April 1996 — Features
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Tips & Tricks for K-12 Educational LANs
Use only Ethernet or other high-speed networking systems. LocalTalk (for Apple Macintosh) and other low-cost networking systems are just too slow to use with anything except small classroom clusters of computers or for printer sharing.
If you're extending your lab to classrooms, pull additional runs of network cable to