-2

I am trying to setup a basic home network to connect 5 computers. I do not need any internet connection.

Ofcourse IP addresses should be either automatically assigned or i should assign them statically.

Will buying a 5-port switch and using cat5 cables to connect every computer with this switch directly be enough?
Do i need to buy a router as well (remember i don't need internet or connectivity to outside world)?

Jasper
  • 297
  • 2
  • 4
  • 11

2 Answers2

1

You are best off getting a bigger switch in case you want to expand a little in the future. 8 ports doesn't cost much.

  • If you get a router, you could have it do DHCP and maybe DNS
  • If the router has lots of ports, you won't need a switch
  • If the router doesn't have many ports, you could connect it to a smaller switch and benefit from the routers extra ports
  • If you get a router it can also supply wireless
  • If you eventually need Internet connectivity, a router will help
  • Routers can be cheap

If you don't want a router and don't want wireless, you can set all static IPs and perhaps not bother with DNS. Or have one of the computers on the LAN do DHCP/DNS. I still recommend having some extra switch ports free.

Ryan Babchishin
  • 6,260
  • 2
  • 17
  • 37
  • So i do have a (wifi) router with 4 ethernet slots, i guess i could wire everything to that. [1] What ethernet cable should i buy - is that called cat5? [2] One of the computers is a Mac (rest r windows) - i don't see a ethernet slot in the Mac [3] Can some computers be on wifi, some on wired in the exact same network (i have some devices without WiFi capability hence this wired kind of solution)? – Jasper Oct 26 '15 at 06:14
  • @Jasper You can use CAT 5e or 6 for gigabit. Your wireless will be part of the LAN... so everything can see everything else, even if you add an extra switch. – Ryan Babchishin Oct 26 '15 at 06:17
1

Hi a five port switch would work provided all devices have Ethernet ports and you do not need any other network devices such as printers. Also you would need to configure the operating systems to make sure all the network cards were either using dhcp or were in the same subnet if configured as static. There is no need for a dhcp server as an ip v4 Apipa address would work fine for five pc's on the same network. Please mark this as the answer if helpful

As for the router, you'll use this as a switch if you can configure it, also if you need Internet connectivity later on this would be useful. Routers are more difficult to configure but normally offer dns and dhcp functionality.

Ed Baker
  • 410
  • 2
  • 7