PC Peripherals Connecting 2 broadband router for easy CCTV lan viewing and internet sharing?

i have already connected two ext hdd to it , but since i download with my laptop , each time i have to copy to hdd and plug into my android box , if i could use my network to access my ext hdd`s (6) it would be easy for me.

I did see pi NAS , but it too has limited USB.

i need a usb hub connected to router which can push files at gigabit speed .. any router which can support a for eg a 8 port usb 3.0 hub(powered) ?
I presume this stems from your ask in the other thread.

1) Easiest thing to do - just share the folder in windows

Any media player on your streaming device (e.g. Kodi or VLC) should be able to view the folder as a Samba share and play back directly from there

2) If you are Ok spending 3-3.5K, get a RPi - i think the latest one is Gbe, if not there are other cheap SFF boards with Gbe ports, stick it in a corner along with the USB drives . (In any case, your USB would be speed limited + your network is non Gbe)
Load a non GUI linux variant, Install whatever downloading apps you want and set it up as a Samba or NFS server
Next time you wan to d/l anything, just use your phone or laptop to add it on to the Rpi
When you want to play it back, just open the shared folder on your phone or laptop or TV

I think I wrote a guide on TE on running a headless server almost 12-13 years ago :p
That I am sure would be hugely dated but you should be able to find plenty of current guides on running a headless llinux server on a Rpi

Load Balancing
Cheapest option is a TP-Link multi-wan router which is typically about 3-3.5K
Else a Mikrotik router with GBe for 5-6K

Load Balancing + NAS in one
Setup a hypervisor on a PC if you have something you can use as a dedicated flexible server. You will however need at least 2 extra NIC cards
Loadup your preferred Router distribution on it (most prefer pfsense, I personnaly like untangle - although it's paid) as a VM
Loadup another VM running Linux as your NAS / downloader etc

Add more VMs as your requirements grow
 
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I presume this stems from your ask in the other thread.

1) Easiest thing to do - just share the folder in windows

Any media player on your streaming device (e.g. Kodi or VLC) should be able to view the folder as a Samba share and play back directly from there

2) If you are Ok spending 3-3.5K, get a RPi - i think the latest one is Gbe, if not there are other cheap SFF boards with Gbe ports, stick it in a corner along with the USB drives . (In any case, your USB would be speed limited + your network is non Gbe)
Load a non GUI linux variant, Install whatever downloading apps you want and set it up as a Samba or NFS server
Next time you wan to d/l anything, just use your phone or laptop to add it on to the Rpi
When you want to play it back, just open the shared folder on your phone or laptop or TV

I think I wrote a guide on TE on running a headless server almost 12-13 years ago :p
That I am sure would be hugely dated but you should be able to find plenty of current guides on running a headless llinux server on a Rpi

Load Balancing
Cheapest option is a TP-Link multi-wan router which is typically about 3-3.5K
Else a Mikrotik router with GBe for 5-6K

Load Balancing + NAS in one
Setup a hypervisor on a PC if you have something you can use as a dedicated flexible server. You will however need at least 2 extra NIC cards
Loadup your preferred Router distribution on it (most prefer pfsense, I personnaly like untangle - although it's paid) as a VM
Loadup another VM running Linux as your NAS / downloader etc

Add more VMs as your requirements grow


WOW..!!

i was just about to start a thread asking how to make a gigabit enabled home + office network..

I think you gave me loads of idea..

give me some time , i will give a pictorial of my setup and suggest me the best way to go forward
Post automatically merged:

Here is a outline of my current and planned network..


I want make them gigabit network , to future proof.

How to move forward ?
 
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very true.

so i can build a small form factor CPU and rip apart the ext hdd and take the 3.5 hdd and connect them to the CPU ?> is that what you are suggesting ?
I thought you had 6 3.5" desktop hdd's.
no need to rip apart anything. you can connect the external hdd's to the small form factor pc via usb3 ports and share stuff off it. Most mobo's have support for 8 usb ports from past 5-6 years. if two ports are taken up by mouse and keyboard, you still have 6 ports and you can easily add a 4 port usb 3 hub to get 4 additional usb 3 ports.
 
