2 switches 1 router

[Philip Gonzales]

So I have a Neatgear nighthawk R7000 router and one 24 port unmanaged Gb switch and one 8 port managed PoE switch. I've had the 24 port unmanaged switch plugged into my router and I have my servers connected to the switch. This includes my Blue Iris Server. I added a PoE switch recently and I plugged this switch directly into the router. The PoE switch is used only for IP Cameras. Should I unplug it from the router and plug it into the 24 port Gb switch? The way I have it now I guess all traffic is going through the router? Could this cause performance issues? I haven't noticed any issues yet but just wondering. I plan on adding another switch in my bedroom, should I plug this into the 24 port unmanaged switch also?

 

[alastairstevenson]

The way I have it now I guess all traffic is going through the router? Could this cause performance issues? I haven't noticed any issues yet but just wondering.

One way to check would be to run an internet download speedtest with and without the PoE switch traffic passing through the router.
A couple of years back I swapped out my ISP-provided router as traffic across its switch ports, even though not excessive, was cutting download speed quite a lot.

 

[copex]

i would move the BI server on to the same switch as the cameras, this would be more to reduce point of failure, then if the router fails the cameras will still be recorded. if the switches have up link ports the use the up link ports on the two 24 port switches, if not the connecting switch to switch or switch to router will probably have no impact on network performance on a small network.i would use cat6 for the up links to ensure you get gigabit through put.

on large networks you could use a router to reduce the broadcast/collection domains,

 

[Arjun]

Read this thread as well, thanks to @nayr for additional insight
Network "Re-Design"