Hi everyone
I am new to Daniweb but i felt this is the place to ask somebody abt the help i need.
The query is this.
I live in a hostel with 9 floors and we wanted to do a wi-fi
but since my college is not willing to pay an administrator the job of setting up the wi-fi network and administrating it , it comes to us.
We do have a good internet connection (good by the standards here , in russia , its 25Mb/s)
and tht is to be shared by abt 50 users through wi-fi.
I will be using abt 3 routers on each floor considering the locations of the users and all.That should make a total of abt 27 routers sharing a single net connection
how should we go about setting up the network ?!
what are the requirements for the server (which I am told is a necessity over such a large network) ?
so.... how should we go abt it ?!

You may not need that many routers...how is the building constructed? Metal, concrete, brick, wood? How are the walls between rooms constructed?

If you use fat client AP architecture, you can avoid the server. Look at Proxim, as their indoor APs have two radios, one at 5.8GHz for backhaul, the other at 2.4GHz. They might help you avoid some cable runs. You can mix and match brands to save money in some cases, also.

You can also mount outdoor radios aimed at the side of the building and shoot through the glass windows, which will pass microwaves easily. As an example, if the building is long and thin, two radios, one on each side might give you all the coverage you need.

50 users isn't going to cause you all that many problems but you could get a decent management software at low cost and complete the package. I'd try to stay on the simple side as much as possible.

You wouldn't necessarily need a server, a good network switch would probably do the job (If you could shave a couple routers off of this estimate you could get by with a single 24 port, but you may need to go to a 48.

I think your outline for the network topography is a little excessive but, like Zeroth said, I'd need to know the construction of the building (since you're saying 50 users, I'm assuming that's all the occupants, that's 5-6 per floor. If that's accurate I'd say that the building is probably small enough for a single Wireless N router on each floor or even floors 2,4,6,8 would probably be fine.

Now for some specific factors:

What kind of construction is the building?
If the interior walls are framed and sheetrocked you can probably skip floors and more than likely use less than three access points on a floor.

What is the square footage of each floor?
A good wireless access point can probably cover 2000-2500 square feet (186-232 square meters) effectively. Maybe more if the clients are using wireless N.

What kind of wiring paths do you have?
If you're working with something like a single shaft that you have you run all the cables up you might consider daisy-chaining each floors routers (assuming you need more than 1 per floor), but if you have the opportunity to run an Ethernet cable to each individual router you would reduce latency by doing that directly.

Will you be doing any complex networking like file or print sharing (not really complex, just examples)?
If you need this than daisy-chaining the routers will be a lot more difficult. It would require a lot more configuration to make them communicate with eachother than connecting each directly to a switch.

If you'd like to give the specifics we mentioned I'd be happy to give you some more detailed advice, but I'd also suggest talking to somebody in the IT department or a computer science professor if you have one. I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some pointers on the project.

Thanks a million guys.. That was quite some insight. I am quite new to this so i didn't expect the detailed trouble you people went into 2 explain this stuff.
I would really appreciate any more help. The details you asked 4 are like this.
The building is an L-shaped structure with each arm 22 metres. There are 9 floors in it. The construction is mainly concrete. I can not use N standard coz not every user has that option. G is fine with me . The internet is 2 come over 8 adsl connections of 2 mb/s each. Now what's your take ? And i think a server would be required 2 keep track of bandwidth and optimal speed re.distribution , isn't it? And the no. Of users is supposed 2 increase 2 abt 90 over the next year so i think it would be a good idea 2 plan in advance.
What's ur take guys ?
Thanks a million.

If it's in your budget allows it get N anyway, it allows futureproofing an also provides better range for existing G devices (not a whole lot better but I noticed about a 20-50% increase in functional range over my previous G router.

I would think that two routers per floor would be adequate, one in each arm of the building and you could very possibly skip floors but I'm not sure on that (this really will depend on the style of concrete construction, not much other than real world tests would say for sure)

A real network manages switch can brisge these connections and should be able to provide internet access (it's been a while but I believe that a managed switch is able to merge multiple WAN connections onto a LAN without needing an additional router before the switch).

I would suggest you pick out a wireless router and get 1 to test the real world range in your building, see how far it will go through walls and if it will work on the floor above.

The concrete construction is going to cause you some problems. If you're going with APs on each floor, I suggest you get one AP and mount it in a likely spot. Then take a notebook computer and download Network Stumbler. This program will turn your wireless ethernet adapter into a antenna and tell you exactly what signal you have from your router/AP. You can walk around and test different spots to see what coverage you have...the meters will change as you are walking...gives you SNR, etc. You can change the location of the AP until you get the best coverage. Two APs will give you your overlap distances...also remember than in the overlap, multipath will cause degradation in bandwidth.

Please remember that if you use Network Stumbler you will have to reboot your machine afterwards to get the adapter back to normal.

zeroth

Zeroth reminded me of one, potentially major, issue. You're going to be putting 18-27 routers in a building with 50-90 users. This means 2-3 routers and up to 10 users on each channel. BIG interference issue. You'll need to be very careful with your channel settings. Since a concrete building probably wont have interference from outside i'd suggest starting with channels 1&6 on the first floor, 4&9 on the second 2&7 on the third, 5&8 on the 4th 1&9 on the 5th and repeat (or something similar, you want a space between channels from one floor to the next and try to keep the closest channel on the other side of the building). If I'm wrong on this I'd like to know, but it seems to me that you need to keep these routers from overlapping or being to close in frequency.

Thanks guys. Bt there is a confusion here. I thought interlapping signals would give more strength , isn't it ? And also it would be kewl if the network were also 2 support wireless file sharing. Cut out a lot of hassle.. Thanks guys.
Will do the stumbler test over the next weekend and let you people know.
One more query. Would it be possible 2 limit bandwidth 2 each particular user ? So that it doesn't happen so that just because some1 is downloading porn, others can't even check their mail..

One more question. Will N be backward compatible with G ? I mean if i install an n router will some1 with a g adapter be able 2 access it ? Also i am told the range of N is LESS then g. Wouldn't that be an issue ?

Guys ? Anybody here ? Is the 2 basic info i am looking for irritating people ? I have done my part of googling but being a medical student, i am not that far acquainted with computers and stuff.. But setting up this network is very crucial step for us since its the only way we ALL , here, can get access 2 internet..
Please look forward into this.
Thanks,
Mac