I thought you had 6 3.5" desktop hdd's.
no need to rip apart anything. you can connect the external hdd's to the small form factor pc via usb3 ports and share stuff off it. Most mobo's have support for 8 usb ports from past 5-6 years. if two ports are taken up by mouse and keyboard, you still have 6 ports and you can easily add a 4 port usb 3 hub to get 4 additional usb 3 ports.

i have now 8 USB ext HDD ..

Is there any theoritical or max safe ext usb hdd can be supported ?
 
Is there any theoritical or max safe ext usb hdd can be supported ?

I think there is. WHat that number is I don't know. All usb hdd's (if not powered by an adapter) will take power from usb port which have shared bandwidth and power supply. If you keep on putting extra hdd's, some of them will go offline or not get seen by the computer and you will have difficulty with files and folders not getting shared properly. You should only attach the disks you need currently instead of attaching all of them to be safe.

I have a mix and match of 2.5 and 3.5 hdd's and totalling around 15 drives. I don't connect all of them to my NUC. Just 1-3 at max. Now it's just a single 4T WD portable hdd on which i dump what i want to see from other hdd's. Saves on power bill and space and keeping 3-4 hdd's powered on always for no reason.
 
WOW..!!

i was just about to start a thread asking how to make a gigabit enabled home + office network..

I think you gave me loads of idea..

give me some time , i will give a pictorial of my setup and suggest me the best way to go forward
Post automatically merged:

Here is a outline of my current and planned network..


I want make them gigabit network , to future proof.

How to move forward ?
I am unable to decipher your sketch clearly so would probably help if you could explain it with some text
From what I can gather , you have 2 DSL connections and you want to keep 2 separate networks in a way that (1) your bandwidth is aggregated along with failover and (2) network A is accessible from B but not vice Versa (which is your question 1)

And on network B, you want to have the ability to have all of your media files stored on multiple HDDs accessible from a central server (question 2)
Is that about right?
 
1.) yes , at my home level i want to combine or load balance the network as office ADSL(BSNL Broadband) is least used... atleast till i get fibre in my area.

2.) Yes , i want one way access to office network. Since i am planning to share my 8 ext hdd , my laptop to this network , i dont office PC/device to access my home network , but at the same time i want to have access to office network for files and CCTV over lan.

3.) Yes , either i could build a small form factor PC with loads of USB and HDD storage or right away get a NAS (which are extremely costly) , since i am also planning to do a daily backup of office files and database to my home network , and if possible do a cloud backup at frequent interval.

Yes.. I think you got it all right.

Few things are

1.) I want home network to be GIGABIT compatible
 
Network separation:
(1)The right way to do this is to get a VLAN tagging compatible router (and vlan tagging compatible switches if you need more wired connections) and setup office devices and home devices on separate VLANs

Network aggregation and failover - Use pfsense either On a Dedicated PC or as a VM - It will also support VM tagging


(2) Easy/cheap way: Use a TP-Link 470 for wan aggregation/failover .. Setup your office network on say 192.168.0.0/24 subnet connected to the TL 470 LAN side
Then get a Gigabit router , hook the wan port to the TL470 and set up your home network on a different subnet say 192.168.1.0/24

‘Your home network will be private and not viewable from the 192.168.0.0 subnet but all devices on the office subnet will be accessible from the home subnet
LAN speed on home subnet will be gigabit although your Internet speed won’t go beyond 80-85 mbps

As for your file server, any sff pc with a gigabit port will do

Alternatively you could also combine your file server and router topology option (1) onto a single PC running as a hypervisor with pfsense as VM1 and any Linux distribution as VM2 - this option will also give you the flexibility to add more VMs at a later stage.. You would however need to set aside a dedicated PC with at least 2 extra NIC as well as a gigabit switch with VLAN tagging support
 
Network separation:
(1)The right way to do this is to get a VLAN tagging compatible router (and vlan tagging compatible switches if you need more wired connections) and setup office devices and home devices on separate VLANs

Network aggregation and failover - Use pfsense either On a Dedicated PC or as a VM - It will also support VM tagging


