Professional LANs

[g4m3rof1337]

I know I've asked in the past, but I've recently had a friend who would bring the Network and set it up. But now I am establishing a Business, and I think its time I take over everything. My LANs have been hitting around 20+ people, so..


I want to know what I need to host LANs, seamlessly. We've been using Gig Switches in the past, and they've been great. So, I was thinking either one gig switch around 20 ports or a little less, and a smaller 8 port gig switch, since the Venue I use has a room inside a room. Or just one gig switch that can be placed in the middle of the room, and run connections everywhere.


I mainly have PC and Xbox Gamers at the LANs, and I want them all to be connected with Internet, I have 3 connections at this Venue, 2 DSL and 1 Cable. I want to have them on different internet connections, but if a PC Gamer brought an Xbox, and sits near the PC gamers, I want them to be able to connect to the Xbox section, but thats easy.


Also, what software or other hardware should I look into?



I plan on buying 'Used' switches, saw a few on Craigslist, so.




Thanks.

 

[Geoff]

You don't need 3 internet connections just get one with more bandwidth. It's much easier then trying to tie all 3 together.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

I know, we usually had one DSL for the Xbox Gamers and the PC Gamers used the Cable, then had a Backup DSL for whoever.

And thanks for the diagram.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

What do I need to do to my Desktop, to make it a LAN server?

Is it as easy as having the games, and just running the Create A Server option?

I dont mind using my Desktop as a server, and my laptop to game on for awhile.



And I will be buying a gig switch or something like that soon, so I'll want to post it here first and see if its good. How do I find out if all the ports work on one?




Thanks.

 

[Vipernitrox]

Like omega said get yourself one fast connection. After that i would set it up like this:

Routing and remote access and especially isa server do require quite some configuring and knowledge if you want them to work correctly the option below would be much easier for you.

Or if you want to keep your router. Put your pc in the "section". Then you won't have to run routing and remote access and isa server. If you need some advice on setting up dhcp and dns. Give me a pm i'll write a short manual for you. As for the game servers, i know how to run a Unreal Tournament 2004 dedicated server (no graphics). But that's about it.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

OK, what should the Specs of the server be? If it just plans on Hosting Games, and not playing them.



Thanks.

 

[Vipernitrox]

you can probably easily run it of your own computer. that's what i meant by dual boot.
my unreal tournament server ran on 800mhz with 256mb. DHCP and dns both don't use up much resources.

You do need to host the games dedicated, meaning just command line and not graphics. That requires much more memory, cpu clocks and a decent graphics card. And not all games have that function. And like i said i know how to do it with unreal tournament 2004. And i know even less about hosting xbox games. Sooo i can pretty much only help your with setting up the environment. Do you want more info?

 

[g4m3rof1337]

Yeah, I have a Gateway thats a few years old, with a P4 @ 3.7, 1GB Ram, and I added a 7900GS. So would something like that work?



Thanks.

 

[Vipernitrox]

more then enough, the only thing that's a real resource hog is adding things that need "intelligence" like bots. You might want to consider adding 1gb of ram but you'll be fine with this.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

Alright, I'll look into adding another Gig or Ram.




Thanks.

 

[Geoff]

You could use a P3 as a DHCP/DNS server, I would not use the same machine though as a game server as well as hosting your networking services.

 

[Vipernitrox]

even less is enough. dns/dhcp use practically no resources for such a small network.

and using more machines to minimize total network failure isn't really necessary.
if you got an old machine lying around, why not. If you don't no big deal.
no point on spending money on it anyways.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

So use the Gateway as a Gaming Server for the LANs?

Would it help if I had a few backup PC's for other servers or what?


And so I know what to look for, what are some key specs that I should look for in a used gig switch.




Thanks.

 

[Ambushed]

CAT6 over CAT5 cable wouldn't hurt either.

 

[tlarkin]

Man, guys, a server for a LAN for gaming? No way, that is complete over kill and a waste of money. This is what you need to do.

Get a router, and have it control DHCP and DNS, and hook it to your internet connection be it DSL or Cable. Then run a patch from the router into like a 24 port gigabit switch (non managed), which will cost your probably $100 to $150 range. Then get some sort of Access Point you can attach to the switch which will broadcast your WiFi.

Then all the clients that come to your LAN, all they have to do is plug in and set their computer to DHCP and everything else is taken care of. If you want say like a file server where people can share/dump data amongst each other is simple. You can give that one a static IP or do static DHCP if your router supports it.

You would never need to upgrade anything until you started to get 100s of clients, then a server might be more viable, but until then you should live by the same saying I do - KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid! If you keep it simple it is easier to control and less problems arise.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

Thanks Tlarkin.


How do these Gig Switches look?
HP: 1
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3048573&CatId=2796
USRobotics: 2
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1597480&CatId=2797
D-Link: 3
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1041357&CatId=2797
D-Link: 4
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1042002&CatId=2797
Netgear: 5
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1697254&CatId=2800


To make it easier, refer to them as 1 - 5.

I will probably do 1 24 port Gig Switch, and maybe a 4 - 8 Port Gig Switch, if needed. Instead of a few 8 Port ones.


And would it be better for me, if I just made my own Ethernets, so I can lay things out better?

Thanks.

 

[tlarkin]

That last one, number 5, I have a few of those at work and they are nice. I guess I though they cost around $100 less than they actually do, oh well, perhaps it was because we got a bulk/educational discount on them.

I will be mass imaging machines with that Netgear switch over the next month.

 

[Geoff]

Thats a lot of money to spend on a switch for just playing games on a LAN once every few days or weeks. I'm sure you could get buy with a few 8-12 port switches for under $50 and connect them together. Sure it's not the best thing to do, but it's not like you are running anything intensive or require the data to be extremely reliable.

 

[tlarkin]

Yeah just go buy a basic linksys dumb gigabit switch and see how it handles and go from there.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

Well, I plan on hosting and help hosting them a lot, and I want to do it on a Professional level. We used Gig switches at the last LAN, and it was great for getting large patch files and whatnot.