4.1 Hardware Setup

To establish a logical structure, the initial system consists of a Netgear router with SPI, an ADSL modem without setup, and a base PC system comprising four desktop PCs with Pentium 4 CPUs, 2 GB RAM, and 40–120 GB HDDs. Each desktop is equipped with two network interface cards. The ADSL modem was later replaced by an internal PCI DSL/ISDN combo modem card directly installed in Desktop 4.

The system layout is structured as follows and operates via Gigabit Ethernet:

System 1 Setup

1. Desktop 1 is connected outbound via Ethernet 1 to the Netgear router inbound on Ethernet 1.
2. The Netgear router is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to Desktop 2 inbound on Ethernet 1.
3. Desktop 2 is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to Desktop 3 inbound on Ethernet 1.
4. Desktop 3 is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to Desktop 4 inbound on Ethernet 1.
5. Desktop 4 is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to the Ethernet ADSL modem.

Due to the system being highly susceptible to interference (CRC errors), noisy operation, and unnecessarily high power consumption, it was completely replaced with passively cooled and statically operating hardware. The revised system consists of an ISY network switch, two passively cooled nettops, a MikroTik router, a Sony VAIO laptop, and a VDSL modem.

System 2 Rebuild

1. Laptop [1] is connected outbound via Ethernet 1 to the ISY switch [2] inbound on Ethernet 1.
2. ISY switch [2] is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to Nettop [3] inbound on Ethernet 1.
3. Nettop [3] is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to Nettop [4] inbound on Ethernet 1.
4. Nettop [4] is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to the MikroTik router [5] inbound on Ethernet 1.
5. MikroTik router [5] is connected outbound via Ethernet 2 to the Ethernet VDSL modem [6].

Legend

[1] ISY Network Switch
[2] Industrial Nettop TX-Team / Ubuntu Server
[3] Barebone Nettop ZBOX CI323 nano / pfSense
[4] MikroTik hEX lite (RouterOS)
[5] Laptop Sony VAIO PCG-71211M / VPC-EB2G4E
[6] VDSL Speedport Modem

The entire network structure is designed so that the data flow is connected in series.