(2) Easy/cheap way: Use a TP-Link 470 for wan aggregation/failover .. Setup your office network on say 192.168.0.0/24 subnet connected to the TL 470 LAN side
Then get a Gigabit router , hook the wan port to the TL470 and set up your home network on a different subnet say 192.168.1.0/24

‘Your home network will be private and not viewable from the 192.168.0.0 subnet but all devices on the office subnet will be accessible from the home subnet
LAN speed on home subnet will be gigabit although your Internet speed won’t go beyond 80-85 mbps

As for your file server, any sff pc with a gigabit port will do

Alternatively you could also combine your file server and router topology option (1) onto a single PC running as a hypervisor with pfsense as VM1 and any Linux distribution as VM2 - this option will also give you the flexibility to add more VMs at a later stage.. You would however need to set aside a dedicated PC with at least 2 extra NIC as well as a gigabit switch with VLAN tagging support

Here is an update ..

Networking for my office is over.

all 5 computers are now connected to a switch , and then to my ONT BSNL fibre modem.

One lan wire alone is now run from my home and connected to switch.

At home setup , there are 3 devices(home theatre-not connected yet) and one laptop connected(connected) to ont bsnl fibre.

Since bsnl ont allow only 2 lan connection .

Now i should get a VLAN tag enabled router and connect my home lan wire and office lan wire right ?>
 
Also , Got OP7Pro , which support mimo router , so suggest a good mimo router which can also help me solve this issue of networking between my office and home which has broadband on both..
 
Network separation:
(1)The right way to do this is to get a VLAN tagging compatible router (and vlan tagging compatible switches if you need more wired connections) and setup office devices and home devices on separate VLANs

Network aggregation and failover - Use pfsense either On a Dedicated PC or as a VM - It will also support VM tagging


(2) Easy/cheap way: Use a TP-Link 470 for wan aggregation/failover .. Setup your office network on say 192.168.0.0/24 subnet connected to the TL 470 LAN side
Then get a Gigabit router , hook the wan port to the TL470 and set up your home network on a different subnet say 192.168.1.0/24

‘Your home network will be private and not viewable from the 192.168.0.0 subnet but all devices on the office subnet will be accessible from the home subnet
LAN speed on home subnet will be gigabit although your Internet speed won’t go beyond 80-85 mbps

As for your file server, any sff pc with a gigabit port will do

Alternatively you could also combine your file server and router topology option (1) onto a single PC running as a hypervisor with pfsense as VM1 and any Linux distribution as VM2 - this option will also give you the flexibility to add more VMs at a later stage.. You would however need to set aside a dedicated PC with at least 2 extra NIC as well as a gigabit switch with VLAN tagging support
i couldnt able to implement it till date. But want to do it asap.

Let me again put this

Network B (bussiness) -

Internet - BSNL fibre 1

Computers connected - 5

CCTV DVR - 1

Printer - 1 (network capable)

Network H (home)

Internet - BSNL fibre 2

Computer Connected - 2

CCTV (solo) - 1

Mesh (ORBI) - 1

Under Orbi - Mutliple devices are connected , including the main Laptop which i work

I have run a cat 6 cable from Network B to my home.

Now my requests are :

1. All computers under Network B should connect only to bsnl fibre 1 and shouldnt be able to see Network H at any cost.

2. Only my laptop , mobile should be able to access Network B and also access CCTV via local ip. Currently accessing CCTV through web , which is data consuming.

3. I could only partly understand what you wrote.. can you list me devices i need to buy ?

4. I am currently in plans to install a central server/pc as one place for data storage and access for all devices in Network B , so should i get it to install any softwares to run that virtual server ? or the routers can do that ? I mean the vlan tagging.. consider me ultra noob on networking .. :(
Orbi has this vlan feature , can it be used ? but orbi starts only after my bsnl fibre modem in my home.
 

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What i have understood is that....
1. You have two broadband connection. one is office and one is home (i assume your home and office is in same building or nearby)

2. You use Broadband 1 at Office for business.

3. You use Broadband 2 at home

4. You ran a cable from office to home. to access office Files/PC / Office Printer for this you ran a Cat 6 cable from Office to Home . Right?


