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

[Michael Watson]

On 2/01/2013 3:25 AM, Joe Henley wrote:
> 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

Cable Modem  --> Wireless Router -> Home Router    - Wireless and home 
networks are isolated, Home Network has access to wireless network, 
Single NAT on Wireless and Double Natting on Home Network.

----------------------------------------------

                   Cable Modem
                            |
                       Router
                 /                   \
Wireless Router          Home Router

Full protection using three routers,  Wireless / Home Networks fully 
isolated, Double NATting both Wireless and Home Networks.
------------------------------------------------

                Cable Modem
                           |
       (Openwrt <http://www.openwrt.org> Wireless Router)
      /                                             \
Wireless Network               Home Network

Wireless / Home Networks fully isolated, using Single router, single 
NATting both Wireless and Home Networks