[SOLVED] Small business network 10 macs and one printer

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JInx311

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I have been tasked with setting up a network for my work office on a very limited budget with several goals in mind.

We have 10 macs as workstations one network ready printer and soon to have a mac mini aswell all needing connected to the network

1. networked access to a mac mini hosting our filemaker database (only purpose)
2. A shared ICAL between office staff (acheived hopefuly with osx server)
3. network access to our laser printer

Mac Mini Specs:
3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
1TB Fusion Drive

I am a tech junkie and have built my own gaming pc recently so I am not toally clueless when it comes to computer hardware but I am new to networking and have a few questions I am hoping to get answered here.

First of all we are using a bt business hub with 4 ethernet ports, a few of our machines as a result connect over wifi.

We frequently loose our broadband connection as well as local access to our database currently hosted on one of the imacs several times a day. We believe that there are IP conflicts happening but not sure. Any advise on this would be great

I am not sure wether an unmanaged or managed switch would be preferable given the circumstances.

Do I need to change routers for small more suitable to a small office network?

Thanks in advance for any advise you can give



 
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M
A couple of things come to mind. Is the Mac that's hosting the database going to sleep? Does it have lots of disk space and lots of ram? Is it Filemaker Server Unlimited, the limited version or the plain vanilla version of Filemaker which you are sharing? (Which also has a limit on the number of connections so someone who exceeds the number of simultaneous connections wouldn't be able to connect or would but someone else who paused might be prevented from connecting). Is the machine hosting the Filemaker Database on a static IP? If you are using DHCP it could be changing IPs which creates a very iffy situation.

For best performance use cables and skip the wifi. Buy a 24 port unmanaged Gigabit switch and plug that into your Broadband...
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MacTech

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A couple of things come to mind. Is the Mac that's hosting the database going to sleep? Does it have lots of disk space and lots of ram? Is it Filemaker Server Unlimited, the limited version or the plain vanilla version of Filemaker which you are sharing? (Which also has a limit on the number of connections so someone who exceeds the number of simultaneous connections wouldn't be able to connect or would but someone else who paused might be prevented from connecting). Is the machine hosting the Filemaker Database on a static IP? If you are using DHCP it could be changing IPs which creates a very iffy situation.

For best performance use cables and skip the wifi. Buy a 24 port unmanaged Gigabit switch and plug that into your Broadband providers ethernet Connection.

If cost is an option and it's one of the most common WAP/Router devices that has 4 ports on the back, buy three 5 port swathes and plug them into the 3 of the four ports on the router. However this will limit your client to client connection speed so the 24 port GigE will be your best option.

Don't run any cable longer than 300 feet from point to point. If you run cables in the ceiling or over ceiling tiles avoid electric lines and if you must cross an electric line do it at a 90 degree angle. NEVER run ethernet in parallel to an electric line. Keep them separated as far as possible. Keep ethernet cables away from motors, fans, refrigerators and other electric devices.
 
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