My question is How long is the Cat 6 from office to home.

is my assumption right.

ANswer in points. I will give you advice and maybe you will save money too in the process.
 
What i have understood is that....
1. You have two broadband connection. one is office and one is home (i assume your home and office is in same building or nearby)

2. You use Broadband 1 at Office for business.

3. You use Broadband 2 at home

4. You ran a cable from office to home. to access office Files/PC / Office Printer for this you ran a Cat 6 cable from Office to Home . Right?


My question is How long is the Cat 6 from office to home.

is my assumption right.

ANswer in points. I will give you advice and maybe you will save money too in the process.
It's in same building.
40-50feet cable has already been run. I can able to access that network if I plug that cable.
Point is i don't want to switch between cables each time. Also if I forgot, I don't want to expose my computer to that network
 
1. Keep only one connection of bsnl at office.
2. Disconnect the other connection. (if its limited plan upgrade the plan to one step higher, but it wont be necessary)
3. Cable you have run already.
4. Put that cable in the WAN port of mesh system

You will be able to...
1. use the internet at office at same speed at home. 100mbps is enough for like 50 pcs and mobiles.
2. You can access office PC. by creating a dmz. or similar setup.
3. nobody can access whatever is connected to Mesh. as you are behind the WAN side of Mesh router.

Thanks

That 40-50 feet cable, use a good outdoor cat6 cable from Birla/Sterlite etc. Do not use Dlink. there is lof of complaints. i know from my experience because i am also an ISP.
 
there are times when service guys come on anydesk.. I personally dont want them to see my home network. even though i configure , i dont feel quite safe with shared connections (internet). many times some staff does something like switching off a router etc , which i cant manage from my home. so i still need two connections.

any idea on https://techenclave.com/threads/con...wing-and-internet-sharing.190071/post-2183670 ?

@Zino your idea is simple and effective..though. for somereason , i just feel having two separate connection is much safe . There is high possiblity one of the pc down can get infected.. thats why
 
1. two intern can be used .. we called it load balancing. but in your case its useless as service provider is same.
we use load balancing for redundancy. in your case its useless.

2. i give simplest and most cost effective solutions. here is my take on your problems.

3. for internet equipment and servers use a rack. and make it off limit for most employees.

4. since its a hospital, i am sure it has good power backup solution. So accidental switch off or with power outage can be written off.

5. whatever it is your employee cannot access anything behind a second WAN. eeven on simple router. and yes if anybody wants to hack . they will eventually hack it if they have skills. As on www everything is connected. s

6. if you want professional solution for added security if you are feeling paranoid. You can use Firewall like from Fortegate/sophos and Cyberoam. you can control what employee uses what . block youtube. It has many options. But its expensive. we use it in highly professional setup.

Thanks
 
The fact the you dont want the office network to be able to access your files conflicts with the fact that you want to share your HDD from the home network to the office network. You can use access control and password protected shares on a commonly available (i.e. available to both office and home) network-attached-storage to protect your private files instead.

Any HDD attached via usb2 will greatly loose read/write performance/speed due to usb to sata conversion. A directly attached HDD using (old) desktop with software like Xigmanas https://xigmanas.com/xnaswp/ and a gigabit network card will have superior performance. But would require reformatting of drives to native file system.

To truly keep your office and home network seperate while having **all** networks available at both ends of the office to home cable (uplink) and (configurable, so we can select which network is available) you would need VLAN's. Unfortunately with sophistication comes the complexity of VLANs and the requirement for VLAN capable router (most routers wich support OpenWRT will have configurable VLANs) or smart switch.

In short simple language a VLAN allows us to carry **multiple** networks over a single LAN cable.

There are 2 primary requirements.
1. Load-balancing/Fail-over of two adsl lines.
This can be handled with a openwrt router and the mwan package, or if you prefer a readymade commercial solution you can look at
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B005SYQBN8...olid=1TM37FIX1406H&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

2. VLANs for two seperate networks (office+home)

If you configure your network as in the attached illustration one time (maybe with some tech support) you will get your desired functionality while being simple to operate later (after config). What is **allowed** to the home network from the office can be simply configured by using port-forwarding rules on the home router-firewall. This config will also give the benifit of fail-over of internet connection to both home and office.

