Overview

I guess I’ll first start with an overview.  My network setup at home is not your usual setup.  I discovered a long time ago, before Windows Home Server was around, of the advantages of having a PC act as a server to centralize files and information in your computer life. So currently I have two PCs that I use as my server backend. One as just the file storage and the other as the main server frontend that runs multiple virtual machines to do different functions.

Networking wise, I believe that if you can run a wire to a location, that’s the best option instead of wireless.  So if I can get a Cat5 ethernet cable to a room, then that is what to do. Wireless is great, but it can have issues with interference and signal strength. I prefer to run a nice fast Gigabit Ethernet to as many rooms as possible.

PC wise, as it takes a while for me to through out an old PC, I have many in the house, functional or not, usually not.  Basically, I have the family PC that I’m not really allowed to tinker with, the wife’s PC, my Mac in the basement and my server(s).

But what amazes me is the amount of IP enabled devices in the home.  At one time, my DHCP server seemed to have listed between 20 to 30 addresses allocated.  That’s hard to believe, but if you sit down one day and think about it, it adds up quickly these days with Tivo’s, media extenders, iPods, the work laptop, home PCs, game consoles, some TVs, etc. The other day I looked behind my TV in the living room and realized that there was five things with an ethernet cable plugged into it.

Well, that is a pretty good summary with each topic above having its own crazyness.