How to Setup a Network.

How to setup a network.

The first thing you need to ask your self is does your network require internet access and how many computers are going to be on the network and how are they going to connect to your network.

If your network needs to connect to the internet then you're going to need a router, this is so that the network connections can connect threw the router to the internet.

If you have computers on that have to be wired into the network then is the total number of computers connecting via cable more then 4? If not then you can just connect the network up to the router and nothing more is required, as most routers have 4 sockets on the back for Ethernet cables to be plugged into.

If your router doesn't have the 4 socket spaces on the back, then a switch is going to be required. Normally any more wired connections then 4 will require a network switch, they come in steps of 5, 8, 16, 24, 48 pick the one that matches your needs the most keeping in mind this question, are you going to expand your network in the future?

Once you've picked the network switch you need to have to connect the switcher to the router so then any computers that connect to the switch will have access to the router and then the internet.

Network with 4 or less wired connections

Computer 1 to 4 ------ > Wired > ------- > Router ------- > Internet

Network with more then 4 wired connections

Computer 1 to 16 ------ > Wired > ------- Switch ------- > Router ------- > Internet

All the computers will connect to the switch then the switch will connect to the router and then the router will connect to the internet, this setup will allow all the computers on the network to connect to the internet via the switch and router.

If you're going to connect lots of wireless computers or devices to your network you might want to consider getting some extra Access Points (AP) to ensure that all the wireless connections are at good strength to avoid packet loss.

Another thing to consider when setting up a wireless network is the devices that are going to connect to it, normally backup devices should be hard wired into the network to avoid any security issues an as stated before packet loss witch could result in slow backing up of your data.

One big issue with wireless network is that it's not as secure as wired, because anyone can pick up the wireless signal and try to hack into your network. Also wireless connections are normally slower then wired connection this can be due to hardware or building layout.

When installing your wireless network your want to check to see if there is any other wireless access points around in your area because two access points on different networks can interfere with each other. If you do have to set your wireless network up by another wireless network then look at what channel the other wireless network is broadcasting on and change your channel.

Wireless channels are in a range from 1 to 13, the best channels normally to pick so there is no overlapping of signals is 1, 6 and 11, because each channel uses a range of 2.4GHz so other channels overlap a little bit of there signals onto the previous channel and then next one. Picking one of the 3 listed before might always be the best idea as a wireless network close to you could be using the same channel, in that case picking a channel that is at least 2/3 channels away from their channel will insure less interference between the two networks.