The beginning

First, let’s see what we’ve got to work with. This project won’t build a network from scratch, but rather build upon the things that already are there. Much of the existing equipment will be rebuilt however to make things more streamlined. Today, it’s just one step away from chaos, and a lot of work will be devoted to shaping things up, with a proper network layout.

The current network is spread across four different locations, which will be called Bilskirnir, Trudvang, Glitner and Valhall. Bilskirnir has internet access through a wireless link to Trudvang, the other locations (including Trudvang) has direct access to the internet.

At Bilskirnir we have the following equipment:

• A laptop running Kubuntu (this is where I’m writing this from)
• An old desktop PC running Ubuntu server (and nothing else really)
• An even older desktop PC running Kubuntu (I think, haven’t started it for a while)
• A somewhat newer desktop PC running Debian (this was my main box before the laptop came along)
• A network attached printer
• A Linksys wireless AP to connect to Trudvang
• A Linksys NSLU2 (commonly called a slug)
• A switch, some network cables and other stuff

At Trudvang there is:

• A desktop PC running Windows (this box won’t really be used in this project, it just shares the internet connection with the other boxen)
• A laptop running Windows (this won’t be used on the network either for now, but possibly later)
• A Linksys router (WRT54G) running DD-WRT
• Some cabling and stuff

I’m not quite sure what equipment there is at Valhall, but something like this:

• A laptop running Windows
• Another laptop running Windows (this computer belongs to another company and can’t really be used in the network)
• An old desktop PC running Windows
• A hub to connect these boxen to the Net (they will thus have separate public IPs)
• A local printer
• Network cables all over the place (since there is no wireless) and some small stuff not worth mentioning

At Glitner there is also some uncertainty about what equipment there is, but it should be:

• A laptop running Mac OSX
• Another laptop running Windows (won’t be used on the network I think)
• A wireless router of unknown model (I know it isn’t a Linksys)
• Cables and stuff of course

Well, I think that’s it. I probably forgot some stuff, but nevermind. We can cover that later.