Network Upgrade 2025 – Part II
This upgrade part was the most time consuming. Started right after work on Friday and did not end until Sunday. Here was the scope of the work
- Replaced Main Access Point with GL-MT6000.
- Replaced Intel 1gb network cards with Intel i226 2.5Gbe on Servers and Workstations
- Replaced Netgear 1gbe POE Switch with GoodTop 2.5Gbe
- Replaced Hitron 1gb MoCA adapters with Kiwee 2.5gbe MoCA adapters
- Replaced the 3 hard drive hot swap able bay due to the front latches were breaking off after years of wear and tear.
Replacing the Asus Access Point with GL.iNet AX6000 unit. The AX6000 has 1 wan port and one wan/lan port that run 2.5gb ports. Which will help facilitate faster wireless transfer speeds. Replaced the noisy Netgear POE with a quite fan-less 2.5Gb 24 port switch. The new switch has been configured and running 802.3ad LAG/LACP for the servers.
When replacing the network cards in the servers. There were a few problems that I encountered. Intel i225 NIC are stated to run 2.5gb speeds but actually are capable of only doing 1gb speeds. Many forums tell users to NOT use this chipset. I opted to use the Intel i226-V single and dual NICs in the servers. Verification proved that the new Intel NIC runs at 2.5 speeds. The only place I found i226 cards was on Aliexpress of all places for half the the price of Amazon.com. When changing NICs on windows it is more straight forward with auto detect and the NIC gets a DHCP IP address and you are ready. You can manually change the IP address afterward on the address reservation or on the card.
On Linux, the system will detect the new card but you have to manually change the IP address and update the interface through command line. After a bit of research I was able to update the new interface to the Bond interface and set the old IP Address on the cards. It was more straightforward after seeing in it in practice.
While I had the VM server open. I took the opportunity to replace the 3 hard drive bay with a new unit. The old unit front latches broke when I running doing some dust clean up. While the server was offline, went ahead and replaced the hard drive bay. Works now and front latches close now.
Replaced the Hitron MoCA adapters. The Hitron units have 2.5gb speeds on coax cable but 1gb on Ethernet. Kiwee is the only unit that has 2 coax inputs and 2 Ethernet ports that all do 2.5gb speeds. There is a Hitron unit that has only 1 coax and 1 Ethernet port that do 2.5gb speeds. Needed the extra Coax input to connect the MoCA adapter to the the Cable Modem for internet connectivity. Its cheaper to get the 2pack instead of the 1pack. The rest of the computers are upgraded to 2.5gb NICs. The internal speeds and 2GB Fiber internet will pair nicely. Once Frontier sets everything up on installation day. Replaced the cabling to Blue Cat6A slim cables since it was cheaper than using Red Cat6A Slim cables.
Overall, the upgraded speeds are nice. The main reason why I did not go with 10Gb network is the cost, heat, and its overkill for now. 2.5Gb is becoming more common now with the latest home network equipment. MoCA adapters are starting to roll out with 2.5gb speeds. I don’t plan running Cat6 to the home in the near future. 2.5Gbe speeds is more than enough for now. The upload speeds will be a tremendous boost to my self-hosting services.
