[mythtv-users] directly connecting HDHR to spare LAN port

[Mike Perkins]

On 22/06/2022 18:50, James Abernathy wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 1:35 PM Gary Buhrmaster <gary.buhrmaster at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 3:02 PM Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> All (most) home routers that run Linux (99% probably) LAN ports are
>> already software bridged using the exact same commands I just outlined
>> anyway :)
>>
>> Only the old(er)/cheap(er) ones.  Most recent
>> SoCs that are being used in consumer routers
>> have internal switching capabilities that can be
>> used along with hardware NAT support (a
>> L2/L3/L4 multilayer design), in addition to
>> integrated WiFi.  And the reason for using
>> these SoCs is, of course, money.  A single
>> SoC that integrates everything results in a
>> cheaper/faster to engineer and certify solution.
>> It also means when the SoC vendors S/RDK
>> turns out to have a VULN it impacts a lot of
>> devices from different vendors since they all
>> used the same base.  Qualcomm and
>> Broadcom are some big manufactures of
>> such SoCs.
>>
> 
> So what are the brands and models of home WiFi AP /routers that are any
> good? I've tried Netgear and my current one is TP-Link with WiFi 6.  I have
> about 50 devices connected to it either ethernet or WiFi. To get around
> some switching issues I have only one LAN port of my TP-Link feeding my
> bank of Gbe switches
> 
I don't (quite :) run 50 devices but I must have at least that many defined on the whole system.

The way I do it:

A home-built router with a Jetway NF692G6-345 motherboard which has 6 gigabyte ports, one of which 
of course will be my WAN link. This runs pFsense. There are (presently) 13 subnets defined, most of 
which are VLANs, some of which are just used to control the switches. This router provides DHCP for 
everything. Of course I have added the firewall rules I need to manage the lot.

Five TP-Link Gigabyte switches, various, one to each of the LAN ports on the router. Two are simple 
8-port unmanaged switches, there's an 8-port managed POE switch, a five port managed switch and a 
16-port managed switch. (Managed = VLAN capable.)

One of the unmanaged switches has everything mythtv plugged into it: server, two frontends and two 
HDHRs. The other one has all my main workstations plugged into it, but it is at capacity so I might 
do some switching around in future.

The POE switch has a zoneminder server and (presently) two cameras plugged into it. POE drives the 
cameras and the switch keeps all the traffic off the rest of the network.

The five-port switch is presently spare but is often used for testing or upgrades.

The 16-port switch is 'everything else', it is my oldest switch and once ran everything. It has 
plugged into it a TP-Link wireless AP (via a POE injector), a HP printer, the Central Heating 
connection (tado - I'm thinking of getting rid of it) and the BT set-top box. Each of those is on a 
separate VLAN and, apart from the printer, can only talk to the Internet. This switch is underused, 
so I may swap that for the 8-port mentioned above, but that requires buying another 8-port managed 
switch.

Phew! TLDR: after a long period of evolution I have separated each function out onto a switch of its 
own, which means that traffic on any one does not affect any of the others. Managed switches are not 
too expensive these days. I have found the TP-Link ones to be reliable enough and don't overload you 
with centralised management requirements - or the need to speak to something in the 'cloud' to do 
anything.

-- 

Mike Perkins