# Home network design - IPv6, multiple subnets and/or bridges



## oscar (Feb 21, 2018)

Hi,

My home network is a bit of a mess. I would like to make it better, with these as ultimate goals:

 - Have two different subnets for LAN and WLAN (allowing communication from LAN to WLAN, but only a few selected ports between WLAN and LAN)
 - Being able to communicate with the Plex server (LAN) from WLAN clients
 - IPv6 with different prefix for each subnet (like using 172.16.0., 172.16.1. for each subnet with IPv4)
 - Having a more controlled WLAN (more firewall rules)
 - If really lucky, I would like some service discoverability between subnets, but it is optional (mostly me here anyways!)

This is the current situation:




I had to bridge igb1 and igb2 (LAN and WLAN) in order to have my WLAN clients (Android devices, Chromecasts etc) communicate with the Plex server properly, as this seems to go online and back (somehow). 

This is what I think I'd like:



But I am not sure this is the best idea either. Is it impossible to have some typical consumer services work between subnets like this? What is a better way to segment my network that I don't know about yet?


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## SirDice (Feb 21, 2018)

oscar said:


> IPv6 with different prefix for each subnet (like using 172.16.0., 172.16.1. for each subnet with IPv4)


Do you get native IPv6 from your provider or are you using a tunnel broker like he.net? If it's the latter, you get a /64 by default but you can enable an additional /48 network. The /48 range can easily be cut up in multiple /64 segments. From there it's basically the same as for IPv4, just make sure routing is set up correctly.


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## oscar (Feb 21, 2018)

SirDice said:


> Do you get native IPv6 from your provider or are you using a tunnel broker like he.net? If it's the latter, you get a /64 by default but you can enable an additional /48 network. The /48 range can easily be cut up in multiple /64 segments. From there it's basically the same as for IPv4, just make sure routing is set up correctly.



I have a /48 from he.net, which I was planning of splitting into several /64. But I can't make it work with my current setup (using a bridge, it seems that I can't assign a IPv6 address to the bridge?) which is why I am trying to take a step back and redo things.


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## SirDice (Feb 21, 2018)

oscar said:


> But I can't make it work with my current setup (using a bridge, it seems that I can't assign a IPv6 address to the bridge?)


A bridge, by its very definition, ties two or more broadcast domains together. Which is the polar opposite of separating broadcast domains. This is what you're actually doing by splitting up your network into multiple segments.

What you could do is renumber everything using one of the base /64 segments you created. Fix everything so it's all in that segment. That would preserve the "status quo", everything will still be the same (just a different IPv6 network address) and working. Then move each part to its own network, one by one, fixing issues as you work your way through it.


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## oscar (Feb 21, 2018)

SirDice said:


> A bridge, by its very definition, ties two or more broadcast domains together. Which is the polar opposite of separating broadcast domains. This is what you're actually doing by splitting up your network into multiple segments.



I probably should have been more clear in the inital post. I would like to separate my home network into multiple broadcast domains, one for the LAN, one for the WLAN and one for the IOT net. In the current network I've bridged LAN and WLAN into one network in order to have Plex and SMB working between the WLAN and LAN (otherwise WLAN clients could not discover nor interact with the Plex service).

I've tried (just for fun) to make my bridged network have IPv6 but I couldn't make it work (for the reasons previously mentioned).


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## SirDice (Feb 21, 2018)

oscar said:


> I've tried (just for fun) to make my bridged network have IPv6 but I couldn't make it work (for the reasons previously mentioned).


So I gather there's no working IPv6 at all at the moment? Try and focus on that first. Just take the first of the /64 segments and put everything in the same network. IPv6 is not that different from IPv4, you have to deal with exactly the same issues as setting up a network with IPv4. You should have all machines in the same IPv4 and IPv6 network and have that working first. Or else you will get too many problems to solve at the same time, not a problem if you deal with things like this on a daily basis but if you're new it can be rather daunting.


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