I don't really know what I'm doing and need a lot of help

[CH Studios Scotland]

Hi 

 

I'm in the middle of trying to set up a music studio, however, I'm wanting to create a network to allow me to share files between computers so I can put files on the mass storage server and vice-versa aswell as giving each each work station (4 in total not counting the 2 servers) internet access, I need a list of pieces of equipment I need to get for this for when I go to apply for funding.

 

all help is greatly appreciated 

 

thanks

[The_Chief]

I'm not 100% positive about this, but I believe you would need to connect each of your PC's

into a switch, and then run the switch into your main server. Either that or a Peer - Peer network between the Server 

and you PC's. Both will work but I would opt for the switch design as less configuration will be needed.

As I said earlier however, I'm not 100% sure so I would follow up with other people.

 

Parts:

Router (Only If using a wireless connection to the PC's)

Switch

Ethernet Cables (or other form of media)

[CH Studios Scotland]

25 minutes ago, The_Chief said:

I'm not 100% positive about this, but I believe you would need to connect each of your PC's

into a switch, and then run the switch into your main server. Either that or a Peer - Peer network between the Server 

and you PC's. Both will work but I would opt for the switch design as less configuration will be needed.

As I said earlier however, I'm not 100% sure so I would follow up with other people.

 

Parts:

Router (Only If using a wireless connection to the PC's)

Switch

Ethernet Cables (or other form of media)

Thanks for the advice and I'll read all replies before going ahead with anything 

[The_Chief]

2 hours ago, CH Studios Scotland said:

Thanks for the advice and I'll read all replies before going ahead with anything 

No problem.

If you have anymore questions just send me a

message, and I'll see what I can do

[CH Studios Scotland]

25 minutes ago, The_Chief said:

I'm not 100% positive about this, but I believe you would need to connect each of your PC's

into a switch, and then run the switch into your main server. Either that or a Peer - Peer network between the Server 

and you PC's. Both will work but I would opt for the switch design as less configuration will be needed.

As I said earlier however, I'm not 100% sure so I would follow up with other people.

 

Parts:

Router (Only If using a wireless connection to the PC's)

Switch

Ethernet Cables (or other form of media)

Thanks for the advice and I'll read all replies before going ahead with anything 

[dalekphalm]

17 hours ago, CH Studios Scotland said:

Thanks for the advice and I'll read all replies before going ahead with anything 

 

18 hours ago, The_Chief said:

I'm not 100% positive about this, but I believe you would need to connect each of your PC's

into a switch, and then run the switch into your main server. Either that or a Peer - Peer network between the Server 

and you PC's. Both will work but I would opt for the switch design as less configuration will be needed.

As I said earlier however, I'm not 100% sure so I would follow up with other people.

 

Parts:

Router (Only If using a wireless connection to the PC's)

Switch

Ethernet Cables (or other form of media)

The Router is most definitely required, unless the Music Studio is getting internet from somewhere else (Eg: It's part of a University, and you're piggybacking on their network).

 

Assuming this is going to be a brand new network in a home or office, with no prior existing network, you're gonna need the following:

1. Modem (Type depends on the available internet packages, and the type of internet you go with)

2. Router (The modem and router may or may not be one single combo device - combo devices often perform worse though, so it's best to get a separate router anyway, and use the Modem as strictly a modem)

3. Switch (Optional - depends on how many Network Ports you need - Most routers have 4 ports already, so if you need more than 4 ports, you need a switch)

4. Ethernet Cables, obviously, to connect the various devices - I suggest Cat6a, unless Cat6 is significantly cheaper.

 

Optional devices:

Wireless Access Point - only required if you need extensive/high quality Wireless. Most Routers have WIFI built into them, and are suitable for most uses.

 

You're going to want to create a Network Share (A shared folder) on one or both of your servers (Any server that the workstations will need to access files from).

 

Your network should look like this, physically:

 

Incoming Internet Cable (Phone, Coax, or Fibre line) -> Modem -> Ethernet Cable -> WAN Port on Router (Skip this if using a Modem Router Combo box) -> Ethernet Cable from Port #1 to Switch -> Connect each computer and server to empty ports on switch

 

You should configure the Router to hand out Dynamic IP Addresses, via DHCP, starting at something like xxx.xxx.xxx.100 (Most consumer Routers will have the following IP Scheme: 192.168.0.xxx, 192.168.1.xxx, or 192.168.2.xxx). Then you will want to configure both servers with a Static IP Address that is BELOW the DHCP range (in my example, that would be anything under .100). The workstations can use a Dynamic (DHCP) IP Address. If you have any Network printers, I generally recommend giving them a Static IP Address too, but that's entirely optional.

 

On the Servers, you can create user access permissions for the shared drives so that only people with a certain username and password can access them, or you can have wide open access so that guests (any user) have read and write permissions. You can also configure users with read only access too. Depends on your needs.

 

On the workstations, you will want to map the network shares to a Drive Letter (Eg: "M:\" Drive for Music files, "V:\" Drive for Video Files, etc) - the specific Drive Letter is entirely arbitrary, and whatever makes sense to you.

 

Do you have any other questions?

[CH Studios Scotland]

4 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

 

The Router is most definitely required, unless the Music Studio is getting internet from somewhere else (Eg: It's part of a University, and you're piggybacking on their network).

 

Assuming this is going to be a brand new network in a home or office, with no prior existing network, you're gonna need the following:

1. Modem (Type depends on the available internet packages, and the type of internet you go with)

2. Router (The modem and router may or may not be one single combo device - combo devices often perform worse though, so it's best to get a separate router anyway, and use the Modem as strictly a modem)

3. Switch (Optional - depends on how many Network Ports you need - Most routers have 4 ports already, so if you need more than 4 ports, you need a switch)

4. Ethernet Cables, obviously, to connect the various devices - I suggest Cat6a, unless Cat6 is significantly cheaper.

 

Optional devices:

Wireless Access Point - only required if you need extensive/high quality Wireless. Most Routers have WIFI built into them, and are suitable for most uses.

 

You're going to want to create a Network Share (A shared folder) on one or both of your servers (Any server that the workstations will need to access files from).

 

Your network should look like this, physically:

 

Incoming Internet Cable (Phone, Coax, or Fibre line) -> Modem -> Ethernet Cable -> WAN Port on Router (Skip this if using a Modem Router Combo box) -> Ethernet Cable from Port #1 to Switch -> Connect each computer and server to empty ports on switch

 

You should configure the Router to hand out Dynamic IP Addresses, via DHCP, starting at something like xxx.xxx.xxx.100 (Most consumer Routers will have the following IP Scheme: 192.168.0.xxx, 192.168.1.xxx, or 192.168.2.xxx). Then you will want to configure both servers with a Static IP Address that is BELOW the DHCP range (in my example, that would be anything under .100). The workstations can use a Dynamic (DHCP) IP Address. If you have any Network printers, I generally recommend giving them a Static IP Address too, but that's entirely optional.

 

On the Servers, you can create user access permissions for the shared drives so that only people with a certain username and password can access them, or you can have wide open access so that guests (any user) have read and write permissions. You can also configure users with read only access too. Depends on your needs.

 

On the workstations, you will want to map the network shares to a Drive Letter (Eg: "M:\" Drive for Music files, "V:\" Drive for Video Files, etc) - the specific Drive Letter is entirely arbitrary, and whatever makes sense to you.

 

Do you have any other questions?

Wow that's a read and a half haha thanks it's gratly appreciate and for the time being that answers all my question and stuff I haven't thought off thanks alot