What is the best way to connect a 3 switches with a router?

Posted by Carlos Morales on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Carlos Morales
Published on 2010-06-10T14:03:53Z Indexed on 2010/06/10 14:13 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 328

Filed under:

router

|

switch

|

network

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to rebuild the network from my work and I was thinking what is the best way to connect three switches and a router.

The router has 4 ports so I thought to connect 2 switches to the router (each switch connected with 2 cables to the router) and then connect the third switch to one of the others with two cables. So is like this, two cables from switch one to the router, two cables from switch two to the router and two cables from switch 3 to switch 1 or 2.

So my questions are:

Is it better to connect the router to each switch with a cable or the more cables you have the better?

If I connect the switch 3 to switch 1 or 2 is it better to connect it with a cable or you get better performance with more cables.

If I'm wrong and there is a better or more efficient way to connect them please let me know.

The router is a Netgear RP114 (I'll upgrade it to a Sonicwall NSA 240), switch 1 is a Netgear GS748T, switch 2 is a Cisco Catalyst 2924-XL and switch 3 is a D-link DGS-1024D

Thank you very much

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about router

cisco 2911 router vs 2811 router

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Just wondering if anyone has experience with the cisco 2911 or 2900 series routers. I understand it is newer and similar to the 2811 but more robust. The price difference is not that much more. I am trying to determine if I should go with the 29xx or 28xx series for a small-medium sized company… >>> More
Ubuntu 10.10 Ad-Hoc Setup (from Wireless Router, to Ubuntu Server/Desktop to Wireless Router)

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Okay, so I know there are different approaches for this, but I will explain my story briefly before getting to the technical stuff. My fiancée and I are going through some financial issues (as I assume a lot of us are). We ended up having to move from our house and stay with some friends/family for… >>> More
linksys wrt54g router to a Cisco router?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
This may be a strange question but I have no clue. I currently have a basic linksys wrt54g router fo9r my home network. I am considering getting a rack/cabinet and running a home server or 2 and hooking up my home network to it. If I were to do0 this I could pick up a cisco rack mounted router… >>> More
Prolink 5200 modem/router connected to Linksys WRT54GS wireless router

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hello does any one knows how to conect prolink 5200 single port modem/router with Linksys wireless router ......i dont know how to configerat these to togather >>> More
How to Reuse Your Old Wi-Fi Router as a Network Switch

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Just because your old Wi-Fi router has been replaced by a newer model doesn’t mean it needs to gather dust in the closet. Read on as we show you how to take an old and underpowered Wi-Fi router and turn it into a respectable network switch (saving your $20 in the process). Image by mmgallan… >>> More

Related posts about switch

Problem connecting a 3Com 2952-Plus switch to a Cisco 3750 switch

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Connected a 3Com 2952-SFP Plus switch to a Cisco 3750 switch via fibre. There is a light on the 3Com end, but nothing at the Cisco end, and no traffic will flow. Have swapped SFP's, have swapped fibre cables, have used a different port on the Cisco, have even swapped the 3Com switch, but still no… >>> More
enable Cisco switch to communicate withe HP switch

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have one CISCO 2906g and hp 2626 switches i link them by MM fiber optic cable, the problem the cant communicate with each other, i verify there is no problem with cable and JBC's. win i connect other HP switch in the other end it will communicate without any problem, but not with CISCO >>> More
Repository pattern - Switch out the database and switch in XML files

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Repository pattern - Switch out the database and switch in XML files. Hello I have an asp.net MVC 2.0 project and I have followed the Repository pattern. Periodically, I am losing access to the database server so I want to have another mechanism in place (XML files) to continue developing. It is… >>> More
SQL Server database with clustered GUID PKs - switch clustered index or switch to sequential (comb)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
We have a database in which all the PKs are GUIDs, and most of the PKs are also the clustered index for the table. We know that this is bad (due to the random nature of GUIDs). So, it seems there are basically two options here (short of throwing out GUIDs as PKs altogether, which we cannot do (at… >>> More
MS SQL Database with clustered GUID PKs - switch clustered index or switch to sequential (comb) GUID

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
We have a database in which all the PKs are GUIDs, and most of the PKs are also the clustered index for the table. We know that this is bad (due to the random nature of GUIDs). So, it seems there are basically two options here (short of throwing out GUIDs as PKs altogether, which we cannot do (at… >>> More