Help! School networking problem

[popper]

Originally Posted by nffc

My gut feeling is that you have too much hardware. Is there any need to have that many switches and routers? What I often do is PCs > switch > one router (which handles the communication with the net (or other network) which seems to work. If you have a DC whack the DHCP on that, etc...

I suspect the problem is simply a lack of communication with the dhcp server.

that was my first thought too, with that extra Linksys 4 port switch , but it depends on the scope of the schools layout.

its very common to run ethernet cable to the ends of the buildings and put a router/switch on the end of it, thus gaining the ability to put another group of PCs/devices on that section, sometimes refered to as a star config, if the distance end to end is larger OC, then you can/must put several routers/switches inline to get were you need to be.

although 3rd party direction wireless arials pluged into 11N MiMo does a very good job these days if your clever and plug several of them into a switch or two on your wired backbone.

putting in place some seperate second LAN/backbone ethernet cabling is a good thing.

but then iv used more than 12 lan PCs/devices at home and wireless LANs to local mates houses before today ,so this mini school network doesnt seem like any problem

[Dai]

I've got switch into switch here which works just as it should. I'm thinking DHCP as well but I'd suggest to the OP that you start with a minimal setup.

modem -> switch -> pc

see if you can get that working with a valid IP and 'net access. Once that's in place add a 2nd pc to the switch and see if you can see the shares across the switch.

Once that's done and the kit is all proven you can rebuild the whole rig in stages.

[CHiLL]

16 PC's > Switch > Router is how it should be set up imo.

The way to tell if it's a cross over cable or straight through, is cross over cable has the following pattern at each end: White Orange, Orange, White Green, Blue, White Blue, Green, White Brown, Brown.

Try connecting a computer directly into the router, and see if you can connect to the Internet.

[Dai]

Originally Posted by chill

16 PC's > Switch > Router is how it should be set up imo.

Agreed, slight technical typo in my last post.. said modem when I meant router..

[popper]

theres no real reason to keep stating what iv already said OC, but what your forgetting is this is a school network and at some point its going to at least need some form of managed DNS/Cache/Web filters

so while the
"16 PC's" <=[-]=> "Switch" <===> [wireless]"Router"<===>"Cable Modem" is fine for home use.

it's going to eventually need at least this.
"16 PC's"<=[-]=> "Switch"<===> [wireless]"Router" <===>"D/C/W/Filter" <===> "Cable Modem"

once the OP has got this back up and running in a better long term managable way (make that LAN plan drawing ASAP etc) he might also think about putting in a few "FreeNAS" (wireless)LAN storage devices to put any old kit back into service, you could even make a few IT lessons out of it to give everyone some realworld experiance, its fun too

<=[-]=> = wired or wireless connected PCs to switch or wireless router