networking

[Dolly]

after a simple how to.

in a small business with say 3 PC's. 1 printer, 1 back up drive and 1 internet connection, BT through the phone line how do you go about linking it all together. if you get a 5 or 8 port switch and i right in thinking this will make a network but wont carry the internet?

do i need a router suitable for the net that can also do networking.

It would be nice to have the net on 3 computers, and it would be nice if all 3 printed to the same printer. can this be done? need to sort this so i can be decorated and the cables ect hidden

[Dolly]

abit like this, if each computer has one ethernet port, the net and the network need to be together?

[Ridg]

basically what you've said; get a switch to network the computers, printer and backup drive then connect a router to the switch and you're done (sort of) 

By connecting the router to the switch you allow all devices connected to the switch to access the internet through the router, you'll need to configure the computers to use the modem as their default gateway, most routers run a DHCP server, this can be used to automatically assign an address and the necessaries settings the the client machine to then access the net.

NB you'll want to make sure the router has a firewall or place a firewall between the router and the switch.

[Dolly]

ah ok, i just thought i saw a comment saying a switch wont share the internet, unless i miss-read. i guess ill ask when im down maplins tomorrow.

[DubFan]

It's not too complicated.

If you get a router with your BT internet, you can do most of it through that and won't need a separate network switch.

What you want is something like this:


The "ADSL Wireless Router" is your internet router. Connect this to your BT line (with an ADSL filter) and connect each of your computers to this, either with Cat5 cables or wirelessly.

The "NAS Drive" is your backup drive. NAS = Network Attached Storage. Eventually you'll probably want a proper server (a dedicated computer) for centrally storing files).

You'll also need a way to connect your printer to the network. You can either buy a printer that's wireless like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/P1102W-LaserJet-Wireless-Printer-AirPrint/dp/B003ANMPTI/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1323359187&sr=8-14
or you could just connect a printer to one PC and then "share" it with the other computers.

When you are ready to upgrade, you'll probably end up with something like this:

Which is actually similar to what you originally suggested.
If you don't have enough network ports (sockets) on your internet router (most only have 4 or 5), then you will need a network switch connected to your router to add more ports.
Your questions says 3 x PCs, plus 1 printer and 1 backup drive. That's 5 ports used if you don't use wireless.