Two inexpensive **smart** switches would be required https://www.flipkart.com/tp-link-tl...SWF2HTSE6BEDHDY&lid=LSTNSWF2HTSE6BEDHDYRQIKFI

It is preferable to configure ADSL modem in **bridge mode** and configure the PPPoE settings for each connection in the loadbalancer to reduce double NAT. Home side smart switch requires min of 6 ports because it has the loadbalancer/failover device and home router while office side requires min only 3 ports and you can get away with cheap/old openwrt based smart switch/router. If you want gigabit speed and want to be FTTH ready the logic of the network still stays the same, but u need to have all gigabit routers/switches/lan-cards

i couldnt able to implement it till date. But want to do it asap.

Let me again put this

Network B (bussiness) -

Internet - BSNL fibre 1

Computers connected - 5

CCTV DVR - 1

Printer - 1 (network capable)

Network H (home)

Internet - BSNL fibre 2

Computer Connected - 2

CCTV (solo) - 1

Mesh (ORBI) - 1

Under Orbi - Mutliple devices are connected , including the main Laptop which i work

I have run a cat 6 cable from Network B to my home.

Now my requests are :

1. All computers under Network B should connect only to bsnl fibre 1 and shouldnt be able to see Network H at any cost.

2. Only my laptop , mobile should be able to access Network B and also access CCTV via local ip. Currently accessing CCTV through web , which is data consuming.

3. I could only partly understand what you wrote.. can you list me devices i need to buy ?

4. I am currently in plans to install a central server/pc as one place for data storage and access for all devices in Network B , so should i get it to install any softwares to run that virtual server ? or the routers can do that ? I mean the vlan tagging.. consider me ultra noob on networking .. :(
Orbi has this vlan feature , can it be used ? but orbi starts only after my bsnl fibre modem in my home.

If you are really sure about **All computers under Network B should connect only to bsnl fibre 1** and dont want the office internet to failover to home internet. All this **while** keeping your homenet private and having internet failover for both office and internet, then you dont really need VLANs, and can use a much simpler configuration as in attached picture.

While this involves double NAT and is not ideal, it is simple to configure and you should be able to do by yourself, with the multi-wan loadbalancer/failover device below.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B005SYQBN8...olid=1TM37FIX1406H&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it (100Mbps)
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08QTXNWZ1...olid=1TM37FIX1406H&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it (1000Mbps)

The VLAN configuration i recommended earlier is very flexible and all sorts of networks can be configured on ends of a single cable-link between office premise and home.

What all you can do with a central server/pc depends on hardware configuration of the machine. The options are limitless, but i understand it is only used for file-share?
 

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WOW @gwrench2000
The fact the you dont want the office network to be able to access your files conflicts with the fact that you want to share your HDD from the home network to the office network.

I thought i will have backup of my office files in my NAS. But i can configure it to allow only one pool or folder. But now i have a server installed in my office , which is running duplicati for backup in google cloud.

For rest of what you said ..i will go through.

Thanks a lot for detailed reply and sorting my problem.
 
Ideally you want to have **different** ISP at home and office, if you go in for additional expense of a failover/loadbalancing device to provide better internet availablity.

After the expense of LB device it also would be a shame to have no internet at office even though home internet is working.

Under none of the proposed schemes does your Home Network get compromised or accessible by office network, unless you explictly allow it on your home router. With all configs you will be able to access business network by IP Address from your home network.

If you find VLANs daunting and do not mind the hassle of running another wire to the office-home you can try as in the attached picture. Note some ISP register your router MAC and a change to using LB device might require ISP technican. Always backup ur previous config and u should be safe.

This config provides failover and loadbalancing for both sites while keeping ur Home Network private and under your orbi.

You need to make up ur mind wither loadbalancing and failover is required.

These embedded devices consume far less energy (where I stay it also means stay on longer on UPS..lol) than any virtual server system. You can shutdown all servers and computers and simply keep these routers, wifi and switches on to get mobile wifi.
 

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