Help with a fraternity network.

[lardbeetle]

Alright, I'm saddled with the job of being the network administrator of the network of the fraternity I'm in, but I know very little of networking.

What I DO know is that the network is spotty. It goes down from time to time, and the modem that controls the network has to be reset.

The structure of the network is around 30 or so computers hooked into switches, which all uplink into one port, currently the modem, which handles the traffic. We used to have servers which controlled the traffic, but my predecessor decided to screw around with them and they no longer work. Sad.



I can do one of two things to fix the network:

1) Set up the server that used to handle the network. I can get a copy of Windows Server 2k3 or 2k to install on this, and the hardware, a p4 willamette @ 2.0ghz, 512 or 1024 megs of rdram, and two 10/100 NIC's, works just fine. The only problem is that I don't know how to do this. I've never used windows server, 2k3 or 2k, and I don't know what a server is required to do for a network.

2) Slap in a router. I don't know if a home router would have similar problems to the modem, but I don't want to spend money on hardware that turns out to be inadequate. So, I can just buy a router, but I'd need one that could easily handle the network traffic of 40 or so computers.

 

[InlineFive]

It doesn't sound like you have any special needs to make things complicated. What I would suggest is simply grabbing one of your spare computers and installing pFSense on it.

pFSense is a good gateway and firewall that can easily handle all of the traffic from your network. You will need to have two NICs in your firewall computer. Plug one (your "green"/internal zone) into one of the switches and the other (your "red"/external zone) into the modem for your internet connection.

I doubt you will want to delve heavily into firewall rules so simply allowing all outbound traffic and enabling the DHCP server on the internal interface should be sufficient.

 

[lardbeetle]

OK. Thanks. That solves my problem.

 

[Kelemvor]

I'd just go the easy route and plug a standard router into the modem and the PCs or switches into the router. That's what routers do is handle traffic, IPs, etc. Shouldn't be any big deal. If you want more control, get one that you can put DD-WRT on it. Unless of course you want a file server to share files, then go with the Server...

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
I'd just go the easy route and plug a standard router into the modem and the PCs or switches into the router. That's what routers do is handle traffic, IPs, etc. Shouldn't be any big deal. If you want more control, get one that you can put DD-WRT on it. Unless of course you want a file server to share files, then go with the Server...

That's not a bad idea but I'd wager that the amount of connections a frat network with 30 nodes generates would likely overwhelm a consumer SOHO router. Which is why I recommended a more robust solution.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: InlineFive

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
I'd just go the easy route and plug a standard router into the modem and the PCs or switches into the router. That's what routers do is handle traffic, IPs, etc. Shouldn't be any big deal. If you want more control, get one that you can put DD-WRT on it. Unless of course you want a file server to share files, then go with the Server...

That's not a bad idea but I'd wager that the amount of connections a frat network with 30 nodes generates would likely overwhelm a consumer SOHO router. Which is why I recommended a more robust solution.

indeed!

any *nix based router (like PFsense) will work great. I help with a small WISP and we have 60+ days right now on smoothwall with 80+ people using it.

pfsense
monowall
smoothwall
ipcop


those are probably the top set to try/play with

 

[Kelemvor]

THe other thing to consider is how many connections will be active at the same time and how often? If only 10 people would ever be home and on the PC at the same time, it doesn't matter if you have 100 ports connecting back to the router. But if on certain nights every single person would be there surfing the net and such, then that makes a big difference.

 

[lardbeetle]

Well, people are fond here of doing bittorrent, so I need something robust. If there's a router I can get out there that can handle the connections, then that would work - if not, then I'll have to set up the server with that program.

Another thing - does pfsense support wireless connections? People have been clamoring to have wi-fi put in, as some of the rooms don't have wired support.

I've got a zonet 802.11g wireless PCI card that would fit the bill if there's the drivers out there for it.

 

[Pulsar]

You'll be lucky to get a consumer grade router that can handle 2 people torrenting much less 30. Go with the software option and be happy you did.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: lardbeetle
Well, people are fond here of doing bittorrent, so I need something robust. If there's a router I can get out there that can handle the connections, then that would work - if not, then I'll have to set up the server with that program.

Another thing - does pfsense support wireless connections? People have been clamoring to have wi-fi put in, as some of the rooms don't have wired support.

I've got a zonet 802.11g wireless PCI card that would fit the bill if there's the drivers out there for it.

Instead of trying to get a wireless PCI card to work on your pFSense box I would just pick up a Buffalo wireless router (or Linksys WRT54GL) and plug that into a switch. Make sure to disable the DHCP server on it. If you accidentally leave the DHCP server enabled it will clash with your pFSense box and cause problems.

Also be aware that wireless does not handle P2P well at all. Make it clear that the wireless should only be used for surfing, downloading and games.

 

[Kelemvor]

Or you can buy my switch. (See Sig)

 

[amdskip]

I too am a big fan of smoothwall. I have a box setup for the elementary school that I work at. I have content filtering and antivirus filtering setup on it too so the kids hopefully don't access any of the bad things.

 

[jlazzaro]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Or you can buy my switch. (See Sig)

shameless plug

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: jlazzaro

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Or you can buy my switch. (See Sig)

shameless plug

for a product that won't even solve the OP's problem even!

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: jlazzaro

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Or you can buy my switch. (See Sig)

shameless plug

for a product that won't even solve the OP's problem even!

...and it's kind of overpriced for a C2950-12. You can nab those for about $175-200 on eBay if you're patient.

 

[vorgusa]

also make sure to pay attention to how big your area is.. you do not want to try to get 30 laptops on one access point in a big house.. you may need 2 or 3 spread throughout your house. You should also consider security, such as WPA and router software like IPCop (instead of Pfense) can seperate your wireless network and require people to supply you with their MAC addres in order to get on the network. This would require an extra NIC on the server and possibly a cheap 4 port switch (or however many access points you have)

 

[p0lar]

Originally posted by: InlineFive
...and it's kind of overpriced for a C2950-12. You can nab those for about $175-200 on eBay if you're patient.

!! *poop* !!

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: InlineFive

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
I'd just go the easy route and plug a standard router into the modem and the PCs or switches into the router. That's what routers do is handle traffic, IPs, etc. Shouldn't be any big deal. If you want more control, get one that you can put DD-WRT on it. Unless of course you want a file server to share files, then go with the Server...

That's not a bad idea but I'd wager that the amount of connections a frat network with 30 nodes generates would likely overwhelm a consumer SOHO router. Which is why I recommended a more robust solution.

Actually you'd be suprised what some can handle. My gf's sorority (about 30, all wireless) was using a Netgear without any problems, a lot of torrents too (after I showed my gf tvtorrents and she showed everyone else...).

Then the husband of one of the advisers tried to increase the coverage to the upper floor and changed it to a Linksys WRT54G and a repeater which got overwhelmed in about 3hrs, but that's another story...

Also another thing to consider is what is going to happen once the OP leaves, will there be a good hand off or will everything just go to pieces like it did this time. I know a couple fraternities that got funds from their national to put in networks and such but once the initial people leave, things tended to fall apart and no one knew how to maintain it. In which case it was probably better to KISS and save some money to hire someone to install and maintain it.

 

[KingGheedora]

What kind of internet connection do you use? I would think plain cable modem would be too slow for all the torrenting and pr0n activity of an entire frat.

 

[bwatson283]

The software is the best, just dont make a ton of rules. More time the traffic is on the line.