Setup my network

What would be the best way to setup my network?

At the moment I have a 2 routers, 3x XP pro PC's, 1 laptop and 1 XP Home PC.

1 router is wireless runsfrom the xp home pc.

I'm using the xp home as a server.

Many thanks

 

Set it up to do what?

 

Anothers have said it's ok to have the XP home as the server and some say have the xp pro, so I need to know which was the better way to setup the network.

 

If tight security within your network is not an issue, XP-home should do as well as XP-pro for file server duties.

- XP-home cannot join a domain but you wouldn't need that for a small home network.

- XP-home cannot do other than simple file sharing but if you set XP-pro for more complex sharing then the XP-home PC wouldn't have full access.

- No XP machine of any sort has a real server operating system but again, for a small network, you most likely don't need that.

 

feedback

Thank you Thank you, It's needs to join and share on the network.

I will remove one of the XP pro and make it the server and upgrade the Xp home to XP pro.

The 2nd question was using a wireless DSL router plus network router together is this the best way?

 

As you are UK based, I would recommend that you be very careful about your selection of router. Most UK homes are supplied with an ADSL broadband connect (the main exception being some metropolitan areas where households can buy into cable DSN solutions).

If you are to connect to the internet via an ADSL connection I would strongly recommend that you get an ADSL router rather than a plain DSL router. You can spot the difference fairly quickly - an ASDL router's internet connection is via an RJ11 US type telephone socket (looks like a small network socket) and plug, whereas a DSL router connects to the internet via an RJ45 socket (standard network socket). Therefore, if you can plug a standard network cable into the router's internet socket, you probably have a DSL router rather than an ADSL router. Even easier look for a router that clearly states on the box that it is suitable for ADSL.

With ADSL, if you have a plain DSL router, you have to connect it to the ADSL connection via a seperate ADSL modem. My experience is that matching an ADSL modem to a DSL router is a pain in the posterior that is easily avoided by getting an ADSL router (these have the modem function built in)

There are a number of ADSL routers that also incoporate the wireless Access Point functionality. There are pros and cons to having a single router/wireless AP as opposed to seperate router and Wireless AP. Personally I don't like having all my eggs in one basket so would go the seperates route (if you'll excuse the pun), however, I can understand why people prefer the all-in-one solution as they tend to be easier to set up and cheaper.

Lastly if you're using ADSL don't forget to get ADSL splitters for each of your BT telephone sockets. Shop around for them. Some of the PC shops will charge ten pounds each for these splitters, where as you can get them for less than a fiver from an electrical supplier.

 

Switch vs Router

I have a switch not a router on this network, whats the different between the two?

Plus will a ADSL D-Link T300 modem work with the switch on the above network?

 

Apples and ducks basically.

Switch - provides packet moving (so network communication) between devices on a network.

Router - moves packets (for routable protocols like TCP/IP) from one network to another.

Network, in this case, being the logical network so all devices where the IP addresses are in a single range as defined by the subnet mask. So with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 all addresses that match except for the last octet will be on the same network but others won't. Example
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 are on the same network if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 so
192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 are but
192.168.0.1 and 192.168.1.2 are not.

 

That was funny

 

Quick pedantic techie note:

192.168.0.255, is the broadcast address for the subnet 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0, and is therefore note a valid IP address to use for a computer on this subnet. I think the quote should be:

192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254 are on the same network if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, or 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.255 if you want to include the network and broadcast addresses as well as the node addresses.

 

Another point more relavant to the original posting: the DLink DSL-300T is an ADSL modem and as such it "provides an auto-sensing 10/100Mbps dual-speed Fast Ethernet interface for convenient connection to a PC or Macintosh computer, a remote router or other hosts. " (my emphasis). That is it was design to connect to a single PC. A better product for your requirement would be a DLink DSL-502T router which is designed to provide a connect for the whole network.

However, the difference between a modem and router is becoming increasing blurred as manufactures build router functionality into more and more modems. So it may be possible for you to use your "modem" as a router. If this is not the case you will need to add a router (or a PC acting as a router) to your network for all the computers to have access to the internet. One way to do this would be to use Internet Connection Sharing on one PC and connect it to the modem. However, replacing the ADSL modem with an ADSL router would be a better solution IMHO.

 

OK folks. Right off the top here I MUST admit that this reply may actually have a two fold purpose.
1-To try helping out with the problem.
2-Get some ideas ( omissions or corrections ) for myself as I thinking of getting a 4th machine and I have no place to plug it into the Network.

I was going to ask why two routers but I see why.

My Idea as to how to fix because in my personal opinion ( and experience ) Sharing STINKS.

If at all possible get rid of two things.
1-The Wireless Router.
2-Using the XP machine as a server.

You may ask why I say not to use the XP as a Server ?
My Answer ( thoughts/experience ) If the machine goes down NOBODY gets anywhere

Install
1-Router
1-8 port switch.

Plug the machines into the switch. Then the switch to the router. Then the Router into the Modem

I know that wireless may be nice and does illimnate some clutter.

BUTI do not believe there is ANYTHINGp more dependable than a good solid WIRED network.

