With the proliferation of internet-enabled devices, a computer network has long become an accepted part of any home wiring infrastructure.

All of these devices have created a new challenge in creating a robust and reliable framework. It’s no longer the case that it’s just the computers and smart phones needing an internet connection. Now you need to make sure you have provision for control systems, security cameras, network attached storage, distributed music and a raft of other devices.

The cabling requirements have changed over the years but ultimately the process is quite similar to what it has always been. The importance has now shifted to the capabilities of the equipment being installed. This article will discuss three key technologies that you should consider as a minimum for every install. We will cover each of these in turn below.

STP
The first technology is Spanning Tree Protocol. STP was designed to avoid network loops. A loop can happen whenever there is more than one physical network path between two devices. In the case where multiple paths exist, STP will step in and shut one of those ports down. If this isn’t done then any broadcast traffic (which is sent to all ports on the switch) will loop back on itself, eventually causing a ‘storm’ of traffic.

Many technologies rely on this broadcast traffic, some of the more important ones being DHCP and UPnP. In practice if you have created a loop you will likely notice degraded network performance, including devices dropping off the network and not being able to receive a new IP. As the traffic increases the problems will get worse particularly if you have a large number of devices on the network. It is also likely that at some point the traffic will die down again and things may appear to go back to normal making this sort of fault a tricky one to spot if you haven’t experienced it before.

Using a switch with STP support is becoming essential as more and more devices have multiple network interfaces, wired and wireless for example.

VLAN
Another key technology in increasing the reliability of the network is setting up a Virtual Local Area Network. A VLAN can separate ports on a switch (or with tagged VLANs, across multiple switches) into smaller logical networks. This is extremely useful for separating critical infrastructure (the control system, for example) from the more volatile components on the network (like client PCs).

The different VLANs are effectively isolated from one another so traffic from one network can’t cross into the other (without a specific route at any rate). With only the related devices sending data to one another the traffic is kept down to a minimum and, more importantly, an errant device on one VLAN won’t interfere with equipment on a different VLAN.

For example, let’s say you have two VLANs – one for the control system (VLAN1) and the other for the home computers (VLAN2). A new wireless router is going to be added to cover a previously unavailable area of the house. The router is connected to VLAN2 but the DHCP server is inadvertently left running. This can cause all sorts of problems for the VLAN2 network but these problems won’t affect VLAN1 so the control system can still reliably do its job.

VPN
Finally there is the issue of accessing devices that are inside the home network from the internet.

There are requirements for this for both the client and the installer. For the client it is access to their connected devices – PROGRAMMING En route to home networking being able to turn the air conditioner on, access the files on their NAS drive or arm the security system. For the installer, remote access is important to be able to diagnose problems, update systems without having to travel to site (particularly important for sites that are in the country or interstate) and remote training.

The first set of requirements can be readily solved with port forwarding on the client router. This works well for a few devices although once the number of services required starts to rise, it gets a little harder to manage. It also raises potential security concerns as the equipment residing in the house is now being connected to the internet at large – no firewalls, no protection other than what that device offers.

For portable devices like smart phones, notebooks and tablets it also has the disadvantage of having to have two setups – one for connecting from within the house and another for connecting remotely. The alternative is to use a Virtual Private Network. A VPN provides a secure link into the home network over the internet.

The connected device will get an IP address from the home network and be able to talk to any device within the home network as if it was connected locally. For the installer this is a necessity. With one connection you can see any device, run virtual touch panels, upload new code, check security cameras, anything that could have been done locally.

For the client, they are able to access any of their services with the same setup as they use for a local connection, a real boon for systems (or apps) that don’t provide multiple configuration options.

The downside for the client is that they have to connect to the VPN in order to access the home services and remember to disconnect when they are finished. It is likely that some combination of port forwarding and a VPN be used to provide the best of both worlds.

With the number of devices on a modern home network increasing and the choice of that equipment often being in the end user’s hands guarding against reliability issues is becoming increasingly difficult. A switch that provides STP and VLAN support will help to segment the network to ensure critical control equipment can’t be affected by an incorrectly configured or faulty device being connected to an otherwise working network.

Using a router that has a VPN server built in will provide a much more robust connection into the home network, without sacrificing any security. It will let you access any device connected inside the network (including the setup for the router connecting to the Internet) using the same settings you would use when on site.

Spending time to familiarise yourself with these technologies will help to make the systems within the home easier to maintain, more reliable and provide a better user experience because when (not if) something does go wrong the entire network won’t be affected.