Home network project

[FX4]

My home network has kind of grown out of control and I thought it was time to clean things up. I'm going to do this as a project style post over the weekend.

Here is the mess:

 

[FX4]

The network diagram:

 

[FX4]

The parts:

 

[Lineman]

Wow, that's a project! Impressive network you got planed for your house. Have fun!

 

[FX4]

The network is already built, I'm just cleaning up the cables that have grown by leaps and bounds.

 

[Pinky]

I'd like to see your network map but the uploaded image is too small to read any details.

** NM ** I see it now...

What's up with the media converter using coax? Are the distances really that great you can't just use Cat5/6?

 

[FX4]

Pinky I'll post an updated high resolution map once I'm done with the network upgrade. The media converters are cable MoCA adapters. I didn't have a good Visio stencil so I used a generic media adapter stencil.

It's these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0022NHMZY/ref=oh_o04_s01_i00_details

 

[Pinky]

I see, at least it saves you from running additonal lines.

 

[FX4]

Running Ethernet to the family room was the issue. My basement is finished and pulling cable would have required punching a bunch of holes in sheetrock to get the Ethernet cable into the family room. These MoCA adapters work extremely well. I have no problem running multiple 1080P streams at the same time.

 

[Pinky]

Cool. Only other thing I was wondering was the purpose of having a subnet for the phone. Assuming it's voip, is one home and one business?

 

[FX4]

The voice Vlan is put in a low latency queue and diffserv values are applied to the traffic. EF for voice and AF41 for signalling.

 

[Pinky]

Signalling? I'm all ears, wikipedia me if you must .

 

[FX4]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2t/12_2t2/feature/guide/ft_dscp.html

 

[Adragontattoo]

I found your problem!

You have an Apple running in there!

I kid you not, my previous Pfsense rig would NOT let anything Apple out to the interwebs. It would provide a DHCP address, including DNS, but you couldnt get even ping by IP past the router. PSP, PS3, Denon Avr1912, Roku and Boxee, assorted Android systems, MS 2k, XP, XP64, XP-MCE, 2k3, 7x32,7x64 all were able to get out with no issue but if it had an apple logo it would not work.

 

[FX4]

Yes I do, after a pile of wireless routers dieing I decided to give Apple a try. It has been the best wireless router i have bought to date. It covers the entire house and never burps, never needs rebooted. It is running in bridge mode. I think the last time it was power cycled was something like two years ago when I was working on my wife's computer in her office.

 

[FX4]

BTW: I have quite a few Apple products. Lets see:
1. Apple Extreme wireless router
2. 2 iPads
3. 5-6 iPods
4. 2 MacBook Pros
5. 2 iMacs (Both belong to my wife)
6. 2 iTouch iPods
7. Apple TV. (Don't really use it)
8. Airport Express for Air Tunes

 

[FX4]

Progress so far:

Shelves are mounted and the cable cleanup has begun.

 

[FX4]

I ran into a small problem:

While I was test fitting everything I found that the power adapter for the MoCA media converter will not fit in the power outlets with the distribution box cover closed. I had planned on installing a second power outlet to cover all three powered devices going into the distribution box. I'll have to install a small power strip now. I'm not terribly happy about this but it's the only practical solution I can see to solving the problem.

 

[FX4]

I found a solution to the media adapter transformer problem:

 

[Automata]

FX4, looks good so far! Wish I had the time to sit down and do my house properly like this.

I found your problem!

You have an Apple running in there!

I have a Macbook pro and an iPad on my network and neither have issues. I'm also running pfSense.