Best Setup for SBS2k3 and Wireless?

[getoffb]

I am planning on adding a server running SBS2k3 to our network. Currently, we have a Linksys wrt54g wireless router that 3 laptops connect to wirelessly, 2 desktops are connected through cat5, and then we have an Airport Express that we stream music too, a Tivo that connects wirelessly and also an Xbox 360 that is connected by Cat5.

I want to add a SBS2k3 so we can better share calendars, workspaces, better email management, share a couple printers, and have a place to back everything up to, as we are certainly lacking in that area right now.

What is the best way to do this? Have the SBS act as a router, connect a switch and have the wrt54g act as a WAP?

Or should I have everyhting behind the wrt54g?

Is the AE, Tivo and xbox 360 going to mess anything up? Can I connect these through the SBS and still have them have access to the internet?

I'm just looking for suggestions on the best way to do this.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: getoffb
What is the best way to do this? Have the SBS act as a router, connect a switch and have the wrt54g act as a WAP?

Yes. I have several clients who do this. They've even got desktop clients that have joined the domain using WiFi, although it always worries me if it's not absolutely necessary.

Regarding your other devices, anything that can get an IP address from a DHCP Server can be attached to the Internal network and access the Internet. SBS will automatically act as the DHCP server, DNS server, and Default Gateway for anything connected to its Internal NIC.

Be be sure to NOT have any other DHCP servers active on your Internal network. Turn off the DHCP services on the Linksys (and the Airport Express if it has a DHCP server....I have no idea what an Airport Express is). They'll mess up the network. SBS will detect the second Internal DHCP server and will complain and then shut down its own DHCP server.

 

[getoffb]

Thanks for the information. I was most concerned about the tivo and ae being able to conect to the internet throught the server, but since they should work without a problem, that eases a lot of concerns.

Also, one other setup question. I currently have a P4 2.4c with a gig of RAM and a 40gb HD and a 250gb HD. Should I enable hyperthreading? Will it provide any gains? And how should I setup the HDs? The 250gb I plan on using for data and adding another one to mirror it. I have seen a lot of people recommending setting up a partition for just the OS and another for the swap file. Is this something worth doing? And if so, how big should the swap file's partition be?

 

[RebateMonger]

There's no reason not to turn on hyperthreading.

The biggest partition concern with a typical SBS server is to keep the OS and the data on separate partitions. It's not for speed. It's for safety. If user data overflows the system drive, your Server will go down.

I'm not sure what to advise you to do with the 40GB drive. I prefer having my system partition on a RAID array, since if you lose your system drive, your business will be until you get a new drive and restore your system. Unless you absolutely can't live without that extra 40GB, or are willing to RAID it, I'd probably just keep it as a spare for the other computers.

For most clients, I'll set up a single RAID 1 array and make a 20GB C: partition for the system. Before finishing the SBS configuration, create and format a second partition and, during the SBS final setup, tell SBS to put User Shared Folders, the Exchange Store, and, probably, the Exchange temporary files onto the second partition.

There's no particular advantage to putting the swap file on a different partition if all partitions are on one physical hard drive.