not sure how to setup this network?.

L

liamo

Limp Gawd
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Sep 21, 2002
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Bassicly i'm trying to set up a classroom which consists of 12 student pc's and and one teacher pc. I would like the students to be able to to accsess a shared folder on the teachers pc for lesson material etc. It is not important that the 12 computers "see" or connect to each other, just that they all have accseess to that data in the shared folder of the teachers pc. I dont know a good cheap way to do this or what sort of specs the teachers pc will have to be to (for example) let 12 students dowload that 5mb file at the same time - to be honest i haven't a clue what way to set this up (obviously without paying a fortune!) Bassicly i'm not sure what to fit the 12 pc's with (a1000 or a 10/100) and how then do i get them all into the teachers pc? would i link those 12 up to a swith and then one lead from that switch to the teachwers pc? though i've only seen 5port swithches... well if anyone could reccomend a way of doing this or even let me know what i need to be looking at hardware wise it would be really appreciated.
liam

obviously i wont be teaching networking...... :rolleyes:
 
10/100 is sufficient for any and all desktop applications. We're also not talking anything requiring more than a 486 in processing power. PC hardware is not a concern in any fashion.

You'll want to use a switch, or if you can get a pair of 8-ports cheaper than a 12, chain two together. Uplink on Switch A to Regular on Switch B, normal cable. Naturally, you can chain any number of switches in this fashion.

Related: what other connections exist? Is this part of a larger school network, self-contained, or what? That will dictate other requirements (such as a router and/or DHCP server).

For the PCs, any Windows file sharing is sufficient. NTFS (on 2K/XP) is preferable as you'll be able to better customize security. Give the teacher write permission (in case he changes a file remotely, although this probably won't arise). Give everyone else read-only at best. Map the folder as a network drive on all other machines.
 
Thanks- this will be the only computer room in the building - used to teach photoshop word and basic web design. No other connections do or have exist/ed.
 
In that case, I would suggest a home router (Linksys / DLink / Netgear / whatever is available in Ireland). You'll want this for two purposes:

1) It has a DHCP server, so that you don't have to manually assign IP addresses
2) It's a good default root point for the network. Assuming it has 4 LAN switch ports, I'd use one for the file server (teacher's system), and the other three to hook up the extra switches. It's slightly preferable to have fewer hops -- that is, Router direct to Switches A, B, and C is preferable to Router to A, A to B, and B to C.

Client computers can then be dropped onto available switch ports.
 
So you reckon 4 pcs in to each switch and then those 3 switches into a router and that router into lan aocket of the 13th pc with has one two hard drives in it of which one is just for shared network files? will this really be o.k? as i have some guy telling me mcrosoft dont approve this and it probably wont work and i'll need to buy windows server edition? i'm getting confused now!
 
All PCs (client & server) into switches / router. Let's say you grab 2 8-port switches and a 4-port switch/router.
Comps into the 8-port switches. Switch uplinks to the router LAN (switch) ports. Nothing to the router WAN port unless you later add internetwork connectivity.

As for server... I think Pro has a limit of ten simultaneous connections, which could pose a problem. If it's read-only data, this is easily circumvented by putting Apache on the machine and accessing the files via web browser.
The other issue is user management. Server would allow for a domain with one-stop user control, but this may be overkill for what's being done.
- Is it OK for students to log in generically (i.e. one "student" login used by everyone, keep your own files safe yourself)? No need for a domain, stick with Pro.
- Are you (or the appropriate staff) willing to do user management on 12 systems instead of 1? Consider saving the cash.
If, though, you want every student to be able to log onto any computer and have immediate access to his files and no one else's, a domain (and therefore Server) is the way to go. This also allows for normal fileshares above and beyond the 10-connection limit.

Finally, don't take that connection limit as hard fact. I'm not certain of it.
 
liamo said:
So you reckon 4 pcs in to each switch and then those 3 switches into a router and that router into lan aocket of the 13th pc with has one two hard drives in it of which one is just for shared network files? will this really be o.k? as i have some guy telling me mcrosoft dont approve this and it probably wont work and i'll need to buy windows server edition? i'm getting confused now!
Click to expand...
Tell the guy who is saying that it won't work and MS doesn't approve to go find something else to do while you setup your network.
You're trying to setup a simple peer to peer network for file sharing purposes. You're not trying to setup a full blown windows server so this is not a problem for Microsoft.
lomn75 pretty much has you steered the right direction.
You basically need a small router and then a switch or two for all the kids pc's to hook into and network.
You might need crossover cables when you hook the router and the switches together, so keep that in mind.

It might be better if the teacher has access to the kids pc's and then he can move the data onto their computer instead of letting all the kids into his computer.
 
I'd consider installing Server 2003 and Active Directory. The main reason I'd do so is to enable:

A) Single point of user administration
B) Permit more than 10 connections
C) Ability to use policies to lock down or force certain client settings on the student computers and accounts via GPO's and Scripts.
D) Ability to implement Volume Shadow Copy to allow rolling back to previous versions of the files.

I'd also share the files from the server, not the teacher's PC. Note that there is a known issue when sharing files to XP clients from a 2003 Domain Controller. The solution is here: http://www.smallbizserver.net/Default.aspx?tabid=98

If you're insterested, Microsoft offers very steep discounts for educational purposes. I can get you in touch with an MS education rep for your area. Let me know though as I'll need to pass on details, like where, what school district, etc.

UPDATE: Check here http://www.microsoft.com/Education/MSITAcademy/WorldWide/ITAWWPIreland.aspx
 
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