Jump to content

Connecting computers over ethernet

BenNaylor
 Share
Go to solution Solved by brwainer,
2 hours ago, BenNaylor said:

So if I get a router, then i can just connect the server and the PCs straight to the router and everything should work fine?

nearly all home and small business routers have a builtin switch, and all the LAN ports are connected to it (the actual "router" part of the unit also connects to this switch internally). Only very expensive routers work differently. So just about any router will work for you as a switch. And if you run out of LAN ports on your router, you can then connect another switch to provide more ports.

Posted

I am doing a small project and have my server set up on windows server 2016. Windows server OS is running on the server computer and I wanted to know how I can connect other PCs to the main server. I think its as simple as just plugging in a bunch of Ethernet cables into the main server, which connect to the individual PCs. If so, could I just buy a 3 port network card and plug it into the PCIe slot as there will only be a maximum of three computers on the network. I don't want to have the computers connect to the server wirelessly, and where possible I would like to keep costs down. So, does my method of buying the network card work, and if not, what other alternatives are there. Thanks.

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/761984-connecting-computers-over-ethernet/
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

 

1 minute ago, BenNaylor said:

Ok sorry I'm more of a hardware guy. So just having a switch like this would be appropriate, or could you recommend something better?

If you're not setting the server as the DHCP addressing agent, then I'd recommend a router.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Solution
2 hours ago, BenNaylor said:

So if I get a router, then i can just connect the server and the PCs straight to the router and everything should work fine?

nearly all home and small business routers have a builtin switch, and all the LAN ports are connected to it (the actual "router" part of the unit also connects to this switch internally). Only very expensive routers work differently. So just about any router will work for you as a switch. And if you run out of LAN ports on your router, you can then connect another switch to provide more ports.

Looking to buy GTX690, other multi-GPU cards, or single-slot graphics cards: 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
20 hours ago, brwainer said:

nearly all home and small business routers have a builtin switch, and all the LAN ports are connected to it (the actual "router" part of the unit also connects to this switch internally). Only very expensive routers work differently. So just about any router will work for you as a switch. And if you run out of LAN ports on your router, you can then connect another switch to provide more ports.

Correct.  Most consumer routers have a WAN port for internet, and 4x switch ports for a LAN.  If you find you need to connect more than 4 devices into the switch ports, you can buy a cheap 8x, 12x, 16x, 24x, etc. port switch and connect a patch cable between 1 port on the router and the switch.  The router will handle all addressing for the local network.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Servers, NAS, and Home Lab

×