Home cat5 network.
Discussion
Your router will have a DNS server on it - that gives "names" to all your computers. It will probably be capable of 36 unique names (but check the manual). So to extend the network, you just need a switch like you found
Installing the cable is very easy, provided you can find places to lay it. You would need:
- Wall boxes for the sockets
- Cat5 cable to run between boxes.
- Cat5 patch cables (with plugs on) to run from wall boxes to the computers, router and switch.
- Probably a telephone push tool to pin the thin wires into the wall sockets
- Wire strippers or a scalpel to prep the cable
The sockets are normally colour coded. Once you see it you'll realise it's a doddle.
Do take the time to plan where you want to put sockets in each room, and where the switch will go. It's worth running a few redundant cables and sockets (e.g. doubles) while you've got the tools out. That gives you the flexibility for later (e.g. dropping a network printer into the office room). It's smart to place sockets reasonably close to power sockets - many devices will need both. While your at it, get a job lot of patch cables in a range of lengths from 18" to 5m.
If you shuffle a lot of data around the internal network - between computers or onto a network drive for backup - you might consider a Gigabit Ethernet switch, logically ten times faster than Base 100. Of course to use this capacity you need Gigabit on the machines at each end of a particular connection (if not now, then in the future), and to make sure the link bypasses your router (which is most likely only Base 100). Making the router the "spur" rather than the centre of the network also means that it is mainly dealing with internet traffic and might remove a constriction on the internal traffic.
I would look at other switches (e.g. Netgear). Domestic Gigabit switches are no more exensive than Base100. For the rest of the kit, there are many internet webstores that can supply it at good prices. FWIW, I use:
www.cwonline.co.uk
www.macwarehouse.co.uk (which is both Mac & PC)
Installing the cable is very easy, provided you can find places to lay it. You would need:
- Wall boxes for the sockets
- Cat5 cable to run between boxes.
- Cat5 patch cables (with plugs on) to run from wall boxes to the computers, router and switch.
- Probably a telephone push tool to pin the thin wires into the wall sockets
- Wire strippers or a scalpel to prep the cable
The sockets are normally colour coded. Once you see it you'll realise it's a doddle.
Do take the time to plan where you want to put sockets in each room, and where the switch will go. It's worth running a few redundant cables and sockets (e.g. doubles) while you've got the tools out. That gives you the flexibility for later (e.g. dropping a network printer into the office room). It's smart to place sockets reasonably close to power sockets - many devices will need both. While your at it, get a job lot of patch cables in a range of lengths from 18" to 5m.
If you shuffle a lot of data around the internal network - between computers or onto a network drive for backup - you might consider a Gigabit Ethernet switch, logically ten times faster than Base 100. Of course to use this capacity you need Gigabit on the machines at each end of a particular connection (if not now, then in the future), and to make sure the link bypasses your router (which is most likely only Base 100). Making the router the "spur" rather than the centre of the network also means that it is mainly dealing with internet traffic and might remove a constriction on the internal traffic.
I would look at other switches (e.g. Netgear). Domestic Gigabit switches are no more exensive than Base100. For the rest of the kit, there are many internet webstores that can supply it at good prices. FWIW, I use:
www.cwonline.co.uk
www.macwarehouse.co.uk (which is both Mac & PC)
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