When building a home network, there is a progression depending on budget:
| Item | Budget | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Modem | Any | Purchase your modem, don’t rent from cable company |
| Router / Wifi | Small | Get a solid router / wifi combo |
| Router | Medium | Get a dedicated router / firewall appliance |
| Wifi Access Points | Medium | Separate out wifi access points |
| Ethernet Cables | Medium | Run Drops |
| Run Fiber | Big |
Cabling
Cat 6 cables are the norm, when purchasing ensure that they are full copper rather than CCA (copper clad aluminum). CCA should only be used in temporary spots because it’s transmission degrades significantly with distance.
Measuring Network speed
iperf3 can be used to test the network speed between two devices. Install on both with: brew install iperf3 or apt-get install iperf3. On one machine, start up the server mode:
iperf3 -s
On the other machine, connect to the server by ip:
iperf3 -c IP_ADDR_OF_SERVER
You will get ouput similar to this:
Accepted connection from IP_ADDR, port 38254
[ 5] local IP_ADDR port 5201 connected to IP_ADDR port 38262
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 107 MBytes 893 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 112 MBytes 937 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 111 MBytes 928 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 111 MBytes 935 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 111 MBytes 929 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 112 MBytes 938 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 111 MBytes 935 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.00-10.04 sec 4.78 MBytes 934 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-10.04 sec 1.09 GBytes 930 Mbits/sec receiver
10 GB NICs
eBay
- Mellanox ConnectX-3 10Gb CX312A or CX312B
- Intel x520-DA