Network architecture - part 1

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Posted by: Doozer, on 12/29/2009, in category "Blog"
Views: this article has been read 658 times

Over the last few days I've decided to take a look at my home network. With multiple pcs (laptops, workstations, & servers) and other networked hardware (Xbox media center & Wii) all using both wireless/wired connections, and all potentially trying to access the same shared data, it seems to me like the system should have some planning put into it. So I decided to step back, evaluate what I have and what I need, and try to maximize the efficiency and minimize the maintenance. I do this for clients, so why not put some of that same understanding into my personal network?

To start with, let's do a quick rundown on the main pieces:

• 1 main workstation pc
• 1 web server
• 1 media center that's turned into a file server (has both wired and wireless nics)
• 1 laptop
• 1 old Xbox with linux-based xbmc (Xbox Media Center) running on it, connected through a wireless bridge
• 1 Wii (wireless)
• 1 500GB eSATA backup drive, connected to my main workstation
• 1 Vantec USB/eSATA external enclosure, currently with a 500GB drive connected to my media center

I included these last two items because although they're not stand-alone devices, they ARE designed for storage, and could potentially be moved to other machines or serve other purposes if it makes more sense. I also have a few miscellaneous accessories that will be excluded from this conversation, like a non-network-enabled printer and a Blackberry, because I'm not planning around them at the moment.

The wireless router has 4 wired ports and all the main hardware is located in my office, so all the pcs are currently hardwired, while the rest of the peripherals are scattered around the house, connected wirelessly.

A few other tidbits:

• The main workstation has all the newest hardware, and also happens to have the most storage. It has 1Tb internal, plus the 500Gb backup attached through eSATA.
• The webserver (hosting the page you're reading right now) is the crappiest machine.
• The media center is somewhere in the middle, although storage is limited which is why I just picked up the Vantec unit.

Part of this exercise will be for me to actually document the relevant specs of each machine, so I can best use what they have. At this point, I'm only going off my mediocre memory.

I think that I'll leave you with this background as Part 1 of this segment, and let you think about it while I do the same and update you shortly.