How Many Network Switches Can Be Connected to a Router?

Рет қаралды 28,506

Күн бұрын

In this video, we discuss how many devices you can connect to your home network, whether daisy-chaining your network switches together is a good idea, and how many switches you can connect to your router.
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Contents of this video:
0:00 - Introduction
0:27 - Is there a limit to the number of devices you can connect?
1:56 - Is it safe to connect network switches to each other?
4:15 - Which is better: daisy-chaining or using separate ports on the router?
5:12 - Wrap up
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Chris is an IT professional that setup HomeNetworkGeek.com and this KZfaq Channel to share his knowledge on home networking. To learn more about him, visit: homenetworkgeek.com/about/
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Пікірлер: 52

@monikaw1179 Жыл бұрын

The main reason for daisy chaining in a home environment is to avoid running multiple cables to each room. I have a single cable running from the router to each room, and a switch in each room. This is absolutely fine and is far easier to install. If I was fully renovating my house or building a new one then I would absolutely run multiple cables to a central switch, but it's not so easy to do this on an existing property.

@CrazyAndy1983 3 жыл бұрын

Daisy chaining is sometimes needed. As an example: You have your main switch, but just one ethernet cable to the tv. But you want to connect multiple devices to it. So you put a switch where the tv is and you can connect all of the devices...

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

That is a good point there Andy, especially when we often have several devices around the TV that we want to connect using ethernet. For me, my switch is just on the other side of the wall that the TV sits on so I have just fed several cables through the wall to connect everything I need.

@CrazyAndy1983 3 жыл бұрын

@@homenetworkgeek192 Exactly, always depends on the infrastructure you have at home ;)

@Dezwrr 3 жыл бұрын

very very helpfully. Thanks a ton💯

@WayneBarroncffcs 2 ай бұрын

Multiple switches are normally used when dealing with a server lab environment. Most servers will have multiple Ethernet ports. Running them all to a single switch is not recommended. Running them to multiple switches is called redundancy. If one switch port goes bad, you will still have the other port, plus the other switch and it's Ports. This is if you have two cables going to each switch, on a 4 port Ethernet card installed in your server. I have two 18 port switches and one is nearly full while the other is half full. Plus a wireless router running all other devices.

@testgames4028 3 жыл бұрын

That's helpful man, thank you very much Subbed + Like 👍🏼 Keep it up

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot!

@CRONZ_2501 3 жыл бұрын

Keep i up, just Subed to your channel!!!

@ChaziChaz89 3 жыл бұрын

100% helpful. Thank you for answering my question and more

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

@lorenzch 3 жыл бұрын

good hint (alternative to daisy chaining ==>just connect the switches parallely to the router!). thx!

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome Christian.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

This is fine, though you want to group heavy bandwidth devices that talk to each other on the same switch, such as if you have a local NAS for backups, though with gigabit, not really an issue for 99% of home uses.

@october1234 3 жыл бұрын

Nice video

@MrJreason Жыл бұрын

My main reason for daisy chaining is as a result of creating a wired mesh system (wifi extender) using my old routers... asus has an auto feature to do this in their routers. and then using it to go to my switch/ps5 and TV same as others have pointed out

@timpayne4291 3 жыл бұрын

Hi very helpful, question - if you have 2 switches connected directly to router how fussy do you have to be about grouping devices together on each switch for performance, eg NAS server storing music connected to one switch and 2 or 3 streamer devices playing music from NAS on the other switch, does it matter? Reason for asking is I don’t really want to replace my 2 x 8 port switches with a bigger single switch.

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

No that doesn't matter you'll be fine using your existing switches.

@Zenthorian1 7 ай бұрын

Is it ok to have an ethernet cable run upstairs to one switch and then connect 2 switches off that one into 2 different rooms, as i dont really wanna run 6 different cables from one room to another 2 rooms, thanks

@trebbomb25 3 жыл бұрын

How can one ethernet cable (the one connecting to the router from the switch) handle all the network activity of say, a 50 port switch with all wired connections? Obviously the activity for each device would vary, but how all that data can travel through one cable is confusing to me.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

Not everyone is talking at the same time, and if they are, the switch will just throttle them. If a device is not actively communicating, it won't use the wire at all (the switch still detects it being connected, but has zero impact on network). Similar to how your router work, just on a lower level. Side note, with WiFi, everyone is essentially on the same "wire", but there are protocols in place that allow the airwaves to be shared. WiFi performance degrades significantly with lots of devices though, not having the luxury of a switch managing actual communication, and also needing to constantly broadcasting that they are still alive.

@volodumurkalunyak4651 2 ай бұрын

There are 10Gig and 100Gig Ethernet ports, perfectly able to handle such amount of traffic (like 100-1000 wired devices)

@greatwavefan397 Жыл бұрын

Say I have a home network with a custom router with no other possible connections besides the modem and a switch. If I were to host a 16-player LAN party, should each user directly connect to the switch? Or should each table have their own sub-switch connected to the switch just below the router?

@ghostsintheforum Жыл бұрын

If possible, I would connect every gamer on the lan to the main switch. Less chance of adding latency that way. Or, if your lan party is limited to just the people on the lan and your party is not using internet for the game, just get a separate switch, put it in the middle of your tables (or must convenient location), and voila. No need for a router as long as you make the first 3 octets of each pc's ip the same as the switch's ip.

@Eddylive 3 жыл бұрын

Here's my question, I have a modem/router with two out ports and i just bought a killer gigabit switch, internet is gigabit as well. So should I use both ports on the modem/router or just plug everything into the switch? I bought a 16 port gigabit switch , tp link. I will have around 8-10 cables going into the switch. So my question is plug everything into the switch and use one port on the modem/router or utilize both out ports on the router? Thanx P.s. i am obviously looking for maximum speed for download but my real priority is upload speed as I livestream a lot. Thanx

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

Yes I would plug everything into the switch and have the switch plugged into one of the ports on the router.

