[SLUG] network plan

[Martin Webb]

john at johnallsopp.co.uk wrote:

>>Is any of you administering a network professionally?  I'm in need of
>>confirmation of a simple network plan, from a professional point of
>>view
>>(it's for a biggish voluntary organisation), and someone to say "Yep,
>>that's fine", or "No, you dodo!  You don't need one of them, you need
>>an
>>xyz."
>>Martin
>>    
>>
>
>Put it up, I'd like to see it and discuss it. Unless you don't want to
>(it will be public). If that's the case send it privately, but only if
>it's easy because it would be more for my interest than your benefit
>:-)
>
>J
>  
>
It's v simple.  I just want to check that technology hasn't moved on 
when I wasn't looking.

    * A completely new building is being put up.  A voluntary
      organisation will have the whole of the ground floor.  Modern
      construction.  Big steel girders, filled in with thin stuff with
      high insulative properties.  Internally, partition walls, probably
      less insulated.  The main point is that there is the opportunity
      to install the right configuration from the beginning.  Budget is
      very tight.
    * The present desktop PCs and laptops (all 2000MHz plus), printers,
      etc., will be transferred over to the new building.  The present
      simple 4 port modem/router/firewall could go too, but it would
      need an additional hub to accommodate all the clients.
    * There are a number of rooms, with desks, workstations in them
      (PCs, screens, mice, keyboards, printers, all the usual stuff). 
      About 8 in all.
    * I'm proposing to the architect that, at each desk, there should be
      an RJ45 wall socket, to connect to the NIC of the adjacent
      PC/laptop.  There should also be an RJ45 by the (new) photocopier,
      which will act as a superprinter.  Each workstation should also
      have electricity supply.
    * The RJ45 wall sockets should all be connected by CAT5 straight
      cable to a central point.  At this point, a simple router will be
      installed, at the centre of the network.
    * One PC will act as a central store of shared files, easy to back
      up, but there will be no server as such (they already have their
      quite decent desktop PCs and their laptops, each one with its own
      software).
    * There is no UPS at any point.

Because they are at present in rented accommodation where they can't 
make holes in walls, they have a wireless network, which is OK, but 
tends to be iffy from 2 p.m. till 5 p.m. on some days.  Some 
workstations have a better signal than others.  One, behind the 
immovable filing cabinets, is worse than the others, and the operator's 
highly statically charged body is between the laptop and the signal, 
making matters worse.  You can see the signal meter jump up when she 
moves away.  At one point, often on a Monday, the router/modem had to be 
restarted, presumably because BT had been doing maintenance over the 
weekend.  I'm thus proposing a wired system for reliability, but also 
for security.

Questions are such as:

    * How's this for a network?  What's the professional view?
    * Should I reconsider a server, with all the (now) extra costs of
      software?
    * Are their inexpensive improvements to this configuration?

With thanks.
Martin