so im building my house need networking advise

[crazydog2580]

I’m currently in the process of having my house built what I am hoping to achieve is a home network. However I very minimal computer skills what I am having done is data cables to every bed room as well as one in formal lounge room and 3 in the living room (one for the TV one for ps3 and one for xbox360)

So my question is what will I need as fair as a server/switch? I wish to able to access movies/music plus store files/docs also the ability to access this server from my TV’s when I buy them both will be Samsung smart TV’s series 8.

 

Budget will be around $750-1000aud for server unsure on how much storage I will need…

Total number or data ports will be 8

Wireless access would be a good option for laptops as well not really needed tho.

 

Hopefully that isn’t too much to read though I look forward to getting your feed back

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

data with out address.pdf

data with out address.pdf

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

A 12 port gigabit switch to give you room for expansion, one or two wireless access points depending on where you use your wifi devices, and a router for internet access.

 

As for the server I would go for:

amd fx 8350, A motherboard with most SATA ports possible, 4x 2TB hard drive in RAID5, gigabit ethernet. You can always add in a RAID card if you outgrow the sata ports in the future.

[EricX2]

Since I'm not sure about your internet I am going to say how I have mine which seems somewhat similar. My Cable modem is connected to my Wireless router. Router is connected to my switch which then connects to my computers and other systems. My router has 4 ethernet ports, which connects to my 8 port switch. One port from the router and the switch are used with the connection between those so that leaves 10 ports for everything else. I can't really recommend brands as I've only tried a few, right now I have a Belkin Wi-Fi router and a D-Link switch and they both work great. Just make sure everything is gigabit, and all cables are cat 5e or higher.

 

A server doesn't need to be very powerful, mine is an Intel Atom based system and works great for streaming to everything. I'm sure most people would think it would need to be more powerful, but CPU usage on a NAS isn't much. Disk sage, memory usage and network speeds are the most important factors of a file server. I wouldn't spend more than a few hundred bucks on the actual system then spend the remaining on hard drives. A Celeron or Pentium would do just fine in my opinion. You may look into a PCI-E Raid controller card, that should increase drive speeds if you go with a RAID. You may want to make sure it has good network interface too, I prefer Intel networking over a Realtek (or anything else) any day of the week.

 

Put Windows Home Server on it and you can do everything you need.

 

When I say Celeron or Pentium I mean the modern ones, not old ones. Like the Celeron G1610 or Pentium G2120 which are both Ivy Bridge based processors that are less than $100.

Edited May 23, 2013 by EricX2

[crazydog2580]

Since I'm not sure about your internet I am going to say how I have mine which seems somewhat similar. My Cable modem is connected to my Wireless router. Router is connected to my switch which then connects to my computers and other systems. My router has 4 ethernet ports, which connects to my 8 port switch. One port from the router and the switch are used with the connection between those so that leaves 10 ports for everything else. I can't really recommend brands as I've only tried a few, right now I have a Belkin Wi-Fi router and a D-Link switch and they both work great. Just make sure everything is gigabit, and all cables are cat 5e or higher.

 

A server doesn't need to be very powerful, mine is an Intel Atom based system and works great for streaming to everything. I'm sure most people would think it would need to be more powerful, but CPU usage on a NAS isn't much. Disk sage, memory usage and network speeds are the most important factors of a file server. I wouldn't spend more than a few hundred bucks on the actual system then spend the remaining on hard drives. A Celeron or Pentium would do just fine in my opinion. You may look into a PCI-E Raid controller card, that should increase drive speeds if you go with a RAID. You may want to make sure it has good network interface too, I prefer Intel networking over a Realtek (or anything else) any day of the week.

 

Put Windows Home Server on it and you can do everything you need.

 

When I say Celeron or Pentium I mean the modern ones, not old ones. Like the Celeron G1610 or Pentium G2120 which are both Ivy Bridge based processors that are less than $100.

thanks a lot helps me understand it a fair bit better  :)  does not seem to be as hard as I imagined

[kprice789]

Since you said you will have all the rooms in the house wired, grab a couple of these for your wireless needs and put them in a couple rooms. If you set them up with all the same settings, (SSID and security settings),  they can all act as one wireless network giving you ample coverage and speed. 

 

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=731695

 

Also if you have a microcenter near by I would highly recommend the AMD bundle deals they have. I have built several Virtual Machine servers with these AMD bundles. Unfortunately those deals are only in store. 

[Blade of Grass]

What are you going to be doing on your network? Streaming video to devices? Transferring files?

[crazydog2580]

Since you said you will have all the rooms in the house wired, grab a couple of these for your wireless needs and put them in a couple rooms. If you set them up with all the same settings, (SSID and security settings),  they can all act as one wireless network giving you ample coverage and speed. 

 

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=731695

 

Also if you have a microcenter near by I would highly recommend the AMD bundle deals they have. I have built several Virtual Machine servers with these AMD bundles. Unfortunately those deals are only in store. 

dont have a microsenter here in australia. but im sure ill find these else where thanks for the tip

[crazydog2580]

What are you going to be doing on your network? Streaming video to devices? Transferring files?

yeah I guess all of those things mainly just to have to ability to access every thing anywhere in the house and store movies and photo albums as my gf take's a shit ton of them in high quality atm we only have one lap top and the storage is 4 external 1t drive's. Once i get into my house im setting up an office for myself with a gaming/editing pc  i guess i just need a safer place to store every thing

[Darren]

Honestly? I would just have the entire house with 4 ethernet jacks in each room and send a cable back to where you will have your switch and just plug in ones you use. Having it set up with 4 will save you time and money if you were to install one and then want to add another one later. Cat5e cables are so cheap so you may as well. Want good wireless throughout the house? Get a Ubiquiti Networks UniFi AP. Putting one on the opposite side of the wall above your server stack should suffice for your house. A PoE injector is supplied with these. These are purpose built devices intended for businesses, so it will cover your house quite comfortably. Buy the switch that satisfies the requirements you have. Using 8? Buy a 12 port switch.

[crazydog2580]

Honestly? I would just have the entire house with 4 ethernet jacks in each room and send a cable back to where you will have your switch and just plug in ones you use. Having it set up with 4 will save you time and money if you were to install one and then want to add another one later. Cat5e cables are so cheap so you may as well. Want good wireless throughout the house? Get a Ubiquiti Networks UniFi AP. Putting one on the opposite side of the wall above your server stack should suffice for your house. A PoE injector is supplied with these. These are purpose built devices intended for businesses, so it will cover your house quite comfortably. Buy the switch that satisfies the requirements you have. Using 8? Buy a 12 port switch.

I would agree with you on that however the builders are charging $150 per point I've already paid $1200 for the 8 points yes I know that's a rip but what can you do.

Thanks for the advise on the wifi I'll look into those as well

[Darren]

Ouch, pricey.

 

The Wireless N AP is about $135NZD (without GST), AC ones are about $450.