Need help building a home network

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Pratyay67

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Aug 27, 2014
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I want to build a home network (a hybrid of wired and wi-fi) for my home, which is 3 stories high, each floor approximately having an area of about a 1000 square feet. I want to connect about 4 PCs ( 2 in the 2nd floor, and 1 each in 1st and 0th floors), a television in the 1st floor, a home theater in the 2nd floor, and there are wireless devices scattered throughout the home.
We have CCTV cameras installed in our house, which upload the feed to a hard drive.
And, I am working on to automate my room ( like switching fan, lights and AC in my room on/off through my smartphone over the network).
The ground floor has an office which has a printer, and my 2nd floor computer has a printer too, which I want to connect over the network so that I can print from any printer from any computer or device I want.
I also want constant backup of all my documents, files, videos bla bla blah, and I also want the CCTVs to connect to my home network.

How can this be done? My best bet is to probably use a home-server, but I'm unsure of what type of server to use and how to connect all the components so that they work flawlessly. I'm not really on a budget here, though I don't want to spend on redundancies.

P.S. I already have two Netgear AC750s and one TP-link single antenna router (I have it in storage and forgot the name) respectively for the two top floors and the ground floor.

I'd really appreciate a connection diagram.
 
Solution
Ralston18
At this point I am going to "redesign" your network. Mostly for my own sake but also to support the general configurtion you have in mind.

Internet (ISP)----> Modem ----->Ground floor Router -------> Eight port switch ----------> wires to 1st and 2nd floor routers.

The Ground Floor Router could use its remaining ports for the home server, print server and office desktop. Or those devices could connect to the Eight Port Switch. Or some mix in between. (I like to keep a "spare" port handy on routers, etc. whenever I can.)

Ground Floor Router would be the DHCP Router with an IP of 192.168.1.1. The 1st and 2nd floor routers would be statically assigned 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.3 respectively. Subnetted 255.255.255.0 for all...
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Go for it.

Set up the 2nd floor first and if everything works and the network performance is ok, then add in the 1st floor. Then Ground Floor.

Just remember to Apply/Save your configurations as you go along. Use your diagram as a "checklist" and verify each device before moving to the next device.

Carefully note any errors or warnings that appear. Keep track of your wireless related configurations: i.e., SSID, password, Security, etc...
 
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Depends on its hardware configuration. May or may not support the server OS. Or be at some minimal level that will not provide the necessary performance.

Compare the specifications. If marginal - at least give the old Pentium a try. But I would not be optimistic.

Perhaps Linux would an option.
 
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Well when I plugged in my old Pentium III, nothing happened, and sometime after it got all smoked up.
So I went down to the local computer store, and bought a computer with an Intel dual core 4th gen CPU and 4 gigs of memory. I had an old working monitor, so I will hook it up to the computer.

I had bought the routers beforehand; and today along with the computer I bought RJ45 jacks, CAT5e cables, the 8 port switch and the print servers.
So I guess that I'm ready to go with the hardware.
Any suggestions from you before I start working?
 
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Ah well for the PIII, sounds like the PSU was dead. Probably everything now. Only hardware advice I have is to make sure you wire up everything in the same color coding (I messed up once, it wasn't good.). The Pentium (I assume it's Pentium) box will be fine for a VPN or NAS, although it might struggle a bit at doing a media server if transcoding.
 
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Read the manuals through beforehand. Research anything you do not fully understand as you plan each step.

Take your time.

Use good quality tools and follow the installation spec's very carefully. Per ComputerSecurityGuy the color coding is important. Do not allow yourself any inconsistencies. Stay with one standard (e.g., 568B) and pre-test, test, continuously. Do not close things up until you are really sure that you are done.

Verify that each cable run/connection is working before going on to the next step. Document your work (settings, ports) - you have a knack for diagramming - continue doing that. Photographs can be very handy.....

Expect problems and some "re do's" or "do -overs". Stop if you get frustrated and clear your mind.

It can be a lot of fun. But Mr. Murphy is always lurking about......


 
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Yes, that's why I left no chance of any mishap and bought the dual core. I got everything at a pretty low price, so I guess it's a good deal for me.
Let me see if I can fix ( probably change ) the PSU of the PIII, and get it going.
What are you advising? Should I keep the Pentium (if I can revive it) besides the Dual core for a NAS and VPN server?

 
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I have finished building the computer, and have finished running wires. Now a problem has come up and I have to get away for a month.
Will you be available when I come back after a month, because I will need help then.
 
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I have installed the routers and all the devices minus the server. I have set up my master router on the 2nd floor and have connected the two slave routers on 1st and ground floors through LAN-LAN connections.

Things are running smooth.

Now, I want to set up my server, but still I can't decide on what operating system to use for the server. Initially I had decided on Ubuntu/ Linux/ Debian but now I see those will be pretty difficult for me to implement (correct me if I'm wrong). A bit of googling revealed that probably Amahi is the best bet for me here, but considering the add-ons I want in my server (like VPN), they will not be free in Amahi. The money isn't really the issue here ( the VPN add-on is as low as $5), the issue really is paying the money to buy the stuff. I live in India, and I don't have a credit card or Paypal through which I can pay the money.

Help me out, please. I know it's been long since I had been active, but I really need your help.

Like I said, I want Network attached Storage, media server (player), and VPN (so that I can access my server remotely).
 
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I finally have completed everything as I intended. I have configured the network, set up the devices as I designed in the diagram and have provided the addresses in accordance with your suggestions, and it really, really helped.

I tried setting up the server with ubuntu ( couldn't access the shared folders from windows PC; it kept saying that I didn't have permission to access them. I possibly scoured every article on the internet regarding this, none did help me come up with a solution. So I gave up on ubuntu after 3 days of fiddling leading to nothing), then FreeNAS ( the installation got stuck at a point saying it couldn't detect any interface, and the same thing happened; 6 long hours of continuous internet scouring gave me nothing. So I gave up on freeNAS too).
Lastly I installed Amahi ( quite contrary to what I said earlier, but it'd be better said 'lack of options' than a 'choice'), and I'm now getting an international debit card :-D :-D for the purpose of buying the add-ons. Amahi did start on the server, and now I am at basic file sharing over the network with the server acting as only a file server; but I do plan on getting the plug-ins to help me meet my requirements in the future.

You guys helped me a lot with this, and I'd definitely say that I have gathered some knowledge about networking doing all these by myself. Now that I have that 'big-picture' in front of me, I can now easily modify the network according to my requirements. Both of you guys have equally helped me, and I wish TH could have kept an option to select two best answers, so that I could select both of your answers 'best'.

- Many thanks.

- Pratyay67
 
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And I have documented the entire thing. Buying materials, running ethernet cables, configuring the network, setting up the server....pretty much everything possible to document. Can I post the entire documentation on Tom's hardware so that it might come to help of someone later? What do you say?
 
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I would say yes but will defer to the Moderators' guidence and suggestions.

They may wish to preview your documentation and perhaps offer some editing suggestions.

Plus there may be some IP information, etc., in the document that needs to be redacted for privacy and security reasons.

 
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