Help me set up my home network!

Not mandatory, preferable. I'll do regular 10/100 or wireless. I was thinking GigE between two machines, Linksys makes wireless routers with 4 GigE wired ports as well, but those are to pricey - 8K for just the router.
 
sangram said:
@greenie, what are the tradeoffs between DHCP and static IP?
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I have just configured on my router that for this MAC address, assign this IP. benefits of static IP with DHCP. basically I need not reconfigure my IP address on comp everytime i reinstall...well thats the only reason i cud think of :P

2 walls is no biggie. Get a Buffalo HP-G54S, with 2 walls I still got excellent signal. whereas with 2 walls i just get good/very good on the normal G54S
 
SunnyBoi said:
I have just configured on my router that for this MAC address, assign this IP. benefits of static IP with DHCP. basically I need not reconfigure my IP address on comp everytime i reinstall...well thats the only reason i cud think of :P

2 walls is no biggie. Get a Buffalo HP-G54S, with 2 walls I still got excellent signal. whereas with 2 walls i just get good/very good on the normal G54S
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Yeah. Tomato ftw !! Btw, I tried accessing the Wifi network from my Uncle's place (2 walls and a some 10 metres of open space between the router and the laptop) and it was picked up no issues at all with a minimum of 2 signal bars.

@Sangram, no need to be confused. Once you start setting things, you'll find that they all fall in place :P Its just the start that is difficult. But you still need to decide wired or wireless based on your convenience :)
 
static ip's make port forwarding (or similar network control methods) possible when easier methods dont seem to work like uPnP or MAC address-based control. For uPnP, the software which requires port forwarding also needs to support uPnP.

The ability of my router to resolve computer names seems to have stopped working (where you can just enter the name of the computer you want to connect to instead of the ip address). So hosting servers on my lan is a pain without static ips, since ill have to IM my ip to my roomates before every session.

DHCP serves you well until it doesnt. And when it doesnt, its usually pretty apparent and easy to diagnose. ie, youll know when you have to switch to static.

Bah...another long-winded post. what im trying to say is stick with DHCP :P
 
That helps a lot, thanks to all of you!

I'm planning to place the hardware orders once my paycheck clears, but I now looking very closely at wired, and dropping the NAS. I may use my current rig as DHCP and hook everything up with wire.
 
Wired for the stationary, wireless for the movable...
Work by this principle..Keeps the cost minimum..

And just borrow a crimping tool, you can do it all yourself;)
 
Didn't see this thread so couldn't contribute anything but this layout of my setup might help others see the possibilities of a home network :)

I had the same problems of sharing music, video etc. Have three desktops, assorted wi-fi devices (iPhones, P1i, Archos PMP, PSP), Mediagate Network player and the odd laptops that my friends bring over.

Now I have all music, videos and essential software on a NAS running 2 750gb disks in RAID1. rTorrent on the NAS takes care of the downloads. Printer is also shared thru the NAS. Media server on the NAS helps me stream music/ video to the Archos/ Mediagate.

The Linksys WRT600N takes care of the wired giga lan (2 PCs+NAS+Mediagate ) and I use the 5Ghz band to connect the only PC on WiFi N. The 2.4 Ghz is used for all other WiFi G devices. DHCP with reserved IPs help in port forwarding and the like while not complicating any new additions to the network (for e.g. a friend's lappy or PMP).

The advantages of using a NAS are many. For one, if anything goes wrong, a hardware reset (mostly) is all I need to get everything back online. An average of 27 watts helps in keeping the bills down. Plus, power cuts are very frequent here. The low consumption of the NAS helps me in keeping the NAS+ WiFi Router+modem online thru power cuts of upto an hour (tested) on a generic 600va UPS :ohyeah: ! Helps in getting that torrent downloaded real fast :ohyeah: !Network printer sharing and the media server are like the icing on a cake. Only hassle is if I need more storage for shared file, I'll have to swap it out from the NAS. Works out better for me than a download rig.

