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Help with a Triple Router in a Y-Configuration

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Manny

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Help with a Triple Router in a Y-Configuration

Hello everyone,

This is what I am thinking; tell me if I am off the wall with this.
Cable modem: Surfboard extreme SB6120
it will be time to upgrade the Cable modem before long.

Router 1: TP-Link TL-ER5120 DHCP Server

Router 2: TP-Link TL-ER5120 LAN

Router 3: TP-Link TL-ER5120 WAN

My RT-AC88U goes into the WAN of Router 3


Thank You for your help…
 
Why do you need more than one router? On the surface I don't think this makes a lot of sense.

I am trying to isolate the networks. Now this may be overkill, but I need help.
 
Unless you have 5 static IP addresses you only have 1 IP address for the WAN.

To have one DHCP server with multiple scopes you will need to install a DHCP server like Microsoft's or some other. A consumer router is not going to help you to have one multi-scoped DHCP server.

You need to draw this out with IP addresses to figure it out. It will make sense or not.
 
A single router is enough to isolate networks, how many networks do you plan on having? The whole point of a router is to route regardless of where it is from. This is actually much easier to visualise on a configurable router where you can set rules on how each network operates and how they communicate. While a router could technically route the entire IP space it depends on how much CPU and RAM it has.

You can use layers 1,2 and 3 for segmentation and isolation or even perform port isolation using a managed switch. TP-link routers have layer 3 routing capability in their firmware but lack much else. Layer 1 segmentation isnt necessary though.

A router can also act as a DHCP server for multiple networks but it depends on the kind of router you have. For what you want to achieve you should install 3rd party firmware or get a different router. TP-link's firmware is basic which is why it is cheap. The AC88U can actually handle all the duties you want except for wirespeed layer 3 routing.
 
Help with a Triple Router in a Y-Configuration

Hello everyone,

This is what I am thinking; tell me if I am off the wall with this.
Cable modem: Surfboard extreme SB6120
it will be time to upgrade the Cable modem before long.

Router 1: TP-Link TL-ER5120 DHCP Server

Router 2: TP-Link TL-ER5120 LAN

Router 3: TP-Link TL-ER5120 WAN

My RT-AC88U goes into the WAN of Router 3


Thank You for your help…


Can you draw a diagram? You ask for a triple router 'Y' configuration yet you list 4 routers.

An idea of what you're isolating would help too (even if you just make it up for the forum here).
 
Can you draw a diagram? You ask for a triple router 'Y' configuration yet you list 4 routers.

An idea of what you're isolating would help too (even if you just make it up for the forum here).

Ok this is what I was thinking about, two isolated sub networks. One for business, workstations. And one for personnel, and wireless and WIFI - iphones, iPads etc.


Cable modem into WAN to WAN of Router 1


Router 1, DHCP: LAN to WAN of Router 1 to Router 2 for business, workstations.

Router 1, DHCP: LAN to WAN of Router 1 to Router 3 for personnel, and wireless and WIFI - iphones, iPads etc.


I am not set on the TP-Link TL-ER5120 Router. Any Router suggestions would be helpful.


I am open to all suggestions.


Thank You,
 
What you should do, connect WAN of AC88U to modem, and use that to segment your network. The first 4 LAN ports are broadcom while the 2nd 4 is on a realtek switch (with 1 Gb/s to CPU). So depending on your needs set the 4 ports to different networks based on your requirements. Than connect 1 tp-link wifi router to one segment and one to the other segment and you're done. There may be some complication involved and unless you set for it both networks cant communicate with each other.

For internal communication you can use NAT or layer 3 routing (recommended). There are many guides on setting up layer 3 routing and generally a layer 3 switch would be good for this.

From the list you have 1 too many tp-links. The tp-links only need to act as dumb APs. All the heavy lifting should be done from ASUS. Between ports 1-4 on AC88U 2 can be combined incase you need a 2Gb/s link.
 
What you should do, connect WAN of AC88U to modem, and use that to segment your network. The first 4 LAN ports are broadcom while the 2nd 4 is on a realtek switch (with 1 Gb/s to CPU). So depending on your needs set the 4 ports to different networks based on your requirements. Than connect 1 tp-link wifi router to one segment and one to the other segment and you're done. There may be some complication involved and unless you set for it both networks cant communicate with each other.

For internal communication you can use NAT or layer 3 routing (recommended). There are many guides on setting up layer 3 routing and generally a layer 3 switch would be good for this.

From the list you have 1 too many tp-links. The tp-links only need to act as dumb APs. All the heavy lifting should be done from ASUS. Between ports 1-4 on AC88U 2 can be combined incase you need a 2Gb/s link.

Ok I like the sound of this. I have to draw this up. How will this work?


Do I need the TP-links? Do you have a router suggestion? The WIFI router to enhance the RT-AC88U

Thank You,
 
Ok this is what I was thinking about, two isolated sub networks. One for business, workstations. And one for personnel, and wireless and WIFI - iphones, iPads etc.


Cable modem into WAN to WAN of Router 1


Router 1, DHCP: LAN to WAN of Router 1 to Router 2 for business, workstations.

Router 1, DHCP: LAN to WAN of Router 1 to Router 3 for personnel, and wireless and WIFI - iphones, iPads etc.


I am not set on the TP-Link TL-ER5120 Router. Any Router suggestions would be helpful.


I am open to all suggestions.


Thank You,


http://www.snbforums.com/threads/still-confused-about-switches.20955/#post-152238

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/still-confused-about-switches.20955/#post-152343

The links above shows how to segregate many devices using multiple switches on single router. The idea behind doing so is useful to understand what we'll be doing with multiple routers instead.


http://www.snbforums.com/threads/router-advice-up-to-100-simultaneous-users.23169/

The link above shows how to use 5 routers in a single LAN (all devices can communicate with each other).

