I know my network requirements, but what hardware?

ve

Hi,

I have a small network...
Comprising of

• 3 Desktop PCs
• 2 Laptops (with wireless)
• 1 Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router
• 5 VOIP phones (wired)
• Broadband connection to Internet

I want to get a NAS box (considering this one hosting a 1TB HD) to act as a fileshare between all computers. I want access to this fileshare to be restricted to machines on the internal LAN, and not from the Internet. Since I have never worked with NAS boxes before, I'm assuming that they share out the disks just like a windows share?, or do the clients have to go through some poxy propriatery interface. Basically what I would like to do is leave the NAS box on, and when the PCs boot, have them automatically map a network drive to a file share on the NAS box.

Then probably the most important of them all is to purchase a new Switch (considering this 24port smart one). I need to grant all PCs and phones access to the Internet via our broadband connection. If I purchased a 24 port switch would it let me connect up the

• Desktop PCs
• VOIP phones
• NAS Box
• Wireless Router (uplink on wireless router to switch)
• Uplink to broadband connection

Then I could have the laptops connect to the wireless router (over wifi link). I'm not an expert with networks, and my experience with switches is limited, hence I would like to have something I can easily manage via a web interface (akin to many wifi routers). So I don't want to have to telnet/ssh in to it, and issue some obscure commands I will have to learn from a manual.

So based on my requirements, does this topology sound ok?, or would you suggest different?

any advice appreciated. Cheers

humaxf1

Hi there,

Counting your PCs/network devices, it comes to 13 (I've included the laptops as been wired and uplink from your BB modem). 16P switch doesn't leave much headroom, so the 24P is a good idea. A managed switch isn't necessary unless you really want one! Everything connects into this incl the WRT54G to spew out WIFI (Use one of the 4 LAN ports, not the Internet port)

Some NAS boxes do require poxy proprietary software to access shared folders on them (check before you buy!!!). Otherwise, you just map a drive as normal---straight forward enough. Each PC will remember the mappings upon boot up. NAS access from the Internet should be configurable to be blocked.

That's all there is to it really apart from deciding on an IP scheme/setting DHCP scope and configuring the NAS with folders/users. I would set the NAS and the phones as static IP.

Best of luck.

axer

How much network storage capacity do you think you would need? It might be a good idea to use the RAID 1 at least in case a harddrive fails. Maybe 2x500gb disks.

ob

A managed switch would be worth getting for QoS bandwidth management, important for VOIP, a router with QoS would be even more important if you are using VOIP over the internet.
Power over Ethernet on the switch would be handy as well if you're phones support it.

I don't think the Linksys router has any QoS management available on it, unless you flash it with the DD-WRT open source firmware.

Sometimes Windows forgets its mapped drives, so it might be woth setting up a small batch script to map the drives on logon.