Klistvud: > And here's what I need advice for: > > I'm planning to purchase a wired (consumer grade) switch since I've > heard they're inherently more robust than (consumer grade) routers, > and I'm planning to connect it *directly* to our cable broadband > modem. Then, the two families would connect their respective routers > (we have some spare wireless routers) to this switch. The various > computers and network printers would then be connected, in turn, to > these routers.
You are looking for a router (OSI layer 3), not a switch (OSI layer 2).
It needs to have three distinct interfaces (1xWAN, 2xLAN). If it runs
something like OpenWrt you are completely free about its configuration,
e.g. you can put each interface in separate networks, enable or disable
routing between them, filter traffic to your liking etc. It should even
be possible to use some QoS features in order to share the bandwith
between the families (subnets).
I think even a simple Linksys WRT54GL would suffice. AFAIK you can
disable the bridge between the switchports and thus configure each
switchport as a separate interface. If you want GBit-Ethernet you can
build something yourself using a Routerstation Pro, for example. Take a
look at OpenWrt's Table of Hardware.
Alix and Soekris boards come to my mind as well, but IMHO they are too
expensive.
J.
--
If I could travel in time I would show my minidisc to the Romans and
become Caesar until the batteries ran out.
[Agree] [Disagree]
<http://www.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>
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