Can 2 vlans be run over 1 physical connection?
Nah just get a few of these and have one connection. Split the bill.
Yes.
Awesome, so my new idea might end up working, at work currently so I'll update this later
Yes but you need something on either end that can deal with VLANs. So pfsense and a managed switch etc.
I am sorry, what is the problem with a simple high end AC router?
There shouldn't be a bandwidth problem.
I am getting almost 90Mb/s down and I am using the stock comcast modem/router they provided us.
Its a dual band AC router and I have it setup to only work with AC and N devices.
My mom, a friend of mine, and I can all use internet at the same time AND use the phone (which is voice over IP) all at the same time without any real slow down to speak of.
It's the load balancing which makes it complicated.
I'm from Australia so we basically only have ADSL2+ (Max 25Mb/s) so at the place we are living at its down to about 13Mb/s.
So I thought that if I am living next to my friend we can share our connections (load balance) and get better speeds (in some cases).
I was considering putting one of these at each end and having fiber between us.
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/28813/tp-link-tl-sg2210p-8-port-gigabit-smart-poe-switch
So.. on his side VLAN1 will be his modem and VLAN2 will be the network.
On my side VLAN1 (WAN2) and VLAN2 will be split and go into separate Ethernet ports on the PFSENSE box including my modem on WAN1.
I was considering another fiber line to the server and putting a SFP card into it.
The PFSENSE box will handle load balancing, firewall rules, VPN connections and be a cache (to save on re-downloading things).
This will allow him to have his own wifi network and 6 x 1Gb network connections if he wanted to connect more things.
What do u think?
Yeah that'll work. You don't need to have two connections to pfsense for the two VLANs as you can use virtual interfaces, but either way will work fine. There's no advantage to using fiber to your server if the distance is under 100m other than fiber is cool ( https://forum.teksyndicate.com/t/network-reconfiguration-now-with-fiber/89459?u=Dexter kane )
That's always the point though right? Haha
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Also fiber can be pretty complicated, what you want to get are gigabit mini-gbic (or sfp) multi-mode short range (SR) (850nm I think) transceivers and multi-mode cable with LC-LC connectors. You can use pretty much any grade of cable for gigabit but you might as well get OM3 or OM4 in case you want to use 10gb later.
I'll check all that later and give you some links.
A 10Gb network backbone will be cool and fast :D haha
That's when 10Gb equipment gets cheaper :)
So.. one of these?
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/31804/tp-link-tl-sm311lm-gigabit-sfp-minigbic-module
And then some OM3 or OM4 cable...
Thanks @Dexter_Kane
Yep, one of those on each end, and om3 or OM4 multi-mode cable with LC-LC connectors.
You don't have to use the tp-link ones, I have tp link switches and I'm using generic transceivers from fiber store. I'd recommend checking them out as you can get the cable and transceivers pretty cheap from them.
Another thing to keep in mind when you run the cable is (other than to be careful because it's fragile) that you need to keep any bends above a 30mm diameter otherwise the laser can't go around the bend.
Awesome, thanks for the tips
To be honest, 10Gb fiber is a touch cheaper than I expected so I might do that because "Cool" factor haha. Plus the extra bandwidth will be happily welcomed :D
Edit... I was wrong, I saw "10 Gigabit 1000Base-t" as 10Gb instead of 10 x Gigabit haha
Yeah, you can get the NICs fairly cheap but the switches are still expensive. Although have a look at the mikrotik switch router things, they have two 10gb sfp+ slots and aren't unreasonably expensive. Still not super cheap though.
Also with a managed switch on your side of the network you would only need two NICs in your pfsense box. One connected to your modem for wan1 and the other connected to the switch. You would then create VLAN interfaces for wan2, lan1 and lan2. Although having two physical interfaces for both lans may be better for performance, but if you don't need them to be separate networks then you can just have a single lan. Just have both lans on vlan1 and have your friends modem on VLAN 2.
I'll start with 1Gb but I'll put int 10Gb capable fiber so all I need to do is save and swap the hardware instead of re-wiring everything