Xbox One LAN setup

[jonathan1107]

Question about setting up multiple Xbox Ones within the same building.

I'm thinking about doing 10 xbox ones with 10 monitors. What would be the way to go about this?
If I'm correct most Routers only allow up to 8 ethernet inputs (if I do this WIRED using Ethernet cables)

What about a Wireless LAN setup? Is wireless reliable or is it better to go with WIRED only ?
What about gaming online FROM the LAN group?
Can those 10 Xbox Ones go play online together? For some war sessions... I dunno... let's say 6v6 online or 8v8?

If I were to run multiple Routers to connect all those Xbox Ones to a SINGLE Router, how do the Routers connect to each other then?

 

[Athlon2K15]

Use a switch and i Hope you have good ISP

 

[jonathan1107]

Use a switch and i Hope you have good ISP

I appreciate the quick answer. But many of the Original Post questions remain to be answered and I'm to be considered an AMATEUR here when it comes to LAN... so a "switch" doesn't Ring a bell...

Care to elaborate more ?

 

[Athlon2K15]

If you are going to run a LAN or get multiple people gaming in one room, you do not want to use a router. It will crash, probably multiple times. Find a 12 port managed switch preferably something from a solid vendor.

 

[Bill_Bright]

If I'm correct most Routers only allow up to 8 ethernet inputs (if I do this WIRED using Ethernet cables)

More like 255 inputs - but obviously via switches. You can connect one router to another router, but the 2nd router will be acting like a switch, so might as well use a switch.

Wireless will likely get bogged down with too many nodes (computers) sharing the limited bandwidth.

What about gaming online FROM the LAN group?

I don't know what you mean by LAN "group" in this case when dealing with XBOXes.

And when you say "online", I am assuming you mean on line with your LAN (everything on your side of the router). You most likely will not be able play online together via the Internet because you will be greatly limited by the bandwidth service you get through your ISP.

 

[jonathan1107]

More like 255 inputs - but obviously via switches. You can connect one router to another router, but the 2nd router will be acting like a switch, so might as well use a switch.

Wireless will likely get bogged down with too many nodes (computers) sharing the limited bandwidth.

I don't know what you mean by LAN "group" in this case when dealing with XBOXes.

And when you say "online", I am assuming you mean on line with your LAN (everything on your side of the router). You most likely will not be able play online together via the Internet because you will be greatly limited by the bandwidth service you get through your ISP.

I'm doing this research for a friend of mine who intends to have an indoor skate park and an indoor LAN and Online Contest room where people come to do big gaming events... such as 4v4... 6v6 and whatnot...

He's gonna have a huge internet connection ... I think he was talking 200mbps and 100mbps (download and upload speed)...

We're trying (he and I) to find the best way to set up multiple Xbox One consoles joining up together for LOCAL matches (using LAN) and ONLINE matches using Internet.

 

[Athlon2K15]

Local matches will require someway to circumvent Xbox Live, while Online should be rather simple with a switch

 

[Mussels]

switch = switched hub. think like a power board. you can get 48 port switches and just keep adding more as you need them, so your requirements are rather simple there.

You'll need a high end router (duh, for that kind of net speed anyway) with some kind of QoS or bandwidth shaping, preferably with MAC filtering so he can disallow anyone from just plugging in and exploiting the internet connection - also stopping one system downloading an update from lagging everyone else out.

 

[Bill_Bright]

He's gonna have a huge internet connection ... I think he was talking 200mbps and 100mbps (download and upload speed)...

We're trying (he and I) to find the best way to set up multiple Xbox One consoles joining up together for LOCAL matches (using LAN) and ONLINE matches using Internet.

For Ethernet connected "local" networking, you can run 1Gbps Ethernet. And while those are big Internet numbers for a home connection, you are talking about 10 Xboxes at once. Does the plan also include wifi access for other customers not playing in the Xbox contest? And will the rink's offices have connected computers sharing that bandwidth too? If so, I am not even sure 200/100Mbps is a big enough pipe.

Since this is a commercial venture, I recommend you ask the ISP to consult on this. 8 out of every 10 new business ventures fail within the first 18 months! If you launch this business hyping networked multi-player gaming and the performance sucks, this business likely will not make it past 30 days.

 

[Mussels]

For Ethernet connected "local" networking, you can run 1Gbps Ethernet. And while those are big Internet numbers for a home connection, you are talking about 10 Xboxes at once. Does the plan also include wifi access for other customers not playing in the Xbox contest? And will the rink's offices have connected computers sharing that bandwidth too? If so, I am not even sure 200/100Mbps is a big enough pipe.

Since this is a commercial venture, I recommend you ask the ISP to consult on this. 8 out of every 10 new business ventures fail within the first 18 months! If you launch this business hyping networked multi-player gaming and the performance sucks, this business likely will not make it past 30 days.

thats why i recommended bandwidth shaping. limiting every IP address to 10Mb/5Mb for example would be a simple solution, still leaving enough speed for patches, youtube and such.

