help on Network layout

[foulmouth]

Gents

Dirty Network

Basically i have an office (think of a square ) 4 offices in 1 building.
1 adsl 4Mb line
All offices connected via fibre to eachother
all with hubs unmanaged

If i had to put a server in the office with the ADSL line running WSUS, going to try squid and possibly untangle would i be able to see all the machines and centrally manage it from the server because i use fibre convertors to get from the main hub to the other hubs would it be possible ?


confusing i know

 

[wetkit]

Eish, you still running with hubs?
I think replacing all the hubs with switches would be a big improvement.
Setting up DHCP on the ADSL would help with connections, so no manual network set-up required for each PC.
Then you can look at someting like VNC for remote admin on each machine.
The Fibre convertors will not be a problem.

I guess you not running a domain server? well then for WSUS you will have to set-up each PC individually to point to your own WSUS server and not MS as is the default.

 

[midkemia]

as long as you can ping a machine you have the ability to connect to it. It needs to have the RDP turned on, and a firewall exception added.

WSUS should only be used if you have uncapped internet, otherwise there are other options. i have found that WSUS uses to much bandwidth over normal adsl where you pay per gig.

setup sounds ok, just get all the offices connected into one switch via fibre. the latency shouldnt be to bad between them. You want a few switchs as possible from one side of the network to the other side. the more devices you have, the slower it will become.

i would suggest setting up a server with a domain so you have more control over all the machines. more control is always good!

 

[foulmouth]

what a crappy setup i have !!!! its like 10 /100Mbps hubs coz work wont pay for switches i can see their point its a dirty network with like 10 +- machines on it but still

i have a HP prolient ML 350 server going to try do something with it what you suggest ?

 

[foulmouth]

as long as you can ping a machine you have the ability to connect to it. It needs to have the RDP turned on, and a firewall exception added.

WSUS should only be used if you have uncapped internet, otherwise there are other options. i have found that WSUS uses to much bandwidth over normal adsl where you pay per gig.

setup sounds ok, just get all the offices connected into one switch via fibre. the latency shouldnt be to bad between them. You want a few switchs as possible from one side of the network to the other side. the more devices you have, the slower it will become.

i would suggest setting up a server with a domain so you have more control over all the machines. more control is always good!

Thanks buddy nice response

 

[ponder]

How about a network diagram of your current setup showing the offices, hubs, fiber, adsl router and pc's connected to the hubs. Why you running fiber, distance greater than 100m? can all the pc's not be cabled to a central switch?

 

[The_Unbeliever]

One q :

Do you have access to your uncapped account's username and password? Because, if so, then you can put a Smoothwall (or IPCop) firewall to manage the ADSL connection.

If not, and the router is preconfigured with it, then you can just plonk your Smoothwall in between the router and your network to protect it.

WSUS etc will still be updated, but your network will be better protected against hackers etc.

Also, should you install URL Filter or Dansguardian, you have the ability to selectively block certain sites (porn, malware etc) from being accessed from your PC's.

As for the hubs, a managed switch would be better. Pity work doesn't want to upgrade these. I'm in the same boat, have suggested to damagement that the hubs we got be upgraded, but they still is ignoring it. Gonna powercycle one of these suckers till it borks :twisted:

 

[foulmouth]

yeah offices are past 100M will get a diagram up for you guys its pretty ridiculous asctually as the fibre breaks out at diffrent points i have access to the broadband details so no probs there maybe i should try that smoothwall thing

 

[Asha'man X]

Problem with small companies and IT is that if it works, don't fiddle with it. That means no upgrades or changes unless the product dies or someone with a vision gets in charge of the money. It is a nightmare to support such places. Still, you could come up with a plan to improve things. I suggest the HP ProCurve 2610-24 switch, it's a beautiful piece of kit, can take fiber, and isn't all that expensive. +-R6k.