So Whats Your Home Network Like?

[Class--]

Basically I'm after ideas for networking the house up using all my old pc's, routers and cables ive collected over the years.
So what you got installed in you house? Is 100mb Lan still up to the job or do I really need to think about gigabit LAN?
I want to make a server (hopefully my old dual AMD2800mp) for videos, music and docs so all devices can access it.
So help a noob out and tell me what suits your needs

Class--

[Rasputin]

I ran 1 W7 pro Desktop, a W7 Ent Laptop and a Sabayon (Linux) file server/media center all running through the Virgin Media SuperCrapHub 100Mb Lan and 300Mb Wifi(Not that I get that).

100Mb Lan is fine for one or two users, if your going to have more than that I would get a 1GB Switch costs about £15-20 for a 5 port. Depending on the age of your house eletric circut the power plug ethernet doo da's can be alright the newer circut the better. Funny thing is normally if your electrics are new most likely the house will be too and with a newer house, you get thinner walls and less to interfere with the wifi signal.

As OS's if you are happy with spending money, Windows home server or W7 Pro and if you prefer not to spend any linux Distro (Ubuntu is quite friendly and can wizard set up network sharing)

[Trig]

Downstairs.
NTL "Blue" Cable modem > Linksys WRT160N, Gb switch > HP N40L WHS2011 box (UPS).
Upstairs
Gb Switch > PC (UPS)

If you can grab a copy get WHS2011, get the legit version as well if you can stretch to the £60 or so, well worth it, also worth getting Stablebit drivepool and for safety they do a SMART monitor as well.
Legit WHS gets you a free domain name, in my case <a href="https://trig0r.homeserver.com" target="_blank">https://trig0r.homeserver.com</a>
means you can stream stuff and access your machines well easily.
WHS also backs up all of your machines as well as streaming to XBox etc.

[0lderama]

mines pretty simples

i have a netgear 3700 router with a macbook hooked up to the tv and a 1td hdd hooked up to that and thats it

and i use xmbc and the kids love it none stop wiggles all day all frigging day i tell you im not going mad but wiggles allllllllllllllll day alll day

flibble

and my bb provider has a few radio stations that have unmetered access so they rock out all day too
and i have no problems with wireless 5g and full speed lan and wooden walled house

[Clingy]

Simple router and a wireless bridge. Probably going to change to the electical networking things as I have so many things that need connecting up...TV, Bluray, FreeSat, Home Cinema Receiver....and probably the fridge and cooker at this rate!

[Class--]

I ran 1 W7 pro Desktop, a W7 Ent Laptop and a Sabayon (Linux) file server/media center all running through the Virgin Media SuperCrapHub 100Mb Lan and 300Mb Wifi(Not that I get that).

So is that all in the same room then with the laptop using wifi around the house? My electrics are from the 1940's so I will try and stay away from them at the moment. I am rocking Linux atm so will probably try and use that although my quick play with xbmc in Ubuntu didnt go so well

Downstairs.
NTL "Blue" Cable modem > Linksys WRT160N, Gb switch > HP N40L WHS2011 box (UPS).
Upstairs
Gb Switch > PC (UPS)

If you can grab a copy get WHS2011, get the legit version as well if you can stretch to the £60 or so, well worth it, also worth getting Stablebit drivepool and for safety they do a SMART monitor as well.
Legit WHS gets you a free domain name, in my case <a href="https://trig0r.homeserver.com" target="_blank">https://trig0r.homeserver.com</a>
means you can stream stuff and access your machines well easily.
WHS also backs up all of your machines as well as streaming to XBox etc.

So are you saying you run a cat5 from the Gb switch - next to the Linksys - to the pc up stairs? Or do you have two Gb switches? I will look into drive pool as thats interesting as i have loads of diff sized disks.

mines pretty simples

I have a netgear 3700 router with a macbook hooked up to the tv and a 1td hdd hooked up to that and thats it

and i use xmbc and the kids love it none stop wiggles all day all frigging day i tell you im not going mad but wiggles allllllllllllllll day alll day


and my bb provider has a few radio stations that have unmetered access so they rock out all day too
and i have no problems with wireless 5g and full speed lan and wooden walled house

I dabbled with xbmc and I can see its uses but on my ubuntu laptop that i tried it on I couldnt switch the damned thing off as for some reason the mouse couldnt go as low as the exit button the the screen
As for wiggles luckily I can escape that by leaving my sisters house when Ive had enough as thats the only place that gets played

Simple router and a wireless bridge. Probably going to change to the electical networking things as I have so many things that need connecting up...TV, Bluray, FreeSat, Home Cinema Receiver....and probably the fridge and cooker at this rate!