 

[Dagna]

QoS would make definitely sense if you plan events like this. But I'm not sure about the bandwidth-usage of multiplayer games on the Xbox One. I've never seen any comparisons of network usage for popular games. Would be worth to invest some time in measuring and calculating the needed speed and add an additional overhead for additional services (guest and/or staff wifi, ...). Furthermore you don't need the bandwidth the whole time so I would recommend contacting the available ISPs if they can enable it on demand

 

[taz420nj]

The AMOUNT of data transmitted/received during multiplayer play is actually very small - a couple hundred kbps per machine is all you technically need, and the lion's share of what is used is for voice chat, not the gameplay. The game-related packets are tiny, so they will transfer fast even over a 'slow' connection. Average games transfer about 10-15MB per hour to/from the server, even the "heaviest" games like CoD only burn about 40MB per hour (and remember that's combined send/receive, so half will be on the upload pipe and half will be on the download pipe). Ping is much more important, and is what will make or break this. Nobody's going to pay to play on a high latency network.

 

[Bill_Bright]

thats why i recommended bandwidth shaping. limiting every IP address to 10Mb/5Mb for example would be a simple solution, still leaving enough speed for patches, youtube and such.

I think that is a great idea! But will that still give enough bandwidth for a "fun", latency-free, multi-user gaming experience if all 10 XBoxs are on-line at once - along with other customers potentially using wifi and the skate park's own networking needs just for running the business?

Nobody's going to pay to play on a high latency network.

Exactly. And I agree with you that the amount of data is not very much. But it is the timing of it all that I am worried about. What happens when many nodes are on line at the same time playing the same game (downloading the same data) at the exact same time?

I am not worried about LAN latency for the local gaming. It is during Internet play that I would be concerned about.

Would be worth to invest some time in measuring and calculating the needed speed and add an additional overhead for additional services (guest and/or staff wifi, ...).

I think that is an excellent idea. And if you don't have the equipment and/or expertise yourself, hire a consultant or see if your ISP will offer their services.

Nobody's going to pay to play on a high latency network.

Not more than once, that's for sure. And if they experience latency issues, they surely will tell their friends where NOT to go spend their money.

"Word of mouth advertising" will make, or break any new (or even established) business.

 

[taz420nj]

I think that is a great idea! But will that still give enough bandwidth for a "fun", latency-free, multi-user gaming experience if all 10 XBoxs are on-line at once - along with other customers potentially using wifi and the skate park's own networking needs just for running the business?

A 200/100 fiber connection is HUGE. The day-to-day needs of a business like that are not going to be much more than your average home user - downloading software/updates/etc, cloud backup, web browsing, maybe remote access.. And as I said, the actual data transfer for XBL - even with 10-20 machines running simultaneously - isn't going to come close to even making a dent in that size pipe. Wifi can be restricted to keep people from burning it up. Ideally it would be a captive portal that restricts it to paying customers by way of a code printed on a receipt or something. Staff can have a separate network authenticated with RADIUS so 'former' employees can be locked out without affecting others.. You can block P2P and throttle streaming on the guest side (in addition to giving QoS priority to the gaming LAN), so in the end it isn't going to have that big of an impact.

Exactly. And I agree with you that the amount of data is not very much. But it is the timing of it all that I am worried about. What happens when many nodes are on line at the same time playing the same game (downloading the same data) at the exact same time?

As long as the gateway router is up to the task - and this would need to be a beefy machine with several NICs, fiber links between NICs and switches, and a lot of RAM running pfSense, not some off the shelf Linksys/Netgear piece of shit - for all the concurrent connections, it won't make any difference if there is one Xbox or fifty. And the content of the packets is moot, whether it is identical or different, as long as they all get to where they're going as fast as possible.

I am not worried about LAN latency for the local gaming. It is during Internet play that I would be concerned about.

AFAIK Xbox One doesn't have a "LAN Party" mode. Everything has to go through XBL regardless if they are all on the same LAN.

Not more than once, that's for sure. And if they experience latency issues, they surely will tell their friends where NOT to go spend their money.

"Word of mouth advertising" will make, or break any new (or even established) business.

Oh no doubt. The saying goes "A satisfied customer will tell a friend, but a pissed off customer will tell EVERYONE".

 

[Bill_Bright]

The main point I was primarily concerned with 10 systems playing the same game, all downloading the same screen update data at the same moment. But if there is no "LAN Party" mode with Xbox systems, then I agree, no worries.

But I still think having an expert come in and do some real testing and measuring of needs is a good idea.

 

[Mussels]

the gaming itself uses well under 1Mb, its all about avoiding congestion. Just get a good router with QoS/bandwidth shaping (maybe setup a PC with router software so its got the balls for such a high speed connection?) and do some testing, get 9 of the Xboxes downloading updates/patches/youtube and game on the last one, and tweak the limits to suit.