building a Network for a small business
building a Network for a small business
Hi, I’m looking into setting up a network for a small business. We have two buildings on the same site, and they need to be connected. I’m unsure whether it’s more efficient to use a router and switch in each building or just one switch in each building linked to a shared router that serves both. The distance between the buildings is about 5 meters.
You can use a single router and link two switches through its LAN ports. This setup works well for simple home or small office networks. You likely don’t need a second router unless you plan to expand later. Alternatively, connect one switch directly to the router and another directly to the first switch, keeping both buildings connected to the same network easily. Keep in mind scalability when planning for future growth.
If it's possible to connect Ethernet between the two structures, the second choice would be optimal.
Consider how the system can grow efficiently as demand increases.
Thanks for clarifying your thoughts. I'm here to help with any questions you have.
Optimize your subnetting by selecting the right prefix, estimating the required IP addresses, and picking a higher bit value than necessary. Determine the number of devices, printers, and internet-connected equipment, then finalize your prefix. Exclude specific IPs from DHCP and reserve them for you. Please share more details about your business so I can assist with network security effectively.
So it's a small business based out of a church, so we would also be upgrading the current infrastructure in place at the church as well, in this we would be looking to store video on a NAS in a IT closet if you will, this will then be accessible by the office where editing is done, already have access to the Adobe suite, in the Chapel and production rooms would be cameras and other things, possibly used for livestream ing aswell. So it's a small production company, any help would be greatly appreciated, also could I have a switch in the closet that would then link to the switches based in the buildings?
You can set the number of switches you want connected for communication. It’s likely you need VLANs, so pick switches that support VLAN configuration and ACLs to control traffic between servers or hosts. Enable port security if available and use STP to prevent loops between switches. These are basic steps for your network. Make sure your intermediate devices can handle these protocols and adjust accordingly. Your network design should focus on four key traits: Fault Tolerance, Scalability, Quality of Service, and Security.