Organize your network setup step by step.
Organize your network setup step by step.
In short, the 2.5 Gbe switches are too costly in India. I’m confused about how to set up the connections without them. The current setup uses two Cat 5A cables from the router to each PC. How can I link the gaming rig and NAS without that switch? The board says it supports up to 10Gbps, but USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports claim to support it. Can Truenas use those ports to connect to my Windows 11 PC for SMB shares and iSCSI?
It makes sense to opt for a 2.5Gb switch or router. Alternatively, you could use a 2.5Gb NIC card on each device and link them together. Likely more cost-effective and efficient than setting up individual connections.
Certainly, just the request in a new form:
But ensure it operates at gigabit rates only.
This product is priced significantly lower than similar options, offering great value for money.
I'm not sure if connecting two computers over Ethernet while sharing the same network is a good idea. I haven't tested it myself, but it seems unlikely to be reliable. A switch would be a safer choice. I came across this product on Amazon India – it's a 2.5GB model and looks solid. You could connect your router to the switch for general access, then link both systems to the switch for fast data transfer. Feel free to give it a try, but don't expect perfect results.
Based on your needs, 1 Gbps could work. If both devices have a 1 and 2.5 GbE port, you can link them directly. Assign an IP from another range manually—for example, the router/DHCP uses 192.168.1.x/24 while the direct connection uses 192.168.2.x/24. That’s acceptable as long as the direct link has a different range. For SMB, just use the other machine’s IP to connect to its share.
They can connect to the same network and communicate directly, but using their private IPs would create a local VPN-like setup rather than a public internet connection.
To stay linked with the router and each other, each device would require two network ports. This means every machine would have two IP addresses. For instance, a gaming machine might get 192.168.1.5 from the router’s DHCP and 192.168.2.1 via a direct connection (set by hand). The NAS could receive 192.168.1.6 through DHCP and 192.168.2.2 directly. If the gaming PC connects to smb://192.168.1.6 it would pass through the router at 1 Gbps. Choosing smb://192.168.2.2 would use the direct link. This setup works with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 or /24. VLAN is a different concept altogether...