Small office network - need some help

AceHigh

I'm moving my small home office into a slightly bigger office in the garage and I want to setup a small office network.

My current setup is just a single pc with a zyxel wired broadband modem.

What I'm hoping to do is put 2 work stations in the new office, (potential for a third, or plug in point for a laptop) in a few months.

I'm not particularly interested in wireless as I'm hoping to do this cheaply and don't need mobility.

I would like both PCs to have broadband abd both to see and share with each other on the network.

What is the best way of setting this up and what would I need?

MarkR

If you don't want to use wireless then you would need to run cable from the spare three ports of the modem to any new computer. Then just make sure that file and printer sharing is enabled. Wireless network cards / dongles are reasonable cheap now, so don't overlook that as an option!

zod

better speed , better reliability - than wireless

http://cgi.ebay.ie/85Mbps-Homeplug-Ethernet-Network-Over-Mains-NEW_W0QQitemZ200067196612QQihZ010QQcategoryZ40995QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

AceHigh

Thanks,

The main reason for choosing wired would be performance as opposed to cost.

Do you know of any good equipment?

Would it be possible to use my existing router ( Zyxel 600 prestige series). The crappy ones BT hand out.

Heinrich

AceHigh wrote:

Thanks,

The main reason for choosing wired would be performance as opposed to cost.

Do you know of any good equipment?

Would it be possible to use my existing router ( Zyxel 600 prestige series). The crappy ones BT hand out.

That would be a single port one so the answer is no. You would need a multi port one or upload your dsl router to a standard router. This is messy so a 4 port dsl router would have to be bought.

They work very well.

AceHigh

The router has an Ethernet connection into which i plug one pc into and use the USB connection for the other pc. Would this not allow both pcs to talk?

Dampsquid

No need for a new router/dsl modem. Just buy a switch

Heinrich

AceHigh wrote:

The router has an Ethernet connection into which i plug one pc into and use the USB connection for the other pc. Would this not allow both pcs to talk?

I don't think it works that way.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=329574

This is what you need. I have 4 machines on a similar arrangement and can share files/printers.

AceHigh

Thanks a million for all the help and advise.

I think I'll try that router. I'll let you know how i get on.

zod

for €25 buy this :




as discussed here : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055013272

Saruman

All you need as someone said is a hub/switch. And that is only to give you enough ethernet ports. You can get them for about €20.
He does not need another dsl router. You just get a switch (6 or 8 port), plug your router in to one port and the other pc's into the other ports... thats it!
Unless you are using something like windows 98 you are fine. Win2k and XP have file and printer sharing enabled as default on every pc i have ever seen.
Your router... again by default has DHCP enabled so your pc's will get ip and gateway settings from it without you having to enter them.
All you might need to worry about is setting up the workgroup name in windows. In XP the default when you run the network wizard is "mshome" You do not need to run the wizard though.

Thats the easy bit.... the more complicated bit when sharing in a workgroup however is authentication. If all the PC's have the same username and password such as Administrator then its fine.. if they are different then you need to authenticate each pc.

If you need to do that then ask, its simple enough to do but will take too long to explain right now.

Heinrich

Saruman, I can see your point but that entails another gadget along with the tranfo etc. I got my router a few years ago and dropped the cheapo router provided by Eircom.

If the OP wants he can have a nice 3com 8 port switch and a Cayman (Netopia) router to play with. Free and he could also have some cables of different lengths as well.

zod

Saruman wrote:

All you need as someone said is a hub/switch. And that is only to give you enough ethernet ports. You can get them for about €20.
He does not need another dsl router. You just get a switch (6 or 8 port), plug your router in to one port and the other pc's into the other ports... thats it!

So if he bought the netopia router for the same price as a switch he can have

1. One piece of equipment with one power supply
2. wireless G if he ever wants
3. A spare DSL modem

Now why would would he buy a switch when the netopia has one built in ??? Why ?