Wired mesh networking

[William D]

Does anyone know of a way to create a wired mesh network in a home environment?

[BobVonBob]

What do you mean by "wired mesh network"? Mesh networks are exclusively a wireless thing.

[MrMcMuffinJr]

5 minutes ago, William D said:

Does anyone know of a way to create a wired mesh network in a home environment?

this?

[William D]

2 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

What do you mean by "wired mesh network"? Mesh networks are exclusively a wireless thing.

Well in theory at least I think there should be a way to do them wired by connecting pc's together and using software route the packets the fastest way.

[BobVonBob]

Just now, William D said:

Well in theory at least I think there should be a way to do them wired by connecting pc's together and using software route the packets the fastest way.

It is possible, but by far the easiest way to do a wired home network would be to buy a gigabit network switch and run cables from there. Most computers don't have the ability to connect to multiple ethernet cables which is a requirement to do what you are suggesting.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, William D said:

Well in theory at least I think there should be a way to do them wired by connecting pc's together and using software route the packets the fastest way.

Sounds like token ring type networks, back in the 10 BASE 2 days of BNC connectors. Those networks aren't really used anymore as they suck.

 

In terms of topology, most wired networks are mesh networks, or tree, depending on how you look at it.

[William D]

Just now, BobVonBob said:

It is possible, but by far the easiest way to do a wired home network would be to buy a gigabit network switch and run cables from there. Most computers don't have the ability to connect to multiple ethernet cables which is a requirement to do what you are suggesting.

I am aware and this is my current configuration but I want to upgrade to faster hardware 10gigabit + so mesh networking makes sense to me

[BobVonBob]

3 minutes ago, William D said:

I am aware and this is my current configuration but I want to upgrade to faster hardware 10gigabit + so mesh networking makes sense to me

Then your best option is probably to buy a used 10 gigabit switch. There are basically no performance benefits to be gained by connecting two computers directly.

[brwainer]

Making point to point 10Gb connections between computers is feasible for up to three computers - just use dual port NICs or two NICs in each computer, and then each computer directly connects to the other one or two. Beyond that a switch is the most practical solution.

 

At very large scales, like entire office buildings, we can do “mesh” of the network a few ways. Many people are familiar with LACP or port aggregation between switches, but with the right hardware you can have the different parts of the aggregate connection actually use completely different intermediate switches. A similar thing we can do is combine multiple switches into a single Stack, which allows them to be managed as a single switch with many more ports. The stack connections are much higher speeds, often the fastest ports on the switch, and natively allow a Ring connection. While not as complicated as a mesh on its own, stacks can be combined with LACP and other things to make a very diverse and failure resistant network. Some vendors even allow stacked switches to not be in the same room/closet/IDF.