Home Project: Adding a Network Switch? Before Or After The Router? (2024)

March, 22, 2021

The when's and why's...

Well, I just completed my latest home project—for the first quarter of the year, where I upgraded the wired and wireless networking hardware technology, and networking security layers, of my computing, smart-home ecosystems, and the additional network-attached storage (NAS) I added for multimedia and productivity use plus file backups (a decision triggered by an unfortunate recent situation I had to contend with, courtesy of Microsoft).

A phase of the project also included adding a hardware "next-generation" firewall for protection and intrusion detection, a new Gigabit Ethernet switch, and a second router dedicated to the use of my smart-appliances, smart-home controllers, and virtual-assistants. The latter said technologies, which I have been bench-marking for sometime, were working perfectly well (network connectivity wise) on the old configuration.

While most of the work accomplished was relatively uneventful and almost routine, what was thought of as the elementary setup and configuration of the 'new' router [something I've done hundreds upon hundreds of times before] brought on an unexpected relatively big challenge that was a result of a small problem, and took several days to address... neither the installation "wizard" provided by the router's manufacturer, nor that included with the computer operating system (OS), were of help at all.

Upfront, I will tell you that the initial hindrance was primarily due to a mental bias: I attended to the project as if it was at one of my business client sites... the operative keyword is "business," and you will see why that was important at the end of the article.

I should continue by clarifying further that I discovered that the router I bought online was a used and resold one (it was advertised as "new"), and I think that the fact that I discovered that frustrating issue played a major role at distracting me [emotionally] further from nailing the actual problem [logically] more rapidly.

I want to point out that what encouraged me to author this article is the fact that while I was attempting to correct the connectivity problems I encountered while working on configuring the router, I did do some significant searches online to find solutions in a desire to save some of my time troubleshooting.

While I found other people whom had to deal with the same problem description, even with the same device, I did not find an effective resolution. I hope that by sharing my experience herein I may be able to help others who may encounter such a simple yet aggravating challenge in the future!

Hindsight is (always) 20/20

Initially, when I tested the culprit router on its own, after I purchased it, I discovered that it had existing configuration issues that eventually drove me to resetting it to factory settings several times... I did that for cybersecurity reasons too. The wireless service was not working while the wired was intermittent.

The choices: Which comes first?

Installing a networking switch can be done in two ways, the first—in connecting order—is placing it after the modem and before the router, and the second is placing it after a router that is connected first to the modem (Modem—>Router—>Switch).

Commonly, in a home setup, you will see the modem installed first, followed by a router and then the Ethernet switch. Here is the key operational principle: the modem passes the public IP address to the router, and in turn the said router assigns private IP addresses to the devices connected to it.

While the network switch doesn’t handle allocating IP addresses, it does serve as the extension of the limited ports on the router. The idea of such an application is that all your devices with private addresses are relatively safe as they are not directly visible to the internet.

Home Project: Adding a Network Switch? Before Or After The Router? (1)

In the case of my home project (this is a 'new' home), the principle I chose to initially operate by was that proposed by connecting from the modem to the switch, then to the routers, and finally the connected devices. But why? This design seemed ideal because, first, habit: I used it at my house 'server room' before, when I was running my own experimental VOIP setup and web-server; at the time, I also used a VPN setup and remote access to my development-server (sandbox).

However, here comes the crux of the matter that I failed to recognize initially—due to the distracting biases I mentioned above: I did not consider the fact that I did not pay my ISP to provide a public static IP address. Adding to the confusion, one of my routers was functioning and connecting normally, while the [troublesome] new one did not, hence, all the devices connected to the latter failed to connect to the internet... too many moving parts... a headache I created for myself in this case!

Final conclusion...

In this case, and by my choice of configuration and [paid for] choice of ISP service, connecting the modem to the switch to the router [Modem—>Switch—>Router] was not a viable functional choice. It would have been so if I was using an assigned static IP address via the modem, such as what is used at many businesses I have consulted for.

Why use a static IP address?

Home Project: Adding a Network Switch? Before Or After The Router? (5)

Just for closure purposes, and while there are some disadvantages, I should touch on some of the benefits of using a static IP address, especially for businesses:

You have better name resolution across the internet.

When you use a static IP address assigned to a device, those devices can be reached by their assigned host names reliably. This is the reason that FTP servers, web servers, and similar components use fixed addresses.

By definition, because static IP addresses are not dynamic, there is never a need to track their changes to locate them.

There are reduced lapses in connection.

If you’re using a dynamic IP address with your ISP, then you may experience lapses in connection to the internet. Some of these lapses may be momentary, while others may force you to reboot your equipment. Although this is sometimes called a “ping,” what is happening is a lack of recognition. When your IP address changes, you become more difficult to find. Using a static IP address reduces this issue, which is useful for heavy data users, since the IP never resets.

Your download and upload speeds tend to be faster.

Because there are fewer discrepancies associated with a static IP, the speed of access to content is usually faster when you have one assigned to your device. If you are on DSL, the speed differences may not be noticeable. For high-speed broadband users, however, the differences can be more than 1 megabit!

If you’re constantly downloading or uploading large files to the internet, you may wish to compare the two setups to determine which one may be the best for you.

It gives you remote access (this is a big one for me).

When you have a static IP address, then you are able to access your computer (or device) from anywhere in the world. As long as the device is connected to the internet and is active, you’ll be able to access your information. That makes it easier to work on projects while you travel, stay in communication with others, or take advantage of the benefits which a VPN provide you.

It reduces the risk of losing an important message.

If you are running a dynamic IP instead of a static IP for your server, a case can be made for the fact that you might not be receiving all of the messages which are being sent to you.

Once the dynamic IP shifts, any messages that would be sent to the old address would be lost until the records are updated in DNS. With a static IP address, this is never an issue. Your address remains the same at all times, which means you’ll always know when someone is trying to communicate with you.

You’ll find it easier to locate shared devices (This is another important one for me).

Let’s use a business network as an example here. If there are several workers who need to use the same networked printer, then having the connection be through a static IP address makes it easier to find the equipment. Some offices use shared printers, which means you can find the item by name. If the printers were assigned a dynamic IP, you might discover that printing becomes a time-consuming task. This is an issue I had to contend with after I concluded my aforementioned home networking project.

Anyhow, I discovered my major oversight (the IP issue), and modified the design and deployment accordingly, and all is working seamlessly now!

What are your thoughts on this subject matter? What ideas do you have about networking best-practices? Share any constructive feedback you may have in the comments section below!