home network

[phigdon]

I need some advice on building a home network. Basically I have or will have, two kids computers, my system, an HTPC, my wife's system, her work laptop, and there may be kids laptops in the distant future. all of them need to be able to access the Internet (wireless is preferred), print, access movie and audio files on the HTPC and I would like to be able to maintain the security and protection programs from a single computer instead of visiting all the different ones in the network.

I have a home network set up between my kids single computer and my system now, so that they can access the wireless router.

So looking at everything I want it to do, is it going to be better to put together a house server and network workstations to it or put together systems that can be separated from the network and work alone? how does the OS work for a server/workstation set up? will I need XP or Vista for all the machines like they were stand alones?

[shadowpr]

Sounds like you would be able to just use a wireles router. Look at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124190

And then you could get a switch for the rest of the connections that are needed. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124005

[phigdon]

I have a WRT54G already. I would like to have all the media files, the printer, and the internet connection on one main computer with the others being able to access any files in the network. along with being able to print and surf. should I take the time to research and put together a server or just make a good main system with fast HDD's?

[aram]

I wouldnt really recommend wireless for streaming media, especially if its going to include HD meterial. In my experience its just not reliable or fast enough. You probably want to use a combination of both wired and wireless accross your network, based on what your going to be using each computer for. You dont really need to worry about having particularly fast HDDs on whichever machine is going to be storing the info as the nework itself will be far slower than the HDDs, especially wirelss.

You could consider a NAS box (basically just a mini computer with a loads of HDD's in) for storing all your media content connected by wire to the media centre and router and any other computers your going to be streaming alot to, that way you don't need a specific computer on to access your media, just the NAS box itself. You can also get NAS boxes with wireless cards in, but I would still have it connected to the HTPC by wire. You might be able to find one with a print server included so you could plug your printer into it, otherwise the easiest thing to do is just share your printer by right clicking on it in the printers section of control panel and going to 'share'. You can then add it to the other machines on the network by going to 'add printer' and choosing 'network printer' then selecting it, on each computer.
Likewise with files stored on each computer just share the folders you want to access from another computer and then go to 'network' (on vista) or 'my network places' (XP).
On vista make sure you add 'everyone' to the access list when your sharing a folder and that you have file and printer sharing enabled in the 'network and sharing centre'.

If you dont want wires trailing around your house but want a solid secure connection then consider 'home-plug' solutions which use your power cables as network cables. Its expensive but works very well, check out these.

As far as maintaining your anivirus stuff centrally Im not sure, maybe someone else would know more about it. If you have a half decent router it will probably have a hardware firewall which will be covering the entire network so you really just gotta worry about virus stuff. Tbh once you've installed a decent Antivirus (like the free version of AVG) they kind of look after themselves so it shouldnt really be a big deal, I have 4 machines on my network and I never even think about it.

[phigdon]

aram, thanks for the reply. I have looked as NAS enclosures and I have a couple on the egg that I am wishlisting. the wireless is mainly for web surfing which I have now on the kids computer and it surfs about the same speed as the wired connection. I want the kids to have the ability to go to the HTPC an pick a movie or a playlist on their systems. so if I understand correctly, I can get a NAS and connect it and my wireless router to my main system and add computers to the network already in place. so for the main whats better? fast processor, lots of memory?

[aram]

if you get a NAS box you will connect it directly to the router, thats one of the advantages of NAS over USB storage, you don't need to connect it to a computer because it is actually a computer in itself (with CPU and RAM), which is why they are so much more expensive than USB.

If I were you I would do it like this: your NAS box is connected directly to the Router and your HTPC by wire (network cable if possible otherwise home-plug), then your other computers connect to the router and access everything through wireless. This way you don't need any of the computers to be particularly beefy as none of them are used for anything more than a bit of file and printer sharing.
Wireless should be fine for streaming the odd film, but not if your recording and playing back regularly on your HTPC.

Hope that helps

[phigdon]

the HTPC i had planned on a direct cable and Internet connection, thanks for the advice.