Setting up a complete home network

Hi, i have been reading this site avidly for a few days now after stumbling across it while looking for a laptop. I have decided to buy an acer aspire 1691, with reassurance from this site. Now i'd like to set up a COMPLETE home network. I have a dell desktop with a large hard drive and connected printer, will have the acer laptop and have a tiny desktop with a small hard drive and limited abilities. I also have a few network cards and a multi port network card. Id like to be able to set up a network that has a server and if possible connects to the server. Id also like wireless access. Whats the best way to set this up. (i think its a network with a domain)

thanks if you can help

 

Have a look at the sticky here The Nickspohn Wireless Guide

 

yeh ive read that, cant seem to find the right bit. Is it difficult to set up a domain and do i need a windows server edition or can i use xp

 

You don't need a domain for home networking if all you want to do is share files / printers or just have multiple machine on the internet with you router (no sharing required) And yes it is not trivial (or cheap) to set up a domain - difficult ?? depneds on your experience....

I am not sure of the requirements for a Domain controller in the Windows World (can XP Professional be a domain controller ?) - but likely yes a 'server' edition of Windows 2000 / 2003 is required. I think this would be overkill for your needs. (unless you have needs I am unaware of)

If you are running XP Microsoft has lots of articles on how to set up a home network. If you need more information after reading Nicks guide google " set up home network windows xp" or something similiar. If you have issues post back here and we will try and help out.

 

just like the idea of being able to connect from all comp[uters directly to the powerful one. I can get a copy of windows server 2003 but if its going to be very hard then ill forget it.

 

Not sure why you would want this ? File Sharing / Printer Sharing can be done without a Domain. Intenert access for all computers on you network can be done without a domain.

A Domain I think is overkill for Home Networking ( IMHO) unless you want to learn about Domains.

"hard" is a realtive term - you will certainly need to do some research but there is lots of information out there on how to set up a domain contoller.

 

just think it would be nice to have everything on the server, and everyone connects to that computer.

p.s thanks to this site have worked out how to use remote desktop, so am connected via me laptop now

 

ok if you don't know if you need a copy of server to setup a domain then I recomend against it. You do need a copy of server to setup a domain, XP cannot do it. It is complete overkill for what you want though.

whatever machine you want to be the server, put everything on it, and just share it amoungst the workgroup. You can share printers and files all from one central computer(server) no problem. There are companies that use an XP box as their "server." While I don't recomend that for a company at all I also don't recomend setting up the domain at home especially if you don't know what you are doing with it.

Everything you want to do can be done without the domain. Just use workgroups.

 

ZJChaser is right. You said "just think it would be nice to have everything on the server, and everyone connects to that computer". There's alot you can do with a server and various server software (SQL Server, Exchange, etc...), but it's mostly overkill for a home network and it will get expensive quickly, and you'll need to know what you're doing.

With an XP box, you can share one or more directories, run basic IIS services (web server), and share printers. Just make sure all your machines are on the same Workgroup and you shouldn't have a problem connecting. I would go to each PC and map the same drive (i.e., S: ) to the shared directory on the machine acting as the server. Also, unless you're doing heavy-duty file / print sharing, I would save the 'powerful' PC for use as your main PC, not for the 'server'.