Help with networking setup - 2 buildings

[jfenwick]

So we have started renos on the apartment over our garage, the up side is I get to gut the workshop underneath (part of the garage) and turn it into my man cave. The challenge is networking. The house and garage are separated by about 20 feet (driveway), with about 60 feet between the shop and the placement of my wireless router. Traditionally we've had issues with the wireless signal in the workshop/garage, not strong enough for what I want. So, during the renos I ran a couple of lines under the driveway and now am looking to set it up proper, both for myself and the tenant.

I guess what I'm looking for is essentially a solution that provides strong wireless in the house as well as the garage/apartment while also providing an additional 8-10 hard line options in the garage/apartment I would need. In the house I have an ASUS RT-AC66U router and 24 port switch. That handles all my needs here. For the garage/apartment I was thinking of putting a second wireless router out there and simply chaining them together (not that hard to do right?), however I don't see any wireless routers with 8+ ports on them. Am I looking at a second router/switch combo again?

So essentially the ISP modem in the house to my main Asus wireless router which then feeds my house switch as well as a second wireless router in the garage which in turn feeds a second switch for the garage/apartment?

Is that the solution? What would you guys suggest, networking has never been a strong suite of mine. Thanks.

 

[carnageX]

Are they on the same electrical circuit? If so...you could always look at powerline adapters, then put a wireless AP/switch at the end coming off of the powerline adapter.

 

[Trotter]

60'? If you ran ethernet under the driveway (or can snake it though the conduit), put a PoE AP up in the garage and you are done. That way you have total control over it from the house (the PoE [power over ethernet]) and a guaranteed strong signal for both the garage/apartment.

 

[jfenwick]

wow, I haven't posted in years and you two are probably the two guys I remember best! Good to see you both still solving everyone's issues!

Ok....so remember to use small words, I don't play much with networks at all! In fact I don't think I've touched my setup in a couple of years. POEs are relatively new for me, good info, I think that will be the plan for my security system. With that said, since I ran a number of ethernet lines under the driveway while it was dug up and have plenty of power I'm not worried about wiring. I'm still in the planning phase at this point, the room is down to bare studs.

So let's take this to the next level and review the entire house setup:



So I have the Rogers (ISP) modem feeding the ASUS RT-AC66U router which feeds my main 24 Port switch. Around 15 or so of the ports are used regularly around the house. The LAN 24 port switch is only in use once a week for a small LAN I host for some buddies (yes, we actually game in person!). I also host an annual LAN for 14-16 guys.

So the plan would be a 3rd switch to feed the wireless AP as well as the 10 or so other hard wired ports in the garage and apartment.

What do you guys think? Recommendations?

 

[jfenwick]

Ok, so what about if I want to add a POE security camera system down the road? 4-6 cameras? Is my logic sound?

- Keep my current router
- Upgrade my main switch to a 24 port POE switch
- Keep the 24 port LAN switch as is
- Add a smaller POE switch in the garage, 16 ports

Most of the cameras would be wired to the switch in the house while a couple to the switch in the garage as well.

- So main switch would be used heavily and daily. LAN switch only for wired weekly parties and the garage switch would also be used daily but not as many wired connections, mostly wireless with the wireless adapter.

What do you guys think?

 

[DistraughtSysop]

Your diagram is a bit off, maybe it's just mislabeled. It should be ISP -> modem -> router -> switch. Apart from that, what you propose should work. Ideally you would bury a cable no longer than 300 ft. between the two buildings, but a wireless bridge is also an option.

You'll need managed switches if you want to segment your traffic but I don't know if you really need that for a home network - would you be worried about someone coming over for a LAN party and being able to access your cameras?

 

[jfenwick]

Good catch, yeah, the diagram is off on those two labels. The LAN is just close friends so I have no concerns about security. The only areas I would be worried would be the tenant and their friends as I can't control who is accessing through them.

 

[DistraughtSysop]

If you have tenants that you're sharing your internet connection with then using a guest wifi option on your router (if it has it) would work. If they're going to be cabled in then I'd definitely use VLANs to separate the traffic.