Re: Building a network in a small office.
 

Thanks for all the advise guys - I think I will run two (or three in some cases) cables to each room, then if the need for more devices arises I can add cable (if easy) or hubs if not. Initially there will only be two - three people in the office so this should be adequate. This much cable will all hapily fit into a SOHO 8 port router for now and this will support file and printer sharing happily, when the SBS server goes in then I can set that up for DCHP etc.
At least I know how much cable to buy now.

Re: Building a network in a small office.
 

Remember there are 2 types of cat 5 cable, solid for flood wiring, i.e. the wiring from the rj45 wall ports to the patch panels and stranded for patch cables.

Re: Building a network in a small office.
 

Remember, either mark the ends of the cables, or apply a short to the end of one and then probe for it with a meter at the other end - THEN MARK.

If your running the cables, run some extras, and then if not all circuits will be "live", then it is essential to know which is which.

The larger the main switch is, the better, and you could split servers (print/file etc.) to benefit from traffic isolation in the switch.

PS. April the 4th (it MAY be a hoax, as I saw the news on April 1st) - Dell are reported to be offering a reasonably capable base unit ... e-code 305-PE0410 for £99 ... if true, probably good for office servers and office PC's - better still if you wanted a Linux office, as that price is without OS.

Re: Building a network in a small office.
 

It is true - just had tyhe Email from Dell, telling me it is available for today....
Celeron Proc, 80Gb Sata drive, CD-Rom and 256Mb memory..