@Eddylive 3 жыл бұрын

@@homenetworkgeek192 thanx so much! You have no idea how hard it has been to answer this question. Many thanks! Subbed and liked! Much love my man! I recently just replaced all my ethernet cables as well. Cat 5e's, Cat 6's, and one Cat 7. All replaced to Cat 8 cables and will plug them into the new 16 port gigabit switch. Excited, should be able to finish that tonight or tomorrow.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

@@Eddylive Ideally put all devices on same switch to maximize local traffic, since internet will be limited to your connection speed anyway. Also, there isn't any benefit to cat 7 or 8 unless running 2.5Gb, or 5Gb switches. Cat5e handles gigabit just fine, and cat6 is a bit better for longer runs, and/or POE devices, such as security cameras (though you need a POE switch for these...)

@anyhow5860 Жыл бұрын

@@homenetworkgeek192 is there a configuration needed or it just sends the IP using dhcp?

@sho0oz 3 жыл бұрын

for some reason when i connect them separately on my router, the 2nd switch doesnt work.

@eddieyap7434 2 жыл бұрын

QUESTION Sir, I have two desktop computer connected to router using Lan cable but only one computer is working, meaning only one slot to my router is working, can you give me advise what to do

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

test the cables, swap ports (ports sometimes die), swap cables.

@c8bbr 3 жыл бұрын

I have a 5 port switch at my router. One of the cables goes to the furthest point in my house. Can I put another 5 port switch at this point for my local items?

@homenetworkgeek192 3 жыл бұрын

Yes you can do that.

@judgedredd8876 3 жыл бұрын

@@homenetworkgeek192 In c8bbr's scenario where he connects a second switch to the first switch which connects to the router, would it be preferable to use switches with Uplink ports and what exactly would be the ethernet cable connections setup from router all the way to last device?

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

@@judgedredd8876 With modern switches, uplink ports not necessary (though I will use them if the switch has them). Any cable should work.

@vardagsteknik6576 2 жыл бұрын

But if i want a switch 2.5gbe that dont have vlan and a smart switch that have a vlan hocked together. Will that get my i trubble.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

I think the dumb switch would just be on whatever VLAN it is hooked up to, but don't quote me.

@ednacossa8863 Жыл бұрын

Hello! doubt: I have a router and sometimes the name of the networking is Network 1, sometimes 2, 3. And suddenly a new network showed up which is 4. Why my router keeps changing the name?

@tsamuel6224 3 жыл бұрын

I believe that in home networks switches are cheap and routers are expensive, so your switches will almost always be faster than your router. So putting your router in between your switches would almost always be a bottleneck. I have one 8 port gigabit switch upstairs and another in the basement, and I didn't get why you think the slower router in between faster switches would / could make sense. My OTA tuner alone might saturate the slower router's switch. I am likely to add another switch upstairs that can add more local traffic. And I expect to add a NAS that would add still more local traffic. It still seems like the switches (where fast is cheap) should generally be connected together while slower devices like routers should branch off them. I think you should have at least glossed over the home network where fast switches are cheap. The point you drove home to me is to be certain to clearly mark the cables between the switches. The idea of running a dozen cables from each floor to a single switch is pure fantasy.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

Yeah, don't understand video so heavily knocking switches. As long as there are no loops, which essentially destroy all network traffic, there really isn't a problem linking switches.

@BowWowPewPewCQ Жыл бұрын

How many times do you assume how many devices I have and just blow over a topic. Those doing home automation easily have hundreds of sensors, switches, devices that may need IPs.

@VoIPPortland Жыл бұрын

Always been told when daisy chaining never exceed a max of two sub switches ROUTER>switch>switch. Yes, three is MAX. If using them to increase distance limit of 326' - use a POE extender instead - can be used every 326' for 3x distance with GB speeds (there are sealed outdoor units) some small switches can be set for 'extend' and feed out 10mbps to 250meters.

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

There isn't any reason to use this archaic policy. Back in the days with hubs, you could create issues chaining together, but with switches, as long as you don't create a loop (which is extremely bad), there aren't any drawbacks, other than bandwidth. If you have gigabit switches though, bandwidth in a home setting is extremely unlikely to be an issue, as this is faster than most internet. These days gigabit internet is more common, though for home it is severe overkill. If you do heavy filesharing or do heavy video editing at home, bandwidth may be a concern, but if using gigabit, not really a problem. Put higher traffic devices closer to router if needed. It will of course be better to limit chain length, but in a home setting, not an issue. Many just use WiFi anyway, which is substantially slower than even chaining 20 switches together.

@jakenology17 2 жыл бұрын

Rooter

@mjdirector3294 2 жыл бұрын

Can I connect a switch to another switch? Will that work?

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

Yes, connecting switches together is very common, just don't create loops. Most modern switches you don't even need crossovercable, as they automatically detect it and it works.

@JLMtime 3 жыл бұрын

I had over 245 before because of cameras and my consumer grade router acted like shit

@xeridea Жыл бұрын

In your router, limit what IP addresses are available for DHCP, and set all cameras to static IP, outside of the DHCP range. Also, try to put devices that talk to eachother on the same switch, and avoid needing to go through the router. Would be best to have only 1 connection to router, and all the rest just linked via switches.

@BilalHeuser1 Жыл бұрын

You spend a lot time explaining how to use a switch verbally, but I think it would be more helpful have some graphic illustrations to help better convey exactly what you mean.