Setting up a complex lan

[Cj_Staal]

I am going to be making a conroe build soon, and am thinking about using it as a battlefield2 lan server... How would I go about this with a subnet and all that? Basically I am thinking about doing something like

.................................................. ............................................../Gaming rig
Modem->Conroe server-*crossover cable*->internet port on router->Gaming rig
.................................................. ..............................................\Gam ing rig

Is that how we do it? I know I can just go through the router normally and use the WIndows XP home network setup thing, but that's too simple for me and I want it complex muwahahaha I love to learn :)

EDIT: Why is there a space on the 3rd gaming rig?

I don't have any networking experience, and I don't have a car to go buy a couple books on it at the moment, and I know there is very knowledgable(sp?) people here.

[KennyT772]

cant be done. you would need a high end router that could be configed. you realise that if u just ran all 4 pcs on the routers switch you would be fine right? just plug each pc into the router and run the bf2 server on the conroe. everyone will be able to see it and the latency would be half of the way u described it

[Cj_Staal]

I know, I stated that.

I can always use multiple NIC's on the conroe server and I think that since i have a switch instead of a network hub, it would be better to do it the way I am thinking about doing it?

[KennyT772]

oh didnt read that far..lol. well ive taken 2 semesters of the cisco networking deal and the only way this would be able to work is on a $600-$700 router. and its a helleva lot more work then its worth and less performance at the same time.

[Cj_Staal]

I can always use the server as a router by using multiple NIC's I think, right?

[KennyT772]

yeah smoothwall linux is the way to go

[Aevum]

there are pci router cards, or atleast switch cards, usualy its the same as a normal network card except it has 3-5 RJ45 sockets on it insted of only 1,

the problem is that a pci bus can handle 3 100Mbit connections on one pci card,
it CANT handle 3 1Gbit (3x120MByte/sec per connection when total pci bandwidth for 1 slot is 133MByte/sec), so if you plan on using one of those cards, you can forget gigabit ethernet

[DanTheBanjoman]

Your desired setup is quite pointless. Why would you want another router between the local server and your clients? Also why would you want Conroe as a BF2 server? It would sit idle > waste of money.

I would recommend using the Conroe as gaming rig and a slower machine as server. And putting a switch directly behing the router with all 4 computers connected to it.

[rpg711]

ya like me, i use a old ibm 500mhz amd comp from the 90's as a server (costed 2000$ back then) and would like to use conroe as a gaming rig if i could obtain one... i dont understand y u want a conroe as a server... u would be wasting lots of money, u could just get a mid end operton as a server or something

[Cj_Staal]

Yeah but I'm going to be running ALOT of bots and stuff

[rpg711]

dude... u still dont need a 500$ processor on a 3 client server