What sort of switch

[bononos]

What sort of switch would I need to hook up an adjoining townhouse to the internet? What sort of features would be important to look at (eg MAC address buffer size, QoS etc)?
It should be a matter of placing a switch in the townhouse(to be connected) and running a cable to the router which is connected to the internet right?

 

[DainBrammage]

are you wanting to rate limit the connection?

 

[weovpac]

Look into a managed/smart switch and use VLANs, to segment the LANs. For example [1] or [2].

Or separate it physically using a separate physical network interface on the router, or a separate router, appropriate firewalling, and give it its own switch. Over using VLANs, making things really secure. If security is a concern.

It should be a matter of placing a switch in the townhouse(to be connected) and running a cable to the router which is connected to the internet right?

Basically, yes.

[1] http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...uters_switches/300_series_switches/index.html
[2] http://netgear.dk/business/products/switches/smart-switches/GS108T-200.aspx#

 

[JackMDS]

It depends on how you would the systems to be configured.

One cohesive network for both places?

Wireless where (if any)?

 

[mammador]

A main factor in switch size is how many nodes need separate collision domains, to be practical and scalable. How many devices would need network connectivity?

As for QoS, well this would be set at the router end. This too would depend on your needs. What are your most used Internet services? if it's just Web and e-mail, QoS is not needed as such. But if you have VoIP, in addition to Web and e-mail, you need to partition bandwidth to ensure each service has good throughput and performance.

I would suggest getting a cheap fibre link from your current router to the switch, and simply going from there as is. If a fibre link is too expensive, getting an Ethernet cable may work, but it depends on the distance between the two buildings. Ethernet signals degrade after 100-150 metres or so.

 

[robmurphy]

The Ethernet standard is quite clear on this. 90M solid core and the remaining 10M for patch leads either end. Total length 100M max.

If you running Ethernet outside you have other things to consider like the type of cable, does it run in some for of enclosure, lightning protection. Fibre would mean you would not need to worry about lightning, but would still need to enclose the cable.

Rob.