I'm setting up a network for my house. I'm reasonably new to networking. I'm wondering if this will work: I want to have a server computer with a wifi antenna and (hopefuly) a four port NIC. There will be 4+ networked computers and 2+ networked printers (and more through other computers). The server compter will be running XP Pro and most of the other computers will be running XP Home, but one is OS X Tiger and one is MCE 2005. I would also like to have the wifi antenna act as a wireless router. Will this work? I would also like any suggestions on how to do this. I looked at four port NICs and the cheapest I could find was ~$380. are there any cheaper ones? if not, would a router work as well? Also, what is a good wifi antenna? I will use this to replace a router if possible. The antenna should have good range and power and support 802.11 b/g. When is n supposed to come out? if its soon, I might as well wait for that. I want an antenna that is mostly vertical. not horisontal. I live in a townehouse which is four floors, but each floor is reasonably small. However, I would like to be able to access the signal from a garden that is about 50 feet away from the probable antenna position. Size is not a major concern, as long as it fits in an area 1mx1mx1m. It should cost no more than $50. As I already said, I'm new to networking so any tips would be appreciated. I now how to configure the basics of a router and run the network setup wizard (although ive been met with little success in that ) I would greatly appreciate any other suggestions. EDIT: forgot to say that the wifi antenna will be about 4m away from the computer.
Right, first up, how many computers are going to connect to the server, and how many will be LAN and how many WLAN? I'd advise a router rather than an antenna, as they allow better signal and performance. Linksys have a great range of routers, with built in switches for 4 computers on LAN and support for 802.11 b/g. What sort of traffic are we loookiong at, is it going to be low volume file and print sharing, or full blown CGN 100Mbps all the time?
I still don't understand why do you need a 4 port NIC ? If you want to set up wired connections between multiple computers, you need a Fast Ethernet SWITCH. Just connect every computer to the switch. A 16 port switch is probably less than $ 50...
Actually, here's a complete diagram of how I would do it: http://img73.echo.cx/my.php?image=retea4oi.jpg There are also other possible configurations using devices with multiple functions (for example, you could find a router that also includes the wireless access point), but I personally don't like them, based on previous unpleasant experiences (if the router dies, you also loose wireless connectivity).
This is how I would personally do it http://img227.echo.cx/my.php?image=network2229nf.png The Nodes are any PC/MAC/etc the Router is the NETGEAR DG834G Integrated ADSL Modem 54Mbps 802.11g Wireless Firewall Router £62 ~ $100ish? however a 8 port router would be easier and void the need for the switch. and a 3 port printer server Linksys EtherFast 3-Port 10/100 Print Server £25 ~ $45 you could run your server as the access point, for your wireless network in ad-hoc mode, but a dedicated solution such as router/access point would be better imho. Also don’t get the 4 port nic, get 1 port nic $8 and a switch $18
Also, what everyone (including me ) forgot to mention is that the ADSL Modem and router are only required if you have broadband Internet access, which you didn't mention in your post...
it will mostly be a low trafic network, mostly to share printers and text documents, with the occasional mp3 or photo. However, i will be connecting my HTPC to this, so video will also need to be transfered occasionally. I do have broadband internet. I have it set up pretty much as Shadow_101 suggested, but there are two four-port switches, both with two computers and a networked printer (the printers have their own NICs, but they are the ones the man) (actually, one of the printers uses USB as well as cat5, but this shouldnt matter) For some reason, the computers wont recognize each other on the network for some reason. I know very little about networking. Ive just been using WinXP's network setup wizard unsuccessfully.
^^ In NO way at all that relates to what this person wants to do. My 2 cents: Shadow and Daniel's diagrams look pretty good for what you'll be doing, and it'll save you some money from buying that 4-port nic you were talking about Checklist: - Each computer has a NIC Shopping List: - Router - Switch - Access point - Cables Also, a quite common mistake with computers not showing up on a network, is that they need to be in the same workgroup on all PCs... I remember getting pissed off at a win98 box for not being on the network when all I had to do was make the workgroup right
