This post is mostly a brain dump to remind me what my line of thinking was when I revisit this topic a year or two from now. You’ll find that I post these now and again. Writing things out helps me make sense of them and spot things I might have missed.
Anyway… Networking. My network needs haven’t been particularly demanding for a while now. A couple of decades ago, I had three dozen machines wired up with 10Base2, but lately, it’s a small handful of low-demand wired devices with the rest on WiFi.
But that’s about to change. And there’s a TL;DR at the bottom if you get bored reading this.
The problem with my network…
For at least the last fifteen years or so, a TP-Link 8-port Gigabit unmanaged switch (US/UK) has been just fine for my needs at home. At most, I’ve usually got the router plugged into it, a couple of WiFi extenders, my main desktop computer, a gaming computer and the TV. Sometimes, it’ll have the YoloBox Pro plugged into it if I’m streaming.
Overall, the demands are pretty low. So my needs have been pretty basic. At the moment, though, I’m in the process of making our modest little home “smart”. We’re definitely gonna need a bigger boat.
Why upgrade?
Most of the smart devices and other gadgets I plan to install in the coming months will be in permanent locations. Running a wire won’t be a big deal, especially if it means fewer devices hogging the WiFi. It means less potential interference for things like wireless microphones or HDMI transmitters when shooting videos.
We’re also planning to move at some point in the next couple of years. Where we are now is great, but we really need somewhere bigger. The plan is to have the new home all wired up, with an office for each of us and a studio we can both use to film in. All of these offices, the studio and other rooms around the house will need to be able to communicate with each other.
I want to be able to shoot a video in the studio, edit it with the laptop on the couch, and then render out the final video on the PC in my office, ready for it to be uploaded to YouTube. I then want to be able to go lie in bed and watch it on the projector.
I figure I should just start planning for that future network now.
What am I getting?
I don’t want to buy a setup that goes to waste when we move somewhere else because it just can’t stand up to the task and becomes redundant. So, I’ll be buying some of those future-home components to power what I want to do now.
It’s a little overkill.
Ultimately, the setup will offer a lot of ports and plenty enough bandwidth to satisfy everything. It will be comprised largely of old enterprise networking hardware. Why? Because it’s gotten cheap. Really cheap. Switches that would cost upwards of $1,000 a decade ago can now be found for under $150 – sometimes well under. What used to be $10K+ worth of networking hardware can now be had for less than $500 if you’re patient- and a bit lucky.
Most enterprise networking hardware is at least a decade ahead of consumer networking hardware, so when you figure out what current consumer gear costs today, the older enterprise gear tends to be far more cost-effective and usually far more capable.
Plus, I’ve never played with this level of networking hardware before. Most of the networks I’ve worked on throughout my life have only been 15-25 wired machines in a small office. And by “worked on”, I mean I plugged in a few cables and replaced them if they died. I made sure the Linux server stayed up and running. The basics.
I’ve never needed anything more demanding for any of my clients, and I’ve never had a need for it myself before. Even if I did want it for myself, I just couldn’t justify the costs of doing it back then. Now, though, I do want it (and will need it in the future). And the hardware’s finally available at a price I can justify.
So, I’m doing it.
Sitting at the top – The main switch
Now: YuanLey 9 Port 2.5G Easy Managed Ethernet Switch
My TP-Link Gigabit 8 port switch has been replaced by the “YuanLey 9 Port 2.5G Easy Managed Ethernet Switch” (Model YS25-0801M) (US/UK). And while I don’t believe its claimed “managed” status for a second (I can’t get it to show up on my network at all), it does offer eight 2.5GB RJ45 sockets and a 10GB SFP+ socket.
Even unmanaged, it’ll do for now. My needs are currently still quite low. The only reason for me to get this now is that my new file server has 2.5GB Ethernet ports, so I’m putting a 2.5GB card in my main desktop, and a couple of other machines, and this will let them all communicate with each other at full speed. And when we’re in the new place, it’ll sit in one of our offices, taking in 10GB and feeding 2.5GB to the devices plugged into it.
Right now, there’s really only me using the wired side of our network at home, and there are no automated devices on the network hogging the bandwidth. So I shouldn’t hit any bottlenecks. A managed switch for this isn’t essential at the moment.
