Private Home Networks

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I am looking to set up a network within the house using the home broadband router, Readynas Duo, 2 desktops and a laptop as well as the the usual mobile deviced.

Problem is that i have no idea how to do this...... HELP! much appreciated (y)
 
Not too difficult really since the router will do most of the hardwork for you ie assigning IP addresses etc

The only real problem I can see you running into would be how you want to connect everyhting into your router. Assuming your router is wifi enabled, that should pretty much sort your laptop and mobile devices but what about your two desktops and readynas? They're probably going to need cabling in, am I correct?
 
everything is wireless with the exception of the readynas. I am also going to use a wireless extender which the readynas will be plugged into rather than the main router as the signal is quite weak at this end of the house
 
Assuming the router has wireless and 4 LAN ports.
Connect what ever possible via the LAN ports using Cat5 (Cat5e if Gigabit) cables, so that will most likely be the desktops and the NAS.
Set the desktops to Obtain an ip address automatically (DHCP) and they should see the router and therefore the internet and each other.
Log onto the router, often 192.168.0.1 and activate the DHCP server if not already on and set the Wireless settings (password).
Personally I would set the NAS with a Static ip, it'll be easier in the long run.
I guess the laptop would be wireless. So just let if find your wireless network and put in the password you set.
Simple enough really.
 
everything is wireless with the exception of the readynas. I am also going to use a wireless extender which the readynas will be plugged into rather than the main router as the signal is quite weak at this end of the house

Doh, you typed this while I was typing!

I'd advise you to connect via cable where possible, you'll notice the speed difference for sure over wireless especially if your having signal issues.
 
Assuming the router has wireless and 4 LAN ports.
Connect what ever possible via the LAN ports using Cat5 (Cat5e if Gigabit) cables, so that will most likely be the desktops and the NAS.
Set the desktops to Obtain an ip address automatically (DHCP) and they should see the router and therefore the internet and each other.
Log onto the router, often 192.168.0.1 and activate the DHCP server if not already on and set the Wireless settings (password).
Personally I would set the NAS with a Static ip, it'll be easier in the long run.
I guess the laptop would be wireless. So just let if find your wireless network and put in the password you set.
Simple enough really.
Doh, you typed this while I was typing!

I'd advise you to connect via cable where possible, you'll notice the speed difference for sure over wireless especially if your having signal issues.


The Router is at the other end of the house....what would be the best option now.....
 
If moving the router closer to the pc/NAS is not an option I'd certainly move the NAS to be close enough to connect directly to the router. Then maybe use some of the powerline networking adapters (the fastest one you can get) to extend to the other side of the house and use a network switch for the pc's and a wireless access point at that end too.
 
sounds complicated but will have a go and see what happens
 
If you possibly can, run a cable from one end of the house to the other and make sure your router is gigabit - power line adapters rarely get above 100Mbits/sec which is really slow compared to gigabit (you WILL notice the speed difference if you are reading/writing files to the NAS). To me, network infrastructure is one of the more important things to spend a bit of money on (trust me, been cheap and then bought again!).

You could use the main / most powerful PC as a media server that's what I've done it works for me
Unless you are doing on-the-fly recoding of video, a media server only needs a low powered CPU in it. Mine is an old AMD Athlon 630 and that's way overspec'd and is probably handling a lot more than most peoples servers...
 
If you possibly can, run a cable from one end of the house to the other and make sure your router is gigabit - power line adapters rarely get above 100Mbits/sec which is really slow compared to gigabit (you WILL notice the speed difference if you are reading/writing files to the NAS). To me, network infrastructure is one of the more important things to spend a bit of money on (trust me, been cheap and then bought again!).

I'd agree with that. I did the diagram quickly while at work. If you go with the powetline adapters you could attach the nas to the switch near the pc's as that should give better performance for read/write to storage as it'll all be wired (gig if possible) provided you get an intelligent switch.
There are a few ways to configure the network with the addressing to make performance better than default but it can get a bit deep if your not used to it.
Basically try to keep the number of 'hops' to a minimum.
 
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