Newbee Wireless Connection Question

[crtvmac]

Can someone tell me does an 802.11N wireless Airport Extreme router, connected to the Internet, have the complicity to service 500 to 1000 (+ or -) clients accessing my Apple Xserve RAID setup, utilizing Airport Express? This setup will allow clients to upload and download streaming video from my Xserve RAID, host their websites and personal images. I would like to locate my Xserve RAID setup in my outdoor garage that is not attached to my house. The garage is 75 feet from my in house work station internet access point. If the Apple wireless hardware is able to service 500 to 1000 clients base on the setup I have described, but does not have the signal strength to relay the internet service signal to my Xserve RAID. I was thinking about switching to an 802.11N Wireless Linksys router with a HGA72A high gain antenna: www.LinksysWorks.com/HGA7S.asp. On the end connected to my Xserve RAID, I was going to connect Linksys HGA9N high Gain Omni-directional Antenna: www.LinksysWorks.com/HGA9N.asp. I might have not worded my question correctly, but I think some one will understand enough of my question to give a newbee some networking help.

 

[ravenvii]

Simple answer: your local network setup doesn't matter (to a certain point).

Long answer: If your ISP allows you to host a server (most don't without an extra fee for an dedicated IP address), then you only need to ensure there's a fast and stable connection between your modem and the Xserve RAID (that includes download and upload - most ISPs gimp your upload speeds). All your 500-1,000 users will be seen as a single client to your AirPort (the client being the Xserve), however the data usage will be substantial. Video streaming, photo hosting, etc.

Your biggest trouble is if your internet connection and network can sustain that much bandwidth, and if your ISP will be happy about it, and ensuring that you have the correct ports forwarded to the Xserve.

Frankly, for such a setup I would use ethernet, period. If you're that clueless about how a network works, you should reconsider your plans, if you get my drift...

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Web host with the server running from a wifi bridge? Not a good idea. does that garage even have a hvac system? My old school had a wifi bridge and it failed 3-4 times per week.

 

[crtvmac]

Simple answer: your local network setup doesn't matter (to a certain point).

Long answer: If your ISP allows you to host a server (most don't without an extra fee for an dedicated IP address), then you only need to ensure there's a fast and stable connection between your modem and the Xserve RAID (that includes download and upload - most ISPs gimp your upload speeds). All your 500-1,000 users will be seen as a single client to your AirPort (the client being the Xserve), however the data usage will be substantial. Video streaming, photo hosting, etc.

Your biggest trouble is if your internet connection and network can sustain that much bandwidth, and if your ISP will be happy about it, and ensuring that you have the correct ports forwarded to the Xserve.

Frankly, for such a setup I would use ethernet, period. If you're that clueless about how a network works, you should reconsider your plans, if you get my drift...

Thanks for the reply Ravenii. I will be taking a networking class in January. Until then, I will try learning about networking by reading and asking a few questions in this forum. Hopefully without being to annoying with my novice questions. One more question? When you say, "I would use ethernet, period". Does that mean connecting an individual wired modem directly to my Xserve RAID set up in my garage? Then, connect another modem to my workstation computer in my house, independent of my garage set up? Or, are you talking about a modem set up connection that I have not mention?

 

[crtvmac]

Web host with the server running from a wifi bridge? Not a good idea. does that garage even have a hvac system? My old school had a wifi bridge and it failed 3-4 times per week.

Thanks for the reply dmmcintyre3. Yes. My garage has a hvac. It was being used as storage building. This same storage building is in the process of being converted into a small data center room.

 

[ravenvii]

Thanks for the reply Ravenii. I will be taking a networking class in January. Until then, I will try learning about networking by reading and asking a few questions in this forum. Hopefully without being to annoying with my novice questions. One more question? When you say, "I would use ethernet, period". Does that mean connecting an individual wired modem directly to my Xserve RAID set up in my garage? Then, connect another modem to my workstation computer in my house, independent of my garage set up? Or, are you talking about a modem set up connection that I have not mention?

Depends on your ISP, but if you're actually using a business ISP (T1/T3 line, etc), then basically you just connect your router to the modem, and the Xserve to the router via ethernet.