We show you how to segment a small LAN, with internet access for both segments, with switches that support only 802.1Q tagged VLANs.

A Layer 3 switch can provide routable VLANs without having to change your router.

Updated - If you are struggling to get Ubiquiti's EdgeRouter Lite to function as a basic router, these tips and pre-made config files should help

Updated - A quick test of powerline filters shows they can help combat throughput-robbing noise.

We've revised our router test process with a new Simultaneous Connection test capable of measuring as many connections as routers will provide.

In the last part of our series, we'll use Jperf results to make changes to a PC to improve network performance.

Meet Iperf's graphical cousin: Jperf.

Updated - Iperf is a network performance tool used for measuring the bandwidth and the performance of TCP and UDP data flows between two endpoints.

With all the component and configuration options for constructing and managing a small network, it is important to numerically evaluate network performance. Performance measurements provide facts and statistics about the amount of data on your network and identify opportunities for improvement. Without measuring performance, the only indications of functionality are simple up and down states, as well as subjective statements based on user experience.

In my last two posts on this subject, I've covered some of the basics and tools used to perform packet captures, highlighting the well known software from Wireshark. In this installment, I'm going to show how I used Wireshark packet captures to solve a real network problem.

Using packet papture software like Wireshark is a useful troubleshooting technique that can be used to examine packets and gather details to help find the root of a problem. In my previous post, I talked a little bit about how to use Wireshark and walked through some steps to run a simple packet capture from a PC. This time, I'm going to go a bit deeper into the how to for doing packet captures.

One of the features I've seen in newer small network routers is the inclusion of a packet sniffer/capture/trace tool within the diagnostic menus of the device. Routers I've recently tested with this functionality include the SonicWall TZ190W, D-Link DFLCPG310, and Netgear's newly released FVX538 and FVS336G.

In each case, these devices have the ability to capture packets on a specific WAN port and/or on the LAN interface. Some of these routers have more sophisticated filtering capabilities than the other, but they all seem to have the same basic functionality of capturing packets.