Extending network

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

We are wanting to extend our network into the building next door to us. Can we just run a cat5 cable over to there and then use a wireless router in the building? Distance of the cable run would be about 140 feet.

[MN Mike]

140 feet shouldn't be a problem with Cat5 baring any electrical interference. Will the other building be on the same IP structure? If it will be, I would just run a ordinary Access Point rather than a Router.

Mike

[upnorth]

Depending on what you are running it from you could run a cable to a switch or to a wireless router, or a wireless access point. Are you planning on running wired or wireless over there?

CAT 5 or 6 is good for at least 300 feet. Just keep it away from transformers etc.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Thinking of doing wireless over there. Same IP.

[upnorth]

Easiest thing to do would be to just run copper over and plug in it into an AP.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I think running a cat5 cable from the router in the main building to a wireless router in the other sounds easier, no?

[upnorth]

You can run another wireless router, but you really don't need to, if you want to use the same IP scheme it would not just be a drop in, you would need to figure out how to configure it as just an AP(just pass through, not a router).

An AP would just extend your network. Adding a router unless in a pass through mode would add another network(that is what routers do) so for what you are looking for you would be defeating the purpose of the router.

If you want to do app and or files sharing etc it would make things more difficult too.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

We also are on a server, does that make a difference?

[MN Mike]

When you say server, are you talking Server 2003, 2008 or 2011? or are you sharing files from a workstation with other systems on the network?

If you are in a true server enviroment, adding a router to a network will cause major issues in most cases.

If you want to add a router as an access point, you have to disable the DHCP server and assign a static IP address to the router that will not interfere with other IP address's in your network, that way you can get back in and manage that router if need be. ALSO, don't plug the LAN cable into the WAN port, use one of the other ports instead.

Access Points are easier.

Mike

[upnorth]

Go with an Access Point it will be much less headache in the long run. If you find you need to have a wired environment you can purchase a switch and then plug the Access Point into the switch and have open ports for wired devices.

A router is designed to have an outside connection(to the web or another network) and inside network. And by network I mean an entirely different set of private IP addresses. In your scenario you could do it, but wound need to create rules on the firewall/router to allow traffic back and forth from your server to your remote(the one on the other side of the new router) network. I know that you can mostly likely just configure the router to act as just an Access Point but would be more work that it is worth.

An Access Point will just extend your present network with little configure ration other than just adding the SSID (wireless ID) to the Access Point.

Feel free to PM me if have a specific question or two.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Great input, thanks!

[masoct3]

another wireless router could work, or even better a switch. Cheap on both ends.