My idea of an added BONUS. Also pulg a wired Network Printer into the Switch. Then everybody can use it without worrying about going through another machine. I did that and it has been well worth it. I can be working on the machine where there USED TO BE a SHARED Printer which is now gone and I DO NOT miss it.

And even if the Wired does have a bit of $$ cost ( and even a bit of clutter ) I believe it is well worth it.

BillyBob

 

I forgot something in my prevous reply.

I learned the bad language making way.

The Router. The Switch. The Modem. The Printer. Must be on there own separate power source and left on.

BillyBob

 

Thanks 4 the help ReggieB
1. Windows small business server 2003 (only because I have the software laying away) will call this Server PC
2. 3x XP pro workstations will call them TIA1,TIA2,TIA3 Workstation
3. 1x Laptop W2k pro will call this TIA4 Laptop
4. 1x Laptop xp home will call this TIA5 Laptop
5. 1x XP home PC (only used to project slideshow from a software program on the server. will call this TIA6 backoffice
6. Printer will call it Printer
7. 8 port switch
8. Dlink DSL-504T AdSL modem+Router + 4 Hub ports+ Firewall
9. DSL Wireless modem+Router Speedtouch 750 (I'm using this to connet to the internet at present, I've been told it won't be fasten for email upload we need to do by the software writers we are going to use, they don't like wireless.

My question is how do I best put this all together and what order?
or what do I leave out or change and for what?

 

My suggestions. Or wild ideas. Your call. Wait to see what others think.

TA1, TA2, TA3 Workstations plugged into the 8 port switch
TIA4 & TIA5 plugged in to the Switch

Tied the switch to the WIRED Modem/Router. What type of cable I am not sure. It may or may not take a different type.

That should end the E-Mail Probem.

Also each machine will have its own individual Connection to the Internet without depending on just one machine. ( NO Internet Connection Sharing )

Of course each machine will need its' own Anti-Virus program.

Also this ( I believe ) will help to keep down anything ( like a Virus ) from getting to more than one machine. Mind you now that is something that is a thought of mine only. Unless of course things are being SHARED. When sharing is involved most anything can happen.

Also with this setup if the main Intenet machine ( the one providing the Internet connection ) does go down the others will still have Internet access.

I also think that the Internet will be MUCH faster on all machines. Especailly if more than one is on at a time.

I can not say anything about the Firewall being built into the Router as I have not had anything to do with it.

My Son had Wireless for a while ( short while ) He dumped it mostly because many times their Cell Phones messed it up. And/or if the reciever got moved or turned around things would not work.

BillyBob

 

Ah! you have SBS. OK. That is more complicated than a peer to peer set up but potentially much more powerful.

My suggestion depends on which version of SBS you have.

If the full version that includes ISA server:

I would fit a second network card into the server and use the server effectively as a router/firewall by enabling the ISA server which is a fairly effective firewall in this version of SBS. So your setup would look something like -

[ADSL modem]===[SBS server]====[switch]====[client pc]

If you have the version without ISA (Standard if memory serves me right), then I would go the hardware firewall/router router. In which case the setup will look like this -

|S |====[Server]
|W|====[Client PC|
|I |====[Client PC|
|T |====[Client PC|
|C |====[Client PC|
|H |===[Firewall/router]===[ADSL modem]

SBS is hugely power but needs some time to configure it well. I'd strongly suggest you read up on how best to configure it. Anyone suggest any good SBS books/references. Even though it has been streamlined to make it easier to set up, it is still worth reading up on to get the best out of it, and to ensure you set it up securely.

 

Do I go back and get D-Link T300 ADSL Modem you suggest I replace with D-Link T504 Router/Firewall in another post?

 

No. If you have the ISA version of SBS this will be fine:

[ADSL router]===[SBS server]====[switch]====[client pc]

Personally I think this is better! (In my previous post, I was assuming you still had the modem).

However, be aware that you now have two internal networks. One between the server and the client PCs, and the other between the router and the server. I'd set the system up like this:

[ADSL router]=192.168.0.0=[SBS server]=10.0.0.0=[switch]====[client pc]

That is enable NAT on the router and set it's internal IP to 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0.
Set the NIC on the router side of the server to 192.168.0.2/255.255.255.0
Then use the 10.0.0.0/255.255.0.0 address space for your internal network.
Set ISA up to see the 192.168.0.2 NIC as connected to an untrusted network, and the other NIC (10.0.0.1?) as connected to the trusted network.

 

Hi ReggieB

I drop SBS because it only supports 5 clients, I need 8 or 9.

My setup is now ASDL Router/firewall===XP pro SP2 IP192.168.0.1===switch===Printer IP192.168.0.112===5x XP pro workstations===1x XP home===1x WK2

Router setup said to set the router IP192.168.1.1, but I'm not sure if its setup right plus if the firewall is working?

Should I turn off SP2 firewall?

I also would like to backup from the gateway PC for all the workstation, how would you suggest I do this?

 

Negitive
It comes out of the box with 5 client licenses. You have to order additional licenses in pacs of 5, 10, or 25. also known as CALs.