How to setup a small office network with server. - Network Shelf

This article understands how to setup a small office network with server and internet connection. The detailed steps are mentioned below. We are assuming that there are atleast 20 users in the small office network.

Step 1

Purchase a wireless or wired router for getting access to the internet.

The Business Wifi router – NETGEAR Orbi Pro WiFi 6 is a good choice for business wifi router.

Step 2

Purchase a switch for accommodating the 20 users and the servers. 20 users + 1 server would need a total of 21 ports on the switch. In addition 1 port would be needed to connect the router. So for a 20 user network with 1 server, we would need 22 ports. A 24 port switch would be required. Note that you can use the same calculation technique in case the number of users in your office is lesser or more and purchase switches accordingly. Switches comes in 8 port, 12 port, 24 port, 48 port etc.

The NETGEAR 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch is a good choice for a 24 port unmanaged switch.

Step 3

Connect the devices as shown in the diagram using appropriate network cables.

small office network diagram with server

Step 4

Typically the router on the network would have a DHCP server which would assign IP addresses dynamically to users on the network. It is always recommended that you configured static IP address for your server to ensure that the server IP address is constant and does not change.

Step 5

If you are not using internet connection on your network, you would not need a router. In which case you would need to assign the IP addresses manually for all systems on the network. The IP address range from 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.21 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0 is suggested for the same.

Step 6

Ensure that you are able to communicate with the systems and servers on the network using the ping command.