To change it to your requirements, you simply need to do this:


For example:
  • R0 would be 192.168.100.1 and handle the secondary router (below)
  • R1 would be 192.168.150.1 and handle the business aspects of your network
  • R2 would be 192.168.200.1 and handle the personal side of your network needs


The respective LAN port on R0 will connect to the respective WAN port on the secondary router.

For example:
  • Port 1 on R0 will connect to the WAN port of R1
  • Port 2 on R0 will connect to the WAN port of R2


http://whatismyipaddress.com/private-ip

You can even use vastly different private IP ranges too (see link above).

So while R0 can be 192.168.x.x,
R1 can be 172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x and
R2 can be 10.x.x.x to 10.255.x.x.

So you'll be able to instantly recognize which router you're connected to by the IP prefix.

I would put the best router you have for the R0 router duties (as it faces the rest of the world and would not recommend a TP-Link router in this spot (even for a single router configuration) as the security holes that TP-Link refuses to close are massive. Even RMerlin thinks TP-Link is at the bottom of this race (for security) and at least some of these issues are a decade or more old.

The RT-AC88U will allow you to have 8 segregated networks with a single ISP connection (one router on each Port it has). This should be R0, imo.

The secondary routers can now be almost anything else, but I would recommend the RT-AC56U or the RT-AC68U once more.

All routers with RMerlin firmware or the john9527 or hggomes forks, depending on your needs.

This will give a very stable network base to work from. Along with timely updates for security, performance and features from Asus and tweaked to perfection by the aforementioned fork developers this will be a hard act to beat for a very long time.
 
If you are going to buy equipment, buy a Cisco SG300 layer 3 switch to work with your ASUS router. Forget multiple routers. Run one router and one layer 3 switch. Add wireless devices if need be. Switches are faster than routers. You can setup your 2 separate networks to share devices like printers and such instead of requiring 2 of everything.
 
A switch isnt necessarily faster, If you were to add filters and rules to a switch it will not switch at wirespeed in which case you would need a mikrotik CCR if you plan on filtering your internal network with a firewall.

Checking the specs it seems like the SG300 offers the best a semi managed switch can offer. If you're suggesting cisco remember that low end cisco doesnt have more support than any other product in it's tier from other companies. So to suggest low end cisco would be based on the same reason to choose another brand other than reliability and support reasons.

You only need a switch for segmentation if you expect to have communication between them for example if you plan to share a single printer among both networks or even your NAS a switch will help in doing it faster than a router but if you plan on having no communication between your work and home networks than you dont need a switch because the router will handle it since it doesnt have to do any additional routing other than LAN and WAN communication and no additional switching other than layer 2. Switches are suggested quite often because they tend to be the rule for segmentation (many consumer routers cant do vlans, especially not on the switch chip) with the expectation of an overlap or a way for both networks to communicate or because the existing router firmware lacks the features needed to handle 2 seperate networks. So if you want both your networks to communicate with each other but in a limited fashion a switch will help you. If you dont want your networks to communicate with each other you dont need a switch, you only need a router that can have multiple LAN IP addresses that you can configure and set which ports are switch with which ports (layer 1 segmentation) otherwise get a switch if you dont have the skillset for such a router.
 
I only recommend SG300 switches because they are a good inexpensive layer 3 switch with low power draw. They readily can be had used. It has a 17 GIG backplane switch which should handle any home needs. Layer 3 switches switch at nanosecond speeds whereas routers route at millisecond speeds. Switches are faster than routers.

It does take some skill with a layer 3 switch as you are working at layer 3. Lots of IP addressing and networks.
 
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A switch isnt necessarily faster, If you were to add filters and rules to a switch it will not switch at wirespeed in which case you would need a mikrotik CCR if you plan on filtering your internal network with a firewall.

Checking the specs it seems like the SG300 offers the best a semi managed switch can offer. If you're suggesting cisco remember that low end cisco doesnt have more support than any other product in it's tier from other companies. So to suggest low end cisco would be based on the same reason to choose another brand other than reliability and support reasons.

You only need a switch for segmentation if you expect to have communication between them for example if you plan to share a single printer among both networks or even your NAS a switch will help in doing it faster than a router but if you plan on having no communication between your work and home networks than you dont need a switch because the router will handle it since it doesnt have to do any additional routing other than LAN and WAN communication and no additional switching other than layer 2. Switches are suggested quite often because they tend to be the rule for segmentation (many consumer routers cant do vlans, especially not on the switch chip) with the expectation of an overlap or a way for both networks to communicate or because the existing router firmware lacks the features needed to handle 2 seperate networks. So if you want both your networks to communicate with each other but in a limited fashion a switch will help you. If you dont want your networks to communicate with each other you dont need a switch, you only need a router that can have multiple LAN IP addresses that you can configure and set which ports are switch with which ports (layer 1 segmentation) otherwise get a switch if you dont have the skillset for such a router.

I am unable to post. I have to wait for moderator approval. That sounded a challenge to me, you’re on…

Edit: But I am undecided about having them isolated from each other.
 
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:)
Except when they're used as routers. ;)

And yes I am buying new equipment, I am trying to have this up and running by the 12th. I will need all your help please :)
 
If you only have 5 days to learn networking I don't know. I am not even sure you can order the equipment and have it delivered in time to do this.
 
If you only have 5 days to learn networking I don't know. I am not even sure you can order the equipment and have it delivered in time to do this.

Get it ordered and see what happens, never say never…

I have my RT-AC88U, all I need is three routers right
 

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