I used to have my modem, then plugged into a Linksys all in one router/AP. I used it to assign static IPs for my PiHole and another server.
Now I have a new central hub, with hardwired ports in most rooms. So my main ISP comes in to this box, and I plug that into the modem. Is the best way to replicate my previous setup (and get my reserved DHCP addresses and jellyfin.server.lan addressing to work again!) to just plug my same router into the modem? Problem is it’s sort of far from being ‘central’. ISP recommended using a switch plugged into the modem first.
Please provide as much information as possible to allow others to assist you. The more information you can provide the better.
Can you describe the central hub device a bit more? Is this something you own and can configure?
What I have that works well for me is my cellular modem → Router / Edge Device → Switch where things are hardwired and wireless. I use PiHole and I have reserved DHCP addresses for certain devices.
I realize, that this doesn’t help you necessarily but I do prefer having as much wired in as possible.
So there’s a box that has something like a switch, but isn’t. There’s a main wire from ISP, then other cat5 cables, which all terminate out to the rooms. So no configuration. My ISP said not to rely on that box, but to buy a separate hardware switch to use.
I have a PiHole, but don’t have it setup for handing out DHCP…I don’t know how to set it up for that, and it’s on a little Raspberry Pi, not sure it can handle all that from 10ish devices (probably less than that).
Sounds like a gateway device, which is a kind of firewall/router/switch all-in-one.
I have the same thing from my ISP and I run it in what is called pass-through mode.
From there, I connect to an Intel NUC running OPNsense firewall via a cat-6 cable. Then, from the firewall, I connect, via another cat-6 cable, to a switch. On the switch, I have an AP (WiFi access point), pi-hole, NAS (omv), and a second RPI (that is hosting NPM, docker, portainer). I also have other downstream switches, for example, one switch powers various POE devices.
The RPI running docker is where most of my home lab lives.
It’s not a gateway device. It’s a GE Telephone interface module (yay DSL!). It looks like a big dumb switch itself. It has an input for the DSL main line in, then labeled ports that all run to different rooms.
I bought a little 5 port switch replicator. I think I’ll plug in ISP line to modem, the modem into the switch. Then I’ll plug in my wireless router to the switch and PiHole into that. Feels like I’m building in a ton of latency doing it that way, though. I don’t have another central device though.
Ah, an old pots port device. Is this for using a standard phone with a VoIP solution?
If so, a pots port device is not a switch and is used for a very specific purpose.
Your plan should work just fine. Also, running the pots ports to various rooms in your house to bring the phone jacks in those rooms should also work. It’s been years (maybe a decade) but I used to do the same thing.
Latency with a local switch should be very small (like 1ms or so). Some switches are better than others, but don’t plug switch-1 into switch-2 into switch-3, etc. I like to follow the Cisco network design methodology of Core->Distribution->Access. You probably won’t need all three layers. A simplified version that I follow at home is to collapse the Core & Distribution into the same layer.
Sounds like that’s it. It’s what my ISP ran the internet line into - the house is already wired with it. I have DSL, so all this is tracking. I’ll plug it all up either today or tomorrow and see how it goes!