Let's Talk About Networking (2 Viewers)

[JohnRice]

Ideally, the two networks are completely separate, so devices on one cannot see devices on the other. For home automation devices, they rarely need to interact directly with your PC or smart phone. They are usually controlled via an external app or website, so your PC / phone accesses the website, which pushes commands or changes to the IoT device.

Thanks.

I haven’t gone down the home automation rabbit hole.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks.

I haven’t gone down the home automation rabbit hole.

Even home theater devices with Wi-Fi capabilities such as disc players, AVR's, smart TV's, streaming boxes, etc. would be considered IoT devices. Best networking practices would mean isolating those devices from your personal computing devices. I ended up placing all those device types on my IoT network, which has 26 devices on it. My main network has 7 devices.

 

[JohnRice]

Even home theater devices with Wi-Fi capabilities such as disc players, AVR's, smart TV's, streaming boxes, etc. would be considered IoT devices. Best networking practices would mean isolating those devices from your personal computing devices. I ended up placing all those device types on my IoT network, which has 26 devices on it. My main network has 7 devices.

…and after all the effort I went through to get most of my streaming devices wired.

 

[JohnRice]

OK. Is there actually any difference between an IoT and a guest network? Meaning, is it essential a guest network dedicated to devices?

I don’t even use my guest network at home.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Even home theater devices with Wi-Fi capabilities such as disc players, AVR's, smart TV's, streaming boxes, etc. would be considered IoT devices. Best networking practices would mean isolating those devices from your personal computing devices. I ended up placing all those device types on my IoT network, which has 26 devices on it. My main network has 7 devices.

Yeah, but isn't that too much trouble to be worth the likely extremely small risk?

They're mostly more a privacy risk/issue than security me thinks... although maybe the ATV4K and many Rokus may be powerful enough (both in terms of hardware and software) to present more real risk I guess... but I wouldn't think most disc players and AVRs or probably most smart TVs would be real enough risks -- they're probably too proprietary and limited w/ too small marketshare for each system target for hackers to bother much me thinks whereas tvOS and Roku's OS would likely present far more (realistically) attractive targets for hackers...

Anyway, for disc players, just keep them off your LAN or just turn off internet access, except for when you need to do a firmware update I guess -- no real reason to use them for streaming in most cases nowadays, especially if one already uses a dedicated device for such. Maybe same for AVRs.

_Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

OK. Is there actually any difference between an IoT and a guest network? Meaning, is it essential a guest network dedicated to devices?

I don’t even use my guest network at home.

A guest network is also an isolated network, and it's a best practice to use it for your IoT devices if your network gear does not have an IoT network feature. The only real downside would be if you do use your guest network for actual guests.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

OK. Is there actually any difference between an IoT and a guest network? Meaning, is it essential a guest network dedicated to devices?

I don’t even use my guest network at home.

John, basically, the issue w/ IoT is you're opening up your at-home network for the outside world to come in to do stuff, so the secure way to handle that would be to set up a separate network for that to keep your (original) home network (more) secure while all the IoT devices, etc reside on their own separate, dedicated network. But that probably only works if you don't need those IoT devices/services to interact w/ whatever's in your (original) home network.

So if you have say a streaming box that you want to both stream from the outside world *and* from a NAS at home, well, where are you putting that NAS? And will that NAS only store streaming content (that you don't mind being less secured?) and not whatever else that would make you want to keep it connected to your Mac, etc?

_Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yeah, but isn't that too much trouble to be worth the likely extremely small risk?

They're mostly more a privacy risk/issue than security me thinks... although maybe the ATV4K and many Rokus may be powerful enough (both in terms of hardware and software) to present more real risk I guess... but I wouldn't think most disc players and AVRs or probably most smart TVs would be real enough risks -- they're probably too proprietary and limited w/ too small marketshare for each system target for hackers to bother much me thinks whereas tvOS and Roku's OS would likely present far more (realistically) attractive targets for hackers...

Anyway, for disc players, just keep them off your LAN or just turn off internet access, except for when you need to do a firmware update I guess -- no real reason to use them for streaming in most cases nowadays, especially if one already uses a dedicated device for such. Maybe same for AVRs.

_Man_

True, some devices present more risks than others. In my case, since I was going through the effort of creating a separate network and moving devices, I decided to do it completely - - if the IoT device didn't need to be on the main network, it got moved to the IoT network. It's difficult to take off the network engineer's hat, even though I have been retired for seven years.

 

[JohnRice]

LOL.

I get it. I guess my main thing, currently, is my music streamer(s) and iPad have to be on the same network, since I use the iPad to control them. I can always just start getting this stuff so that if/when I add any automation devices, I’ll be good to go.

I noticed the AX1500 I use as a second access point can’t do IoT, but I have a second AX3000 I got for my parents house that I never installed, so I could just replace the AX1500 with that. Then I can move devices over as I get around to it.

 

[JohnRice]

Tell me if this makes sense. I replace the existing second AP with the spare AX3000, which has IoT capability, set up the IoT, and leave the guest network inactive, since I don’t use it now, but might want to activate it later. Then, move devices, streamers and the iPad to the IoT.

sound like a plan?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Tell me if this makes sense. I replace the existing second AP with the spare AX3000, which has IoT capability, set up the IoT, and leave the guest network inactive, since I don’t use it now, but might want to activate it later. Then, move devices, streamers and the iPad to the IoT.

sound like a plan?

Sounds good. I left my iPad on my main network, but it doesn't interact with my Apple TV 4K, which I moved to the IoT network.

 

[JohnRice]

Sounds good. I left my iPad on my main network, but it doesn't interact with my Apple TV 4K, which I moved to the IoT network.

It’s occurred to me I do sometimes need my iPad on the network with the computer, but it’s extremely easy to switch the network the iPad is connected to. It just takes a couple clicks, once it’s been configured for them. Same with an iPhone.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yes, I am pretty satisfied with the Deco X55 version I bought, too, especially at the price. It's fairly easy to setup and manage (except for this whole IoT feature). The product solved the few coverage issues we had in our house. My only additional wish is that there would also be a way to manage the network from a web browser in addition to using their smart phone app. But that's a minor quibble.

I discovered that there is indeed a web interface to manage the network. Simply enter the IP address of the private network's default gateway, and you are prompted to enter the password for your account. After authentication, you get a web page with your network map and status. There is also an advanced tab with various network management functions. I haven't explored it too much to see what's different between the Android app and the web interface. I did see a firmware update option on the web interface where you can upload a file, while the phone app only allows you to do a search for firmware updates. Also, there does not appear to be any device isolation or IoT network functionality through the web interface, so that needs to be configured via the phone app.

 

[JohnRice]

I discovered that there is indeed a web interface to manage the network. Simply enter the IP address of the private network's default gateway, and you are prompted to enter the password for your account. After authentication, you get a web page with your network map and status. There is also an advanced tab with various network management functions. I haven't explored it too much to see what's different between the Android app and the web interface. I did see a firmware update option on the web interface where you can upload a file, while the phone app only allows you to do a search for firmware updates. Also, there does not appear to be any device isolation or IoT network functionality through the web interface, so that needs to be configured via the phone app.

I prefer the browser interface on the TP-Link access points I have. It does let me configure IoT, though.