10Gig RJ45 Network Bridge

[ShiftyEyedKirk]

So I have a need for a pretty unconventional setup to avoid having to drill holes in the walls for my TrueNAS Core 10G setup. Currently, I have it connected with Cat 6A cables that I put into the walls when I bought the house. It is about 80-100 feet up a wall, over a room, and down another wall. Because I have to go through a wall and I want to carry my existing 1G connections through the same cable, it would be very expensive to have two 10G switches. I'm trying to avoid a second switch by instead buying a two-port NIC for the destination computer and using a bridge. My two questions:

1. Would this allow the other 1G devices that are connected to that cable to still communicate with the router and get IP addresses?
2. Would this allow the computer with the bridged connection to maintain its 10G connection to the server?

So the current 1G setup with all connections being Cat6A is:

Server --> 8-Port Switch --> Another switch (2 computers connected, and one cable out to router) --> PC

The proposed 10G setup:

Server with 10G NIC --(LC Fiber connection)--> 10 port Microtek switch with 2 SFP+ and 8 gigabit RJ45s (for the other devices) --(SFP+ to RJ45 through wall)--> PC with two 10G RJ45 connections --> (Windows) Bridge to second port --> out to 1G switch (bottlenecks, but the router only accepts 1G anyways) --> router.

I recognize this is definitely not the ideal setup, but I am trying to avoid having to run new cables or buy an additional switch. If there are any network gurus who can tell me whether or not this will work, or any potential pitfalls, I'd be glad to hear.

 

[mav@]

I'd say it all depends on how good is Windows bridging. I've never used it. I guess it should be comparable to switch from functionality perspective, but I'd expect higher packet latency, since traffic has to go through general-purpose CPU.

But generally TRENDnet TEG-S762 switch with 2x10G and 4x2.5G is now $189 on Amazon. I have one at home.

 

[ShiftyEyedKirk]

That's a good point. It hasn't occurred to me that I could throttle my traffic or potentially be introducing another point of failure to my connection. So if my main PC goes down so do all of those 1G connections...right?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Yes. If the PC or the Windows is for some reason out of service - no network connection.

I have done things like this but with more server like systems, e.g. TrueNAS , and never for a couple of machines that need their network connection but e.g. for that single printer, scanner, ... that for organisational reasons is placed next to the NAS and then we have just a single network cable, etc.

I can confirm that this works - but indeed everything depends on Windows on that PC being up and doing bridging.

 

[ShiftyEyedKirk]

Ah, then it appears my fears are true. I must drop the cash for yet two more RJ45 transceivers and another switch. Thank you for the valuable advice!