The minus? It's way more expensive than a properly configured dl rig. But if one doesn't need giga lan speeds, there's a very good Thecus NAS (N299) going for arnd 10k without the HDDs. It's got 10/100/1000 in the specs but it's way too underpowered for giga through-put :P
 
Naga said:
The Linksys WRT600N takes care of the wired giga lan (2 PCs+NAS+Mediagate ) and I use the 5Ghz band to connect the only PC on WiFi N.
The 2.4 Ghz is used for all other WiFi G devices.
DHCP with reserved IPs help in port forwarding and the like while not complicating any new additions to the network (for e.g. a friend's lappy or PMP).
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Errr can u give some more details on these 3points??

Are they router specific features??

And the dhcp and reserved IP part..:S
Hope this isnt considered OT:ashamed:
 
The WRT600N is a dual band router i.e it uses 2 diff frequencies, 2.4 GHz and 5GHz. Having both N and G devices on the same frequency would limit speeds to the lowest standard, hence the use of separate frequencies for each standard. Also, congestion will be less for the N connected PC.

I have DHCP enabled but have some specific IPs reserved for specific individual devices. That way, any new device joining the network gets the benefit of DHCP automatically allotting free IPs while my fixed clients have a static IP (as the router will always allot the same reserved IPs to the specific devices).
 
1) The Linksys WRT600N is a dual band router, i.e., it broadcasts on both the 2.4Ghz frequency and the 5Ghz frequency. Naga also has a WUSB600N adapter that can connect on either frequency. The 5Ghz band is less interference prone than the 2.4Ghz band. The wireless N PC will connect on the 5Ghz band, and the wireless G clients will connect on the 2.4Ghz band.

2) DHCP reservation is a feature of some routers where the DHCP server of the router will assign a particular IP address to a particular PC based on the MAC address of the PC. It's also referred to as static DHCP. It takes away the hassle of assigning a static IP on the PC, since the router will always assign the same IP to the PC as the PCs MAC address will never change.

Edit: Looks like Naga beat me to it!!! Guess I should refresh the page more often!!
 
Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate the contribution and discussion. Is the WRT600N available in the country, or is KMD the way to go (if I want to go wireless)?
 
whoa I got repped without even answering his question :D

For beginners, DHCP is easier as you dont have to figure out how to configure things , and the router basically takes care of everything.
Static IP is a bit more old school, and you get more control over your network.

I chose Static IP because I had trouble acessing drives using the pc's name , and was able to acess only via their IP's
 
You got that for the info on the walls.

Last question: Is it possible to eliminate the router, use the DL rig as the DHCP server and file server as well? I will also be browsing/downloading using this PC, and will need another network card to connect it to a switch (as the primary will be used by the 'net connection). All other PCs can connect to this through this switch (maybe gigabit, don't know yet) and wired connections. This will save me a ton of money and can be later upgraded to wireless if I feel the wires too messy.

Will it work?
 
sangram said:
You got that for the info on the walls.

Last question: Is it possible to eliminate the router, use the DL rig as the DHCP server and file server as well? I will also be browsing/downloading using this PC, and will need another network card to connect it to a switch (as the primary will be used by the 'net connection). All other PCs can connect to this through this switch (maybe gigabit, don't know yet) and wired connections. This will save me a ton of money and can be later upgraded to wireless if I feel the wires too messy.

Will it work?
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Like I said earlier, for Squid proxy for that, it also cache. so it will reduce overall bandwidth usage.with Squid you will have great control over your network

for File server, you should use SMB if all other machines are on Windows and NFS for *nix based systems
 
Sorry I saw this so late. I have 4 computers (one a laptop) that all share files and music and movies.
The setup is super simple....
I have a Buffalo wireless G router
2 of my computers have a gigabit lan on the motherboard and are hard wired to the router
The rest are wireless using WPA2 PSK Security.
Using Window Media Player 11..... I have Windows Media Sharing turned on, on all of the the computers, and with a little tweaking they all share media from a single location.
All the computers are on the same Workgroup, and can share files or directories that you choose to share in windows, you can even map a network drive if you wish. This is pretty secure as they are either wired or using WPA2 secured wireless.
They are all sharing an Internet connection via the router using DHCP except for the one that I use torrent downloads with, and I have assigned only this one a static IP.
 
I doubt that it's locally available. Naga got it through KMD if I'm not mistaken. It's been phased out and replaced by the WRT610N. Essentially the same router, allegedly with most of the kinks worked out! Also comes in a sleek new design. If available in India, you might find old stocks of the WRT600N.
 
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