[jfenwick]

So I know little to nothing about home servers and networks. For the past years I've been using a Lynksis WRT54G for my needs...it's been ok but nothing special. I've been reading around but am just getting confused between; switch, hub, router, etc...and most guides are for small little networks.

Now that I have a number of comps in the house on different floors with different functions and we're getting ready to upgrade our home I want to sort out a good home network before we make the move so I can set it up properly during the building phase of the home instead of after. Wire everything in behind the walls etc...

Here are the specifics:

Computers (currently):
- HTPC
- My gaming rig
- folding rig
- wife's comp
- garage comp
- laptop
- additional 10 systems or so during annual LAN party.

What I want:
- all on one network
- network all in one printer/scanner/fax etc... that is available and on 24/7
- wireless access
- plenty of ports for gaming and additional expansion at new home (24 ports ideally)
- 24/7 storage I have a couple of TB HDDs to set up accessible 24/7 from any comp in the house.

Currently I have everything running through my primary comp so if the comp is off then no printer or storage etc...

Questions:
1) do i need a server? The LANs are getting bigger every year and was thinking that might be a good idea....what other advantages would a home server be for daily use? Could I turn my 24/7 folding rig into a server? Two birds with one stone? What would I be sacrificing?

2) What kind of hardware do I need to set up such a network? switch? etc...

Thanks, appreciate the help/guidance.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

For this setup, you will be looking for a switch. A hub is out of the question, as it's just old tech. Routers don't come in 24 port design's, and the only spot you need the router at is where your LAN meets the internet for NAT. This allows 1 public IP address from the ISP to be used by an un-numbered amount of computers on your private LAN.

The setup I have at home is the AT&T home gateway (for the U-Verse voice, internet & TV service) plugged into the phone line towards ATT. Then I have a D-Link DGS-1024D - a 24 port Gigabit switch plugged into one of the LAN ports. From there, I have wiring in the house that all comes back to a 24 port patch panel. Each room has 3 runs of Cat 5e cable, and 1 run of Coax, on a 4 port wall plate. When I am ready to use a port on the wall plate, I run a small 1 foot long jumper cable from the patch panel to a port on the switch. For any wireless clients, the ATT home gateway has wireless too.

For network storage, I have a D-Link DNS-323 NAS box (comes WITHOUT hard drives). It plugs directly into the 24 port switch, and holds 2 hard drives. I have 2 500 Gig Seagate drives in it, and another 2 spare drives that will go into another one (when I can afford it... soon hopefully). This thing is GREAT! It holds my entire music library, photo's, and all of the movies I ripped from my DVD collection. I have the included UPNP server turned on, and this device allows me to stream music/photos/movies to my 2 PS3's, DIRECTLY from the PS3... it really is low-maintenance. The DNS-323 also has a USB port for a printer, which would allow network printing. (most of the All-in-One printers don't have network drivers though, just to give you a heads up).

Here is a pic of the rack I have setup...

[jfenwick]

Ok...this looks to be what I'm after. So to recap:

Feed -->modem-->router-->switch:

Switch to:
- various computers
- external HDDs
- printer, either to switch or HDD like yours

May be a stupid question but AT&T home gateway is? That's what's in the photo next to the external HDDs? works as your modem and TV/phone splitter?

I have home phone through cable provider so both TV and phone would be through coax. Just internet and network through cat5.

So how does a server fit into the mix?

Thanks by the way...making a whole lot more sense.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

The ATT home gateway is by the 3 coax cables in front of the rack... One of the cables is resting on top of it. And yes, it is used to split phone, TV and internet. Really only splits the VOIP off of the line. The data and TV go out all 4 of the LAN ports on the RG (sorry, it's a Residential Gateway, not home gateway... whatev...), and I have a single cable from a LAN port to the switch. So I could hook my TV boxes to any of the wall plates and they will work.

As far as the server goes, it is just a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box that has 2 HDD's in it. It has 1 USB port, and 1 RJ-45 10/100/1000 port on the back of it. It has several different servers that come with the stock firmware that can be turned on or off... Off the top of my head, this one has FTP server, iTunes server, uPNP server, and it CAN do DHCP server too, but I let the router take care of DHCP. It's a really great, cost-effective little box.

[jfenwick]

Wow...that's a lot of words I don't understand.

That does seem like a handy little guy...so knowing little to nothing about different types of servers can this server as a gaming server to host warcraft, starcraft, CSS, etc... LAN parties?

[Ethereal_Dragon]

I am going to say PROBABLY not.... the processor onboard is only 500 Mhz.... MIGHT be able to handle Starcraft, since that is a mid 90's game.... Not sure if it is possible though, and no idea how to pull it off. If you're going for game server capabilities also, a PC would probably be best.

[jfenwick]

Ok, so should I convert to a different OS? Or Windows home server?

Back to a summery:

- feed-->modem-->router-->switch

Switch to:
- HDD enclosure
- network Computers
- server? -->printer

Lol, so is all this adding up?

[FlashDude]

Ethereal has a cool network, but I wouldn't waste money on a NAS box I make my own. FreeNas is pretty freaking awesome if you ask me. That is not a game server for that you would need a PC running the dedicated server apps for the games you want to host locally.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Originally Posted by jfenwick

Ok, so should I convert to a different OS? Or Windows home server?

Back to a summery:

- feed-->modem-->router-->switch

Switch to:
- HDD enclosure
- network Computers
- server? -->printer

Lol, so is all this adding up?

Yes, your summary is correct..... As far as the OS question... I dunno.

As far as FlashDude mentioned with the wasting money on a NAS box, it depends on 3 things... First, what spare components do you have laying around? and Second, what will the NAS box be used for? Third is, what's your budget?

Personally, I could have used one of the dozen spare computers I have laying around, but I wanted something compact, (near) silent, and something that doesn't use up loads of power, and something with an OS in place that only needs user tweaking.

[jfenwick]

Ok, so budget isn't a big deal for me, i have enough parts/systems around to put together a decent server. And from what I've been reading a dedicated server may be required for the size of LAN party it's starting to be.

As much as I like the simplicity of the HDD box as a server it just doesn't work for me long term. Also, I'm assuming there is no point of external HDDs if i'm going to be building a server computer, I'd just add the multiple HDDs in there.

So in setting up a computer as a server should i be looking at different software? Windows home network or server 2003?