Where do I put my switch for maximum effect

[TheRealJobe]

So I have my network broke into 3 zones.

Zone 1 is my Internet demarc to router (cable modem to asus 66u)
Zone 2 is my LAN community (including cabled and wifi)
Zone 3 is a DMZ I want to completely isolate from Zone 2, but still grant Inet access (game systems, webserver)

I am tyring to figure out how to do this in a cost effective manner.
I used to have a PC with a dedicated NIC for each zone running m0n0wall and it was pretty straight forward.

Now all I have is the Asus N66u. I have not found a way to isolate DMZ sever(s) (zone3) from other lan ports (Zone 2). (DDWRT allows this but would but I loose HW acceleration.)

So I was reading an article on the homepage that talked about dropping a smart switch behind the router then implement VLANs seperating zones 2 and3. However, thats less than cost effective (another $200)


Is there a more cost effective way to do this?

 

[tipstir]

So I have my network broke into 3 zones.

Zone 1 is my Internet demarc to router (cable modem to asus 66u)
Zone 2 is my LAN community (including cabled and wifi)
Zone 3 is a DMZ I want to completely isolate from Zone 2, but still grant Inet access (game systems, webserver)

I am tyring to figure out how to do this in a cost effective manner.
I used to have a PC with a dedicated NIC for each zone running m0n0wall and it was pretty straight forward.

Now all I have is the Asus N66u. I have not found a way to isolate DMZ sever(s) (zone3) from other lan ports (Zone 2). (DDWRT allows this but would but I loose HW acceleration.)

So I was reading an article on the homepage that talked about dropping a smart switch behind the router then implement VLANs seperating zones 2 and3. However, thats less than cost effective (another $200)


Is there a more cost effective way to do this?

First off you don't want to daisy chain switches.. That would just degrade your network.

Best advise for you would be to place the switch near the router.

Router
Switch
Devices

Best way to do it.. Don't go cheap on switch today. You best get your money and performance out of it. Un-manage switches were okay in the past but can get a better managed switch with layer 2 for less than that what you have to spend.

Corporations LAN rooms have switches near the main router then for say 1,500 PCs say in a building with 8 floors each floor has a network closet in there are 3 to 4 manage switches. Then again they have a lot of drops to connect to.

So if you have all these zones you need to figure out what's best for you. But in all you don't want to degrade your network throughput. Try to reduce that.