[mythtv-users] Slightly off topic: Network connection question

[Joe Henley]

Larry Finger wrote:
> On 12/26/2012 05:59 PM, Joe Henley wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Sorry if this is too far off topic....
>>
>> I want to pull my MythTV system (server, three clients) off my home 
>> wired
>> network and onto wired+wifi network.  I'm thinking that I rewire from:
>> cable modem --> router --> server and 3 clients
>>                                           --> office PCs
>> to:
>> cable modem --> switch --> router (both wired and wifi connections) 
>> --> server
>> and 3 clients
>>                                            --> router (wired only) 
>> --> office PCs
>>
>> I don't know if I can put a switch between the cable modem and the 
>> router (or
>> two).  Thoughts, suggestions?
>
> I'm sure you will get lots of suggestions; however, I don't think you 
> can put the switch between the modem and the router. If you use NAT on 
> the router, then you certainly cannot.
>
> For testing wireless drivers, I have three wireless routers that are 
> cabled like this:
>
> modem --> router 1 --> router 2 --> router 3
>
> Router 1 has both wired and wireless clients. Routers 2 and 3 only 
> have wireless clients.
>
> The one special thing that I have done is to leave the WAN ports on 
> routers 2 and 3 empty, thus they are treated as switches with a 
> wireless server. On them, DHCP is disabled, and they are given a fixed 
> address in the network 192.168.1.0/24, but outside the range offered 
> by the DHCP server in router 1.
>
> Why is it setup this way? The main benefit is that everything 
> connected to this system has an address in the 192.168.1.X range, and 
> every device can be accessed no matter which router is used for the 
> connection.
>
> In your case, the latency will be reduced a little by putting the 
> switch between your two routers.
>
> Larry
Larry,

Thanks for your reply! 

What I'm trying to accomplish with my suggested layout is to split my 
network into two pieces, but both sharing the cable modem connection to 
my ISP.  The first piece is the wired piece which has all the office 
devices on it (desktops, NAS, printer, etc.)  This would be highly 
secured; primarily via the firewall in the (wired) router.  The second 
piece is the wireless piece which has MythTV, dlna TV net connections, 
and wireless connections for Kindle and tablets.  This would be much 
less secured (even with a wireless router) since it has wireless devices.

What I'm trying to do is probably overkill, but I really don't have much 
faith in the security of wireless routers, dlna on TV, ....

I understand your comments about the modem -> switch -> router not 
working -- and yes, I use NAT on the wired side.  The way I understand 
your arrangement is that routers 2 & 3 are acting as managed switches.  
Do I get that right? 

In your set up, how/where do you firewall the devices connected to 
routers 2 & 3 from malicious wireless attacks?

Thanks again.

Joe Henley