gigabit switches and 10/100 routers

[rdsii64]

My broad band internet connection is from Verizon Fios. They supply their own 10/100 router with their service. What I want to do is connect a large capacity NAS device to my network so I can stream movies to the 73 inch big screen in my living room . My question is can I plug a gigabit switch into one of the ports on a 10/100 router then plug my mac and the NAS device into the gigabit switch, without degrading the performance of the gigabit switch. once I solve this the rest of my set up will be a walk in the park

 

[sushi]

If I understand what you are trying to do, yes this will work.

Between your Mac and NAS you will have giga throughput.

Between your Mac and the Internet you will have up to 100Mbps based upon the router. Of course you actual throughput up to 100Mbps will be based upon your Internet connection speed.

 

[cube]

But can the gigabit switch route?

Or does it just work with the Mac's gateway setting?

 

[rdsii64]

An added twist

If I understand what you are trying to do, yes this will work.

Between your Mac and NAS you will have giga throughput.

Between your Mac and the Internet you will have up to 100Mbps based upon the router. Of course you actual throughput up to 100Mbps will be based upon your Internet connection speed.

Thank you for the prompt reply. If you don't mind I would like to add a twist to the question. Since the mac pro has two gigabit ethernet ports, what would happen if I plugged one strait to the 10/100 router for my internet. and the other port to the gigabit switch.

My mac pro should be in my house by the end of the month and I am doing as much research and question asking as I can before it gets here so when I have it in my hands I will have a clue.

 

[Guiyon]

Thank you for the prompt reply. If you don't mind I would like to add a twist to the question. Since the mac pro has two gigabit ethernet ports, what would happen if I plugged one strait to the 10/100 router for my internet. and the other port to the gigabit switch.

My mac pro should be in my house by the end of the month and I am doing as much research and question asking as I can before it gets here so when I have it in my hands I will have a clue.

You would have to setup your Mac Pro as an internet gateway if you wanted to share the connection with anything on the Gigabit router. The two ports are completely separate from each other so if you have one connected to the FIOS and the other port connected to your LAN the things on the LAN will only be able to see the Mac Pro; the internet connection effectively does not exist to them.

 

[rdsii64]

that would be perfect

You would have to setup your Mac Pro as an internet gateway if you wanted to share the connection with anything on the Gigabit router. The two ports are completely separate from each other so if you have one connected to the FIOS and the other port connected to your LAN the things on the LAN will only be able to see the Mac Pro; the internet connection effectively does not exist to them.

That would be a perfect set up for my needs. as the only thing that would be on the gigabit switch other than my mac pro would be a back up drive for time machine and a 4T NAS to stream videos, music and stuff like that.

My overall plan would is to connect my mac pro in my office to the gigabit switch, put a mac mini in my living room ( assuming it has DVI and gigabit ethernet). connect the mini to the switch, run a dvi to hdmi from the mini to my 73 inch TV and output the sound from the mini to my surround sound. I am not sure the mini will work with the audio part of the equation yet as I have not done any research, but if not the mini then what ever will work. So long as the switch has enough ports for the mac pro, the mini, two time machine drives and the 4T NAS then I will be ok. If the mac mini won't work then I may have to look at an apple TV. If I have to go that rout then I won't need the second time machine drive.

This will be my first mac so any advise will be most welcome.

 

[martinlk]

I would advise against this. Your Mac would have to be on 24/7 in order to be used as a router. Plus, you'd have to set everything up software-wise.

Just plug everything into your gigabit switch, including your 100mbps router, and everything will work fine. Devices that are gigabit-capable will communicate at that speed, and devices that are not will fall back to 100mbps. This is by far the simplest solution for simple networking needs and it'll be much easier to set up.

 

[sushi]

Thank you for the prompt reply. If you don't mind I would like to add a twist to the question. Since the mac pro has two gigabit ethernet ports, what would happen if I plugged one strait to the 10/100 router for my internet. and the other port to the gigabit switch.

My mac pro should be in my house by the end of the month and I am doing as much research and question asking as I can before it gets here so when I have it in my hands I will have a clue.

This is easy to do with the Mac.

However, I would recommend that you connect your switch to the router, and then connect everything else to the switch. Keeps it simpler that way.