How To Setup A Small Home Network

Things needed to proceed:

  1. Computer Properly Configured for Internet access(1 to 5 will work)
  2. Internet Access (modem from ISP) for a connection to the World Wide Web.
  3. Cat 45 cables, switches, and routers for computer to network connectivity.
  4. Proper equipment to make connections between computers and other known connection devices.
  5. A bit of patience for the new people.

The first suggestion when thinking about wiring up  anetwork is wondering if all the safety factors are put in place for life saving circumstances. If you feel all these safety precautions are in place, it would be appropriate to move onto the next step.

Now that we have the proper safety precautions in place, we have to wire up our computers for connection to get power to them. This is a fairly simple step and can be thought of to be completed in a couple of minutes if all the correct cables are present.

I have 4 computers hooked up on my wireless network with wireless turned off unless I am using my IPhone or if a friend is over they can connect into my wireless connection that way. Why do I have wireless turned off? For a couple of reasons really. 1 for security and 2 so just in case I forget my IPhone will connect to anyhow so no harm no foul. 

I have a 2 computers that are connected straight wired into my router. This makes for a definite connection to the World Wide Web constant as long as the system is up and active. With our router and modem connected we should be ready to go ahead and connect our computers to the router and other cables as well leading towards other computers.

Once you have ran the wires, connected the router switches if you want to segment your network into different parts. The reason for this is so that you network doesn't get congested with data regardless of your connection. Congestion on a network is not a good thing. So remember that for future reference. With our computers connected properly to our router and modem for proper connection to the World Wide Web.

Now that these connections are available to our computers and everything has came preconfigured, we should be able to just connect our computers and be able to get up and running. This makes for easier manageability throughout our network whether on a static or dynamic ip address. DHCP makes this very possible if you just have a stand alone suystem without any web servers or computer to computer communicating software. However if your planning on running a website then you will need to have a static ip address for the simplicity of setup as well. Most routers today are capable of auto assigning ip addresses in a DHCP Table which is pretty universal. However when it comes to a static ip address, things can get a little bit sticky if you don't know what your doing. Most routers are by default have a ip address starting with, and There different types of networks though but this is beyond the scope of this tutorial. 

Now this should give you a general idea on How To Setup A Small Network.