Hi everyone,

I need help on setting up a network.
The computer institute I work for has been acquired by a new management & I have been promoted as our Sr. network administrator. We are discarding the old network and are going for a new network. I am in charge of setting this up. I am thorough with hardware settings, software installation etc. But I am a newbie in setting up a large network from scratch. The management is willing to spend but they want everything to be setup properly at the start itself. Considering this plus the benefits in my job I need to set this up correctly. So if you can guide me on this I will be grateful.

There will be 2 Computer Labs with 60 computers in each Lab. The staffroom will have 20 computers. The Accounts department will have 5 computers. Then there will be 2 more computers for me and my assitant to monitor the network. All the departments are in the same building with just 2 floors. It will be a wired network. All computers should have access to the Internet. There will be a printer each in the 2 Labs, staffroom & accounts department which has to be shared with their respective network.

1. What would be the ideal setup for this Network? The Labs, staffroom and the Accts dept should have their own network isn't it and then join the larger network isn't it?
What should be the Network topology for each room?

2. Where should my computer as the Administrator come in?

3. How many servers do we need? Do I have to use one of the server as my computer?
For the users what would be the ideal computer?

Please give me a total layout like where the servers, switch, router etc should come in so that I can set this up correctly.

thank you
Frank Thompson

Answer by Ron Nutter

Expert's answer n/a