New home network setup questions

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Cyier

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Jun 6, 2013
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I am wanting to setup a new home network setup and I need recommendations. I have an AV closet that I am running 6 - Cat6 cables terminated to a panel. I have 2 cables going to the living room (receiver and PS4). I have the other 4 going to bedrooms and a great room just for various electronics. From the cable modem I want a physical firewall that drops to a managed switch and my wireless router. I want to get my hands dirty and learn some network security so I am leaning toward Cisco equipment since that seems to be the standard. I am open to manufacturer suggestions for the best bang for the buck. I want to connect my home so I can; stream music and movies from a NAS (to be built), PC and console gaming, VPN and be prepped to provide enough bandwidth for 4k in the future. I don't think I will need POE just yet but if there is one within the budget I may consider it for future use (security cameras, etc...). The budget is between $800-1000.

I have thought of going:
Firewall: Cisco ASA 5505
Managed Switch: Cisco SG300-10
Wireless Router: (already have) NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

Thank you for your help and time with this!
 
Solution
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If you don't need vlans or port security or other managed features then the managed switch is really a big waste of money.
You can easily load aftermarket firmware on the router to get you better configuration tools over factory.
For the sake of learning you can always get older 10/100 speed cisco routers/switches for super cheap now days.

As far as living room you should run more cables now or plan on having a switch in there, it wont take long for you to outgrow those 2 ports, I did the same thing putting 2 Ethernet drops in the living room and am now using 6 out of 8 ports on a gigabit switch.

I personally would just get a sonicwall firewall or Linux firewall, and a 16 or 24 port switch.
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Cyier

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Jun 6, 2013
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I think I know what I want but there maybe other alternatives that I am not aware of. If there are limitations from what I picked that may not work properly with what I am trying to achieve.
 
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boosted1g

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Jun 12, 2013
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If you don't need vlans or port security or other managed features then the managed switch is really a big waste of money.
You can easily load aftermarket firmware on the router to get you better configuration tools over factory.
For the sake of learning you can always get older 10/100 speed cisco routers/switches for super cheap now days.

As far as living room you should run more cables now or plan on having a switch in there, it wont take long for you to outgrow those 2 ports, I did the same thing putting 2 Ethernet drops in the living room and am now using 6 out of 8 ports on a gigabit switch.

I personally would just get a sonicwall firewall or Linux firewall, and a 16 or 24 port switch.
 
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Solution
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
14,846
8
74,965
The thing as well with managed switches is that the moment you add a basic unmanaged switch into the mix (on the port you plug the switch into) you loose most all the features that make the managed switch better like vlan tagging, port security, access restrictions etc, etc.
 
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C

Cyier

Honorable
Jun 6, 2013
57
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10,640
Thanks boosted1g for the info and recommendations. I assumed (yes I know) that if I had a manage switch as the main switch and dropped an unmanaged in the living room or a bedroom when I outgrow that I could still have the main managed switch over see vlan segments or port priorities. I may look into getting an older cisco switch and fw play with later on. I will look into the sonicwall firewall and a larger switch. I knew the 10 port was pushing it once I add a NAS, a VM box and any other equipment in the future. Do you have any recommendations on sonicwall fw and switches?
 
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