Most of the problems with today’s small business and home networks are the “plug it into an empty port” design.

The major problem is that consumer class routers have been designed to network 2 to 4 computers together so they can share 1 Internet connection. To enable all of the computers to share a connection to the Internet and to be networked together, consumer router manufactures combined a router with a network switch. Basically, they took a router and added some extra Ethernet ports so that it would be very easy for consumers to use the “plug it into an empty port” network design and have everything work.

So, to understand the solution to small network bottlenecks, we have to know what routers are and what they are designed to do. Routers are solely designed to efficiently join two different networks (like you’re home network and the Internet) together and are considered smart (layer 3) devices. Routers are very effective at what they were intended to do, but they aren’t very fast at moving information. Think about it, for a router to be able to join two different networks it has to look at every bit of information and make a decision about where it needs go. It’s a lot like the old phone switch board where a caller would pick up the phone and would have to ask a switching operator to connect them to the person that they want to talk to. It’s an OK solution for long discussion with someone on the other side of the world but not if all you want to do is share a little bit of information with someone on the other side of the office.

To speed up communications between people in the office, we need a device that is really, really good at moving information quickly in and around a local network. Conveniently, there are devices that are cheap and available to solve this problem. Network Switches and Hubs are considered dumb (layer 2) devices and are designed to do just that. A Hub works like a bullhorn; they get information in one end and blast it out to everyone that is in earshot while a Switch works more like a multi-button intercom. To keep it simple, Switches and Hubs don’t care about the outside world and networks like the Internet, all they care about is getting the information from one connection to another as fast as possible. These layer 2 devices; Switches in particular, are a great solution to our network bottleneck problems.

To fix our network bottleneck we will use a very simple but effective network design called Router on a Stick. Using the “Router on a Stick” design, we will be able to use each device for what they were designed for and smooth out our network while making them easy to upgrade.

First, the Router:  we want to be as stingy as possible with each open port on the out router. The more ports that are in use, the slower the router will perform. We will use one port on our router to connect our internal network to the Internet. Typically, consumer class routers will have a special port with “Internet” written on it. This port is specially designed and setup for connecting to the Internet. Second, we will use one of the standard ports on the router to connect our internal network to the router and the Internet. This way, the router only functions as a gateway or a smart door between your internal network and the Internet.

Second, we need to create our internal network and we will do this with a Network Switch. You can use a Switch or a Hub to create your internal network; however, for this example and because they are superior to hubs in many way, we will be using a switch. We will use the Switch as the center of our internal network by connecting every network device into it. Network Hubs and Switches can be purchased in many different setups from 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, and 24 port and speeds from 10, 100, 1000 Mbps (in most situations, I would recommend a 1000Mbps [Gigabit] Switch with 6 or more ports). Now the hard part, we need to connect all desktops, networked printers, network servers or storage devices, and any other device that can be attached using an Ethernet CAT5 cable to the Switch (leaving at least 2 open ports for later expansion). By attaching everything to the network Switch, we have created our internal network and all we need to do is connect the Switch to the Router using one of the two empty ports on the switch and any open port on the Router.

Congratulations! You have used the Router On-a-Stick network design to create and implement a network that will be able to handle your current network needs and can be easily upgraded to handle all of your future needs. All of the computer, printers, and file servers now talk to one another only through a really fast network switch without involving the slower router and the router now only has to handle the information that needs to leave or come into the network from the Internet.

Notes and Recommendations:

Wireless Printers are great and are very convenient when it comes to putting a printer in a random place in an office or home where it connecting it with a CAT5 cable would be too costly or difficult. However, if the printer is next to your router or switch, you should use a wired connection instead of a wireless one. Most, if not all wireless printers come with a built in Network Interface Card (NIC) and it’s usually located on the back of the device, next to the USB connector. Also, the printer will print a lot faster as well.

For simplicity, easy of setup and cost, the average small business and home users should allow their Wireless Routers to handle all wireless communication. Wireless communications are slower than wired communication because there are extra steps needed to allow two devices to talk to each other wirelessly and there aren’t many affordable ways that a small business or home user can speed this up.

I would recommend the Network Switch or Hub that you’re going to use be as fast as possible. You will want to use a “base 10/100/1000” or a gigabit Network Switch. Gigabit networking is becoming standard on a lot of newer computers and it’s a great idea to plan and purchase for the future when building your network today.

Part 1: Small Business Networks Choking

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