the network.

who is it your trying to protect your network against? if its just friwnds and your worried about them accessing and hacking a network you have set up specially for their use, then get nicer less cyber criminally minded friends lol

I have a WNDR 3200 flashed it with dd wrt used it for a bit but the Qos leaves a lot to be desired so went back to stock.

i use a switch and a few routers to achieve a similar sort of thing. its sort of crude but i use routers that do and dont support loopback to prevent access to certain things.

im only learning myself but hmmblah seems to know what hes talking about (more than me) and his user name is funny, so id listen to him

:-)
 
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