Networking computer help for a amateur turned vaguelly professional tinkerer

June 3, 2007 10:19 AM

Help me to fix/setup/keep running a network of 4 computers the easy way.

I enjoy tinkering with computers, but I am in no way an expert, however a friend has asked me to set up a network of computers for their business. I have previously sorted out the networking of computers at home, but what type of things do I specifically need to include or do to make it run as smoothly as possible.

The network will be wired and between computers in different rooms which need to be able to connect to the internet, share files and printers etc. The computers will be using Windows XP (but I've just started to us Ubuntu, so could that be a better way to go?)

I don't really know much about servers, but would 3-4 computers require one?

Any help or advice would be great.

posted by djstig to computers & internet (4 comments total)

The simplest to do is use basic Windows File Sharing. If the network is just Windows boxes, you can enable File & Printer Sharing on each computer. You then right-click and choose sharing for folders or printers you want to share.

Any shared folders/printers will show in My Network Places.

Simple and easy, but not meant for a mixed network of Macs/PCs/Linux boxes.
posted by Argyle at 10:53 AM on June 3, 2007

I'll give you the Microsoft "line" on this, which isn't bad advice, although it does tend to sell their server products :-)

A business network should be server based, for a number of reasons:

1) It provides the foundation for good security practices.
2) It centralizes mission critical resources, like Uninterruptible Power Supplies and back up gear on server hardware.
3) It provides an effective means of doing backups.
4) Servers provide operational benefits for data sharing and groupware applications that can't be easily provided in simple peer-to-peer networks.
5) Server based networks scale better and can grow with less effort than peer-to-peer networks.

There are a lot of other things that could be said regarding the balance of cost/complexity/capability, but in the end, if it's a Microsoft based network, they really want you to buy a small server, with appropriate UPS and backup hardware, and put a copy of Small Business Server on it, and setup your e-mail with Exchange and Outlook, and do your database stuff in SQL Server, and have XP or now, Vista on your clients.

You can definitely do most of the same things in Open Source solutions, like Ubuntu, but how successful you'll be depends on how knowledgeable you and your users are about Open Source solutions. It's a clear win upfront on software costs, and if you've plenty of time to learn, not a bad experience. Ubuntu is friendly on the desktop, but less so as a server, and configuring and operating even simplified Linux based email and database services for a business is not something an inexperienced person should try to do. But if no novices tried such things, there would be no experts :-)

You really need to do your homework, first starting with some frank conversations with the people who will use the network. What do they want a business network to do? What functions do they need in terms of database access, development, groupware, centralized services, etc.? What are their security needs? With this in some organized, written format, your decisions about network design will have a basis, and can be revisited logically, if things change over time.

'Cause you want to still be friends, later, right?
posted by paulsc at 11:24 AM on June 3, 2007

I've been doing freelance Windows/Network support for 10+ years... so my answer to your direct question would be... "No."... you dont need a server. For most of my clients, I only recommend a Server when they start to get close (or beyond) having 10 workstations, and at that point it makes more sense to centralize everything on a Server.

The way I usually do a network that small is by plugging the 3 or 4 systems into a small 5-port router (Linksys, etc) and letting the router do DHCP to give out IP addresses. There are more "professional" solutions,..but they are also more expensive. A small 5 port router will accomplish everything you are asking for.
posted by jmnugent at 2:56 PM on June 3, 2007

...and if that router has a firewall, consider blocking inbound requests originating from the outside for things like file & printer sharing.
posted by trondant at 6:58 PM on June 3, 2007