Networking!

[baoluanle]

Thanks in advance for all of your responses!!!
I am currently a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Vanuatu Republic at a local high school. We are very interested in upgrading our network that we have here so that we can better manage and make more use of our resources. Currently, we have a regular small ethernet LAN of around 30 computers (most are pII of 32 to 64MB of RAM and 3-4GB HD). We would like to upgrade our network to a better client-server star topology network or bridged ethernets with a single administering server rather than the peer to peer bus topology ethernet with a flying server and a hub for every 8 computers. What do you think my options are? The finance situation that we are in is very tight so cost is the most important factor, we don't even have money to hire professional to do it and we only have me, with no experience in this stuff, to do it? What kind of network solution would you recommend? Well, the factors that concern us the most are cost, better management of our hardware resources, and security. Please let me know what you would recommend! Once again, thank you very much for all of your inputs!!!!

[bassman]

You say you have a 30 node, peer to peer bus setup? Man that must be fun to keep up with.

First, what type of cableing are you useing now? Does it go thru a hub now?
Probably the best bet is to take the most powerful machine you have and dedicate it as SERVER and install SERVER software on it. The rest of the machines become clients. The server software has the security settings you would need.
Hope that helps

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They say to eat before you go to the grocery store so you don't buy so much. That doesn't work at the liquor store does it!

[Ghost_Hacker]

Well first for topology I would stay away from a "bridged" setup. Bridges have been replaced by switches and are becoming very hard to find. Stay with a 10baseT network and ,if you can, think about adding a switch to your network. This would add to the performance of the LAN and offer security as well.

What type of operating system do you have now? The cheapest OS for servers is Linux ,however if you have no experince with it the learning curve can be long. The next choice for new admins is Windows NT or 2000. Windows is not secure out of the box,but can be made very secure if you apply all patches and follow Microsoft's recommendations on security. There is also lots of free information on the web about"hardening" an NT installation if security is a big concern.


Hope this helps http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters'. They have 'arguments'....and they ALWAYS WIN THEM!"

[This message has been edited by Ghost_Hacker (edited 04-12-2001).]

[baoluanle]

Thanks guys!
Yes, 30 pc's in bus topology is a handful. and i am supposed to be teaching three different subjects at the same time maintaining these suckers. so i need help bad, really bad!
we do have win2k pro and win2k server. they haven't been installed yet, because i really want to have the client machines booted up from the server but don't know how to configure them to boot from the server yet. At the moment, we are using 10T base NIC's and connected through four hubs with twisted pair cables. We are potential getting some 100T base cards pretty soon from the donation of a local corporation. As I notice, Ghost_Hacker advise to stay with 10T! Would you explain why? Thank You Very Much Guys!!!!!!!!

[sea69]

Hi

I think- Ghost meant that since you already had the 10T base NIC's- that for cost reasons that would have been ok to still use them. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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*another 'toaster' bites the dust*

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 04-13-2001).]

[Ghost_Hacker]

Yeah...That is what I meant but if you can get them for free I say go for it. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif


Windows 2000/NT does not have a BootP server service. ( which is what you need to boot a system with no operating system from a server based OS image file.) Windows 2000 does have "RIS" which is a remote install service and it also has DHCP support for PXE/BOOTP clients to help them find a RIS server.


Hope this helps http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters'. They have 'arguments'....and they ALWAYS WIN THEM!"

[sea69]

GH, my head would hurt if I tried to put all the stuff you know in it. LOL http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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*another 'toaster' bites the dust*

[baoluanle]

Thanks Again Guys!
Yes, I guess I will try win2k server and see how it goes! I'll certainly will come back for more help tho! Just a thought, I've use linux before but just little bit of scripting and some basic command, so my question is how steep of a learning curve I am looking at to network the machines using unix? Again, Guys, Thanks!!! And Happy Easter!

[darm]

Originally posted by sea69:
GH, my head would hurt if I tried to put all the stuff you know in it. LOL http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif



My head doeshurt. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Ghost_Hacker]

Since you have already used Linux and done some scripting. I would guess that you could pick up Linux "networking" with no problems.

It took me ,with no background in Linux/Unix, about 2 weeks to figure out how to get the Linux box to talk to the Windows 2000 boxes with encryption.
I still can't "see" the Linux box in network 'hood and I use bastille-Linux to secure it, since I'm still learning about security in a Linux enviroment.


Who knows? You could turn out to be a whiz at Linux and wounder what all the fuss was about http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters'. They have 'arguments'....and they ALWAYS WIN THEM!"