Anyone see any problems with this?

[tcwg]

Situation: 9 guys living in one house at college. All want internet.

Solution: Setup a network of 9 computers and one hub. Then using Sygate setup one pc as the server, connect to the internet via ISDN and everyone is happy.

Note: All pcs are running under win98 or 95.

Anyone forsee any problems with this setup?
Thanks in advance.

[Jin Vitas]

Yea 9 guys and no girls..

You would be better off with Either cable modem or ADSL.. than ISDN..

[800XL]

Jin is right. Depending on your area, DSL or cable will give you more bandwidth at less cost. In my area at least, ISDN gets you a monthly charge for a certain number of hours, then charges by the minute for more than that number. Cable and DSL are pretty much always flat rate unlimited time. Check with your cable company for cable modem availability. Check first with the phone company, then with local ISPs for DSL. I would not go with ISDN unless it is the only option.

[smokin1]

no problem with the setup as mentioned above
but really..with that many prople wanting to use the network...cable is probably the best bet .....ADSL is cool but expensive...I'm sure you don't want to argue about online charges
[img]/forum/frown.gif[/img]

[800XL]

It all depends on your area. The difference between cable and ADSL around here is less than ten bucks.

[jamis]

Last year, there were 11 (many with more than 1 computer) of us in an apartment building running anything from MacOS to Linux to Win95 to WinNT to a serially connected VT-Terminal.

We were sharing 1 56K modem though a linux firewall. Cronjob to keep us connected to the ISP. It was tolderable, believe it or not, as long as people weren't all on the web at once. For email and occational webuse it was fine.

We opted for 56K modem due to no DSL or Cable modems at the time and for use to leave it on 24hours with ISDN would have run around $800/month with the per minute charges.

I definately recommend cable or DSL also.. around me, cable runs about $39/mo and DSL for 49-79/mo depending on speed (though the install costs for DSL can be 200-400 easy).

DSL also tends to be a bit more reliable and you can be garenteed bandwidth assuming the site you are connected to is fast enough.


As for my current config now... 3 people sharing a cable modem over a linux firewall. Hosting an internet domain (web, email, ssh, the works). Much faster and easier to manage [img]/forum/smile.gif[/img]

[Glytzhkof]

800XL: You're a real guru when it comes to network issues. It is good to know you are here! [img]/forum/smile.gif[/img].

[800XL]

Glytzhkof: Thanks. It is really nice to be appreciated too. There are others here that I even pick up a tip or two from sometimes. People like Jin Vitas are great resource. This board is well stocked with mindshare.

The DSL vs Cable issue can depend a lot on where you are. Some of the cable users I've heard about get some amazing speeds that DSL is hard pressed (or costly) to match. On the whole though, I have to agree with Jamis. DSL seems to provide a more or less constant level of performance no matter what time it is, or where you are. There is even a local DSL provider in my area that gives a Committed Information rate of 300k or 500k for very reasonable. These days it is getting rare to find a guarantee on bandwidth from anyone, even T1 provider. That's why I always recommend you check out those local places, as they could have some added features that make a difference.

A Sygate machine with 256k DSL would give 9 people enough bandwidth to play Quake3 at the same time without too much problem. I know a local Internet/LAN gaming place around here with 10 machines that does very well on a similar setup. If you are limited to ISDN, watch for that connect time issue. I have heard of areas that have unlimited ISDN for fairly reasonable though. Again, it depends on where you are.

Jamis: A VT terminal? My house used to include a VT220 and 3 or 4 IBM PC/XT 8088 machines running TCPIP packet drivers and terminal emulators to a Linux box. Ahh, the memories... [img]/forum/wink.gif[/img] We used to get several people over for MUDding sessions back in the day.

[Jin Vitas]

Thanx for the compliment 800XL... In this business you cannot know everything.. You just need to know how to use your resources..

Jin-Vitas

[ktwebb]

Pricing depends on service provider, but DSL is 50 a month in Gainseville,Fl. 1.5 down and 256 up. Kicks *** for the money. Cable is all but dead when DSL becomes widely available. Sharing, HAH!

[This message has been edited by ktwebb (edited 08-31-99).]

[tcwg]

As far as the server goes, the faster the better sure, but does anyone see anyone see any base requirements? I'm picturin' 128 MB ram with at least a 1 or 233 Celly. My buddies are curious if a 486 would be able to handle the workload. Any suggestions? (Or as my one prof says "Questions, comments, current events?")

Thanx again.

[800XL]

I used to use a 486 to share a wireless dialup speed connection, but I think I would lean toward a low end Pentium if you can. Something with PCI slots would be nice and would give better performance. Besides, PCI netcards are about as cheap as ISA ones and offer 100MB speeds as an option. Having 100MB would make LAN speeds great, though the hub would cost a bit more. The internet gaming shop I was talking about above uses a 133Mhz Pentium machine and it works great for their setup. With 10 machines playing online games near constant, I have never seen a performance related problem. I doubt the 486 would have much problem with the load, but too much is better than too little. You could start out with the 486 if you already have it and sorta 'beta test' the setup.

[oviana]

Well ... running a 486DX2/66MHz w/36MB ram & Bell Sympatico DSL as the server [WINDOWS NT 4.0 SERVER, WINGATE 4.01 as the proxy/firewall, Xitami web server, iMail 5 & G6 FTP server], two workstations (pentium ii 350 & pentium ii 450) on the 10 MBPS network; any suggestions on how to increase my thruput? ... thanks in advance.

[socalgal]

Hi oviana

Your BEST bet is to "Post New Topic" here in Networking. Having your own thread will give you and others a better reference point from which to work.

You can c&p your post from here into your New Topic.

If you have any questions or need help that the SysOpt FAQ doesn't answer, please feel free to email socalgal@sysopt.com or mntsnow@sysopt.com


[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 12-03-2000).]