Internet Cafe Networking

[mrmikelim]

Hey guys

I am currently planning on starting a 100 client pc internet cafe. 

How should I setup the networking with 1operator pc as the server and pos.

Thanks

[VVoltor]

Just out of curiosity, where do you live?

 

Because over here internet cafes are disappearing faster than chocolate cookies at a stoner party.

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, mrmikelim said:

Hey guys

I am currently planning on starting a 100 client pc internet cafe. 

How should I setup the networking with 1operator pc as the server and pos.

Thanks

You got the other stuff sorted out like the internet cafe control software?

 

There isn't anything too fancy required, basic 1Gbps networking to each desktop using Cat6A. I would look at putting in a proxy/cache server but where you are internet speeds are so good there might be little point in doing so.

[mrmikelim]

On 7/19/2017 at 4:59 PM, VVoltor said:

Just out of curiosity, where do you live?

 

Because over here internet cafes are disappearing faster than chocolate cookies at a stoner party.

I am living at Malaysia. A country where internet cafés is popular af. 

[The Benjamins]

I would use 3 48 port 1Gbps switches with 10Gbps uplinks to a 8+ port 10Gbps switch. Have any servers connected to the 10Gb switch.

[NZLaurence]

11 hours ago, The Benjamins said:

I would use 3 48 port 1Gbps switches with 10Gbps uplinks to a 8+ port 10Gbps switch. Have any servers connected to the 10Gb switch.

Overkill. There is no need to have a faster connection then the speed of the internet in this case. Just get some reasonable gb switches and your good to go. I would even consider putting 100mbit ports to the clients to physically limit the max disruption any one client can do.

[Chaz042]

1 hour ago, NZLaurence said:

Overkill. There is no need to have a faster connection then the speed of the internet in this case.

1

If the ability to effectively utilize a caching server for content is available, it's not overkill, especially if gaming services like Steam, EA, etc are offered. A caching server would also prevent repeated usage of the WAN connection to get the same data like updates and static web content (Not via SSL).

 

On 7/19/2017 at 4:48 AM, mrmikelim said:

Hey guys

I am currently planning on starting a 100 client pc internet cafe. 

How should I setup the networking with 1operator pc as the server and pos.

Thanks

4

What is the budget, internet speed, and what services are going to be offered, just web browsing or something else?

 

1 hour ago, NZLaurence said:

I would even consider putting 100mbit ports to the clients to physically limit the max disruption any one client can do.

 

What is this, 2002? A proper firewall with an IDS/IPS would prevent issues anyway and should be used regardless to protect the Cafe from abuse and legal issues. A proper firewall can also rate limit clients to X speed in and out of a network i.e. the WAN, so 100Mbps is a thing of the past.

 

Also 1Gbps uplinks may be fine depending on the use case, not saying 10Gbps is needed, hell, get 3 48Port Gigabit switches with 4 uplinks and just put them in a LAG, 4Gbps backbone to the core/firewall. Let's just wait till OP responds to get more info.
 

 

 

[leadeater]

5 hours ago, Chaz042 said:

If the ability to effectively utilize a caching server for content is available, it's not overkill, especially if gaming services like Steam, EA, etc are offered. A caching server would also prevent repeated usage of the WAN connection to get the same data like updates and static web content (Not via SSL).

It's Malaysia i.e. fast internet, almost no point putting money in to setting up a cache server and add in another layer of maintenance and complexity. Just setup Steam defaults to cap download speeds or use locally installed QoS software and configure it to only apply to download traffic and not gaming.

 

A lot of internet cafe control software has these tools already: Settings Management, Network Rate Limiting etc.

 

Caching isn't a silver bullet for bandwidth control either and excels in large networks for general internet browsing. All it takes is one person to download a new game not seen by the cache server and you're not hitting cache or the cache gets full etc etc. Most internet Cafes just install as many of the common games as possible on every computer so updates are the only peak bandwidth demand you'd have to worry about, and again you can disable auto updates. If a game needs updating the person at the computer can just manually do it. You can then turn auto updates back on using your preferred iCafe control software or your own method at the end of the day (operating hours).

 

Decent switches, personally I'd get ones that can stack and I'd get used enterprise, in a single stack with a 2 port LAG to a firewall appliance of your preference. Setup Cacti network port monitoring and alerting so you can quickly kick out trouble makers.

 

6 hours ago, Chaz042 said:

A proper firewall with an IDS/IPS would prevent issues anyway and should be used regardless to protect the Cafe from abuse and legal issues. A proper firewall can also rate limit clients to X speed in and out of a network i.e. the WAN, so 100Mbps is a thing of the past.

These have negative impacts on online gaming and should be used with caution. IDS/IPS on large volumes of traffic requires a fair amount of processor power and adds latency, how much depends on the solution and what rules/configuration you have done. Rate limiting is the worst of them all since all that is doing is dropping packets to force the client to slow down or adjust it's TCP Window Size, dropping packets is obviously bad for online gaming.

 

Sure I could get smart with the rate limiting rules and apply it to only certain protocols etc but then that comes back to the complexity and maintenance issue, client side controls are more effective if you have the option which in this use case it is. Keep it simple and remember online gaming itself doesn't use much bandwidth at all and that traffic should be as untouched as possible for best user experience.

[NZLaurence]

9 hours ago, Chaz042 said:

What is this, 2002? A proper firewall with an IDS/IPS would prevent issues anyway and should be used regardless to protect the Cafe from abuse and legal issues. A proper firewall can also rate limit clients to X speed in and out of a network i.e. the WAN, so 100Mbps is a thing of the .

It's to do with simplicity. If I have a 1gb connection and the clients all have 100mbit connection then the most damage any one client can do is 10% of max. 100mbit is still heaps for downloading and normal usage. Does it really matter if it takes 100sec or 10sec to download a 1gb file (round numbers for example only) as most internet cafe users are not bulk downloading.

 

Maybe leave few pcs with 1gb connections for special cases if needed.

 

The Cisco sf300 or sf500 range is good for this with 5/10gb stacking on the sf500x at a reasonable price.