Future: TP-Link TL-SH1832
In fact, even in our future home, a managed switch still won’t really be essential for our needs – but it’d be nice. The ultimate plan is to replace the switch above with the TP-Link TL-SH1832. This is also an unmanaged switch, but offers 24x 2.5GB RJ45 ports and 8x 10GB SFP+ ports.
Despite not really needing it, I do wish there were a managed version of this. Aggregating some of those SFP+ ports for 20GB communication to other devices would be very nice. But this unit is already difficult enough to get hold of as it is. You won’t find it on Amazon or any of the usual places.
It seems it was only ever released in China, but you can buy it directly from TP-Link on their AliExpress store and have it shipped elsewhere in the world. It’s a shame that Netgear or someone doesn’t make an equivalent unit in the West.
This will probably be the next addition to the network. And if I get it before we move, the YuanLey will be going into storage until we do. This will be replacing it.
Distant Future: No idea
The TP-Link TL-SH1832 will hopefully not be the final main switch for my network. I’d like to find something with similar capability (at least 12x 2.5Gb and 8x10GB SFP+) but managed, if possible. I’d like to be able to aggregate some of those ports for faster transfers to specific other switches.
I’m also considering a dedicated 10GB SFP+ only switch at some point, too. At least 12, ideally at least 16, 10GB SFP+ ports. This would also be a managed switch if it exists.
I’m open to any suggestions, but I’m not looking to spend a fortune. If these haven’t come down to a level that falls within my budget, I’ll just continue to be patient and wait.
The next level – Lots of ports (and power!)
Now: 1x Netgear ProSafe GS752TXS
This is the first piece of enterprise-level networking hardware that I’ve ever owned. When it was released over a decade ago, this unit fetched a handsome price. I’ve seen archived listings as high as £1,700 here in the UK – although the street price back then appears to be a little bit lower.
I found mine on eBay for £50. 48x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 4x 10GB SFP+ ports. This will cover all of the wired networking needs here in the house. And because Netgear designed it this way, I can stack up to six of these things together – which I plan to do, eventually.
At the moment, the SFP+ port from the YuanLey switch plugs into one of the SFP+ ports on the GS752TXS. The devices that will be plugged into the GS752TXS are low-demand units.
TV, 3D printers, etc. They don’t need a lot of bandwidth. They just need connectivity. So, a single 10GB connection between all of them will be more than plenty.
I plan to add many more devices to the network, hence the large number of ports. In fact, I ultimately plan to add so many that this lonely 48-port switch won’t be enough.
As I said, I’ll be maxing out the stack of six. So, with that in mind…
Future: 4x Netgear ProSafe GS752TXS & 2x GS752TPS
I plan to add three more G752TXS units to my existing one. This will give me 192 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports that I can control from a single web interface. I can set up VLANs, do tricky routing, and monitor traffic and bandwidth usage right from the comfort of a single browser tab.
But this is not enough. I also plan to add a couple of G752TPS units as well. These are essentially identical to the GS752TXS, offering 48x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports, but they do differ a little. The GS752TXS, for example, contains four 10GB SFP+ ports, while the GS752TPS contains six 1GB SFP ports.
The other big difference is that the GS752TPS offers Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). The GS752TXS doesn’t. I have a number of ESP32 and Raspberry Pi projects in the works that I want to be able to keep powered and connected to my network permanently.
PoE is the obvious solution, so I’ll be getting a couple of Netgear ProSafe GS752TPS 48-port PoE switches. These will be connected to one of the GS752TXS switches with six Gigabit RJ45 sockets aggregated together for (hypothetical) 6GB/sec max transfer speeds between them.
They shouldn’t need anywhere near that much bandwidth between them, but I also don’t think I’ll ever fill 288 Ethernet ports with actual devices. But hey, goals, right?
These units will be gathered as and when suitable deals pop up on eBay. Sometimes, the listings can still be quite expensive, especially when there are only a few units available. Every so often – although it’s happening more often as time goes on – a company will be upgrading and flood eBay with dozens of units. If you’re looking for a good deal, this is usually when it’s best to buy, as prices typically plummet for a while.
Distant Future: I think I’ll probably be OK with these
I’m not sure that I’ll need to replace these in any real hurry. I might add to them, but they won’t be replaced unless they start to die off completely and are too impractical to repair – or used ones dry up on eBay.
It’s decent hardware. Enterprise hardware, in fact. And while I do want to upgrade, I don’t want to pay enterprise prices. That £1,700 price I found online for the GS752TXS from 2012 was reduced to £50 on eBay in 2024.
If I can find something that’s the equivalent of a GS752TXS but with built-in PoE in every port for the right price… Well, I might consider switching – no pun intended. But I honestly don’t see that as a major need over my current line of thinking.
Other Stuff
Now: Not much, really…
There isn’t much else in my network setup right now, really. Everything else largely lives on the WiFi. Laptops, iPads, iPhones and Android devices all usually connect over WiFi. I do have a couple of those Rockspace AC1200 WiFi extenders (US/UK) wired into a switch to increase the WiFi range, but that’s about it.
Future: New Router
The BT Smart Hub 2 is… well, it’s not great. It’s great if it performs well for you, but its performance can break down very quickly – especially in an old building with thick stone walls. The Rockspace WiFi extenders also aren’t as reliable as they used to be.
I plan to disable pretty much all of its features (DHCP, DNS, etc) and assign them to other devices, using the BT Smart Hub essentially just as a dumb modem. Some of the features (like DNS) will be taken over by a Raspberry Pi running Linux for maximum control.
Other features (like WiFi and DHCP) will be assigned to a new router. I’ve got a handful of TP-Link and ASUS models on my shortlist at the moment, but I haven’t decided which to go for. If you have any suggestions for models I should check out, let me know!
Distant Future: 10GB SFP+ Switch
I also want to get an SFP+ switch at some point. It’ll need to have at least 12 (ideally at least 16) 10GB SFP+ ports and fit into a 1U slot on a 19″ rack. Ideally, I’d like for it to be managed. If it’s unmanaged, I’ll survive. But only until I find one that’s managed, and then it’ll be replaced.
I mentioned these above, too, and I don’t know what switch I’ll go for yet. I haven’t even begun to research these. I just had a couple of 8-port ones pop up in Amazon searches for other switches and wanted to make a note of it.
Summary (I guess a TL;DR)
I’m upgrading my network to give me 2.5GB ethernet between my main PCs and servers. I’m adding a few hundred Gigabit Ethernet ports, 96 of them with PoE. And I’ll have 10GB SFP+ connections between most of the switches, so they shouldn’t get bogged down.
Why? Well, I need to upgrade my network to deal with faster storage for video editing. I’ve got 8K cameras here, and that footage takes up a lot of space and often has a high bitrate. This means I need a higher bandwidth network.
I’m also upgrading my home to be “Smart”. A lot of the devices will live in permanent locations where I can run an Ethernet cable. I’ll also be able to supply power to many of these devices using PoE through the same Ethernet cable.
The setup is definitely overkill for my needs now. The ultimate goal is to build a network for our future home. That’s a couple of years away, but I’m impatient, and I want some of those little luxuries now. So, I’m starting to build that future network now.
Note: The lead image was created with Adobe Firefly using the Firefly 2 engine. The Firefly 3 engine has just been released, although the files are currently low resolution. It shows promise, though. Yeah, I know, I’m a photographer, why am I using AI images? Well, I’m just experimenting with it at the moment. I’ll have my thoughts on it coming in a future post!
Frequently Asked Questions
Well, the simple answer is that I don’t. Not yet, anyway. But I will! I have a lot of ESP32 and Raspberry Pi devices that I want to live permanently on my future network. Sure, I could go with WiFi, but who wants 100 ESP32s all fighting for a WiFi connection at the same time? Not to mention the interference it would potentially cause to other devices with that much data constantly flying through the air.
I’ll reveal more about what these Raspberry Pis and ESP32s are doing as those projects start to come together. For now, just know that I’m going to need a lot of ports, which is why I’m rebuilding my network setup.
They’re pretty loud. Even a single switch sits on the border between “background noise you can eventually ignore” and “Yeah, it’s getting irritating now”, depending on your mood at any given time.
At the moment, I only have a single 52-port switch (Netgear GS752TXS) , and it’s located somewhere we can’t hear it. Once I have six of them? Maybe that’ll get a little loud, and I’ll have to figure out a solution, but that’s a future-John problem.