Tell me about it. Ive only ever had to keep the study wired up and all the other mobile devices could run off the wifi but after the tv being replaced its thrown me into the 21st century and I now "need" my living room wired up

This is my situation as it stands.
Upstairs
Wired - 2 desktops with a Linksys WRT54GL router providing the wifi for the house. (Which is shit downstairs ) I disabled the wifi and firewall from the cable modem/router (netgear VMDG280) as it was even worse than the Linksys. You couldnt even get a signal downstairs.

Now what I want (but dont know the best way to implement) is...
Upstairs
2 desktops (i5 and p4) in the study wired (which is where my cable modem enters the house)
wifi working for upstairs devices

Downstairs
working wifi
tv, xbox wired in

Every device I would like the ability to connect to a server that has videos, music and docs on.

Now I have already fed a cat5 cable up from the study to the attic and down the side of the chimney which exits next to the tv, xbox unit. However I havent connected it to anything as i have no ends for the cable atm.
In my arsenal of gubbins I have a dual amd2800mp rig with ide raid card, an old amd 2100xp rig with a 4port Dlink NIC and two 2port intel NICs, Netgear rangemax WPN824 4port wifi router, Netgear rp614 4port router (No wifi), Netgear rt314 4port router (no wifi) and my trusty Linksys WRT54gl 4 port wifi router oh and 100m of cat5 cable
As you can see all my equipment is 100mb with only the laptops and the i5 rig having Gb ports.
I have <a href="http://www.pfsense.org/" target="_blank">pfsense</a> firewall installed on the 2100xp with all the Nics but just collecting dust. The dual 2800mp again is just sitting collecting dust and has nothing installed on it atm. Do I really need to use a whole pc for a firewall which would just burn electricity or should I just use the routers? Is the 2800mp good enough to be a server? Should I ebay the lot or bin it and just buy a Gb router?

All your input is much appreciated.

Thanks Folks

Class--

[Trig]

2 switches, one up, one down.
The drive pool feature is good, you can add and remove disks pretty easily and setup up folder duplication so certain folders can be spread over the disks to cover disk failure, you can also have internal or external disks of any size or type.

[Clingy]

Class....I think you will find the plug in electrical thingies are very tolerant nowadays....as long as everything is on the same distribution board. My house is in three sections which all date from different periods from the 1700's to 2005. I have rewired much of it myself, but still much of it looks ancient.

I'll let you know how I get on linking up my north and south wings

[Trig]

I tried them PLA's a few years ago at mine and they didn't work, but as Clingy said, they are a lot better now than they were..

[Class--]

Yer at £100 a go im not too tempted to "try" them out When I finally get the ends for my cat5 cables crimped on I will try my 100Mb routers out. I was playing with them last night and managed to get the virgin router (wifi off)>linksys router (wifi on>netgear router (wifi on) all talking to each other and giving out wifi.
I dont know if what I did is "acceptable" in the eyes of professionals but I found I could set the RIP to enabled and they all seemed to get on well. Although I haven't had time to see if the pcs all talk to each other as im guessing that is gonna be another nightmare It will mean that I have two different wifi signals in my house tho. The Linksys supplying the upstairs and the Netgear supplying the downstairs.
I will play with it all and you know i will be back with more questions

Oh and trying to setup my dual rig with a copy of Sabayon9 Ihad downloaded the other month but its not having to great a time with it so will have to play more with that :/

Class--

[Phant0m]

I have a very simple network

Sky router in to Buffalo 1tb Nas Box.

Several wireless devices and wired and all seems ok.

Except my crap internet speed from SKY

the Nas box is excellent wake up on Connect can stream to PC/XBOX can hold anything you want plus has a utorrent client built in

[Dangerous Bob]

BT hub3.
1PC hardwired,
2 other PCs on Wifi.
2 Laptops wifi.

Printer is Wifi
Wii is wifi.

BT V-box runs through Powerline plug thingies. No problems there.

[Clingy]

Class....I think you will find the plug in electrical thingies are very tolerant nowadays....as long as everything is on the same distribution board. My house is in three sections which all date from different periods from the 1700's to 2005. I have rewired much of it myself, but still much of it looks ancient.

I'll let you know how I get on linking up my north and south wings

Worked a treat....a bit fiddly to get going mainly becuase I did the "man thing" and didn't bother with the instructions! Very pleased that I now have proper wireless throughout the whole extended house and all four AV devices connected up.

<a href="http://www.ebuyer.com/362875-300mbps-wi ... -wpa281kit" target="_blank">http://www.ebuyer.com/362875-300mbps-wi ... a281kit</a>

[Claw]

Used to have BNC running throughout the house, then CAT5.With having Cable I like to have as much wired as possible.
Desktop is wired, but the only kit that uses Wifi are the printer, PDA, Tablets, and the laptops. But, of them, the only kit that I use as totally dependent on Wifi are the printer and PDA, oh, and my phone.

[Trig]

Same here I like to be wired as much as possible, only mobile and a pair of tablets are wifi..