Students Corner
For all networking questions, including the 3 building scenario have a look at this list of thing that you should be thinking about:
Things to look at:
- Security aspects (both logical and physical)
- Expansion (i.e. more PCs, printers, etc to be added later?)
- Speed
- Servers (as few as possible = cheaper, easier to manage, less
network bandwidth) - Distance - a signal can not travel more than about 80-100 metres along a
network cable. So you will need a device to boost/relay/repeat the
signal... What if the cable breaks, or gets struck by lightning (common
problem with household modems)? - Do you know what the difference is between a hub and a switch?
- What type of network cable will you use? BNC, UTP (which category? Which
categories are available?), fiber optic, Wireless (name different
standards)?) - Topologies
- Will it be a LAN, MAN or WAN?
- Which networking protocols would you use and why?
- Allocation of IP addresses (static or dynamic? might need both - why?,
how would they be assigned and allocated? Big hint - look up 'DHCP') - Backup solutions
- Robustness
- Administration - how many LAN administrators are needed, where would
they be based?
There is a lot more to it but the above should give you a good start. Look at Webopedia and WhatIs for technical references (e.g. look up UTP). Give example prices of kit (Net Shop, Dabs, etc.)