Setting up midium size network

[mezor]

I'm setting up a network for my church and i'm trying to find the best way to go with a small budget. I need to get 20 computer networked together, and all sharing the same cable internet connection. Also it would be nice to have a server to back everything up.

So this is what i'm thinking, i'm going to use just a regular netgear 4 port router, and connect a 24 port switch to the router and connect all the computers through that. The router will handle addressing all the IP's along with the DNS info.

For the server i'm looking at builing a 1.8Ghz computer with 512MB ram and two 120GB hard drives. and then using red hat linux 9 along with samba for data back up.

What I would like to know is if there is anything else I will need to take into consideration along with any other seggestion any one would have.

Thank you

 

[sturm]

How close are the computers going to be. Will they be individually in an office or in groups in different rooms? Reason I ask is if each computer is byitself then the one 24 port switch will work. But if youll have say 4 computers in one room, 5 in another room and 6 in another room and so forth, you might look into getting switches for each group of computers. Will save on cabling and trouble shooting.

 

[mezor]

Most of them are all in one office, and then they've got privite offices for pastors and personel assitance. but for the most part they are all in one room. How would it work using wireless access point for the offices? Because it would be a pain running a seperate cable for each office.

 

[sturm]

Not a bad idea for the private offices. Would be easier then running cable. Just make sure you have the security settings good so unwanted people dont get access.
If the people arent exchanging big files than the wireless would work just fine. Internet and normal file access speeds would be just fine with wireless.

 

[mezor]

What would you seggest for a router? Would a linksys or netgear work for this type of network, or should I consider getting cisco or somthong on that line?

Thank you

 

[sturm]

Any of them should be fine. Ive used linksys routers with no problems.