I have a small home network. 1 router with wifi and 4 lan ports. The problem is that I don't have enough lan ports and I want to extend it.
I have a few possible solutions but I feel like none of them are good enough.
Solution 1:
/-- [Switch (B)] -> [more lan devices (C)]
ISP ->[Router(A)] ----
| \-- [3 lan devices (D)]
|
|------ [WiFi devices (E)]
Questions:
- Will devices from (C) be able to reach segment (A) (D) and (E) and vice-versa ?
- Will devices in segment (C) have access to internet ?
- Will communication in segment (C) to (C) involve router or no ?
Concerns:
- Broadcast messages from segment(C) behind switch(B) may not reach segment (D) or (E). SmartTV minidlna server will not be discoverable for clients in (D) and (E) segment. Don't know hot to fix this
Solution 2:
|--- [WiFi devices (C)]
|
/-- [Router(B)] -> [3 more lan devices (D)]
ISP ->[Router(A)] ----
| \-- [3 lan devices (E)]
|
|------ [WiFi devices (F)]
Questions:
- How viable this solution is in general?
- Is it possible to unify 2 or more routers to work as a single LAN network ?
Concerns:
- Each router have only 4 ports may be too expensive.
Solution 3:
|--- [WiFi devices (C)]
|
/-- [Router(B)] -> [3 more lan devices (D)]
ISP ->[Switch(A)] ----
\-- [many lan devices (E)]
Questions:
- How viable this solution is in general?
- Will Segment C/D reach E ?
Concerns:
- One of the lan devices should be exposed to internet(specific ports only) Will I be able to port-forward from switch to router then to specific device ?
Any other options are welcome.
Main requirements are the flowing:
- Be able to send/receive Broadcast messages to any device in home network.
- Be able to expose some ports to internet as I am doing it now from router.
- Good performance on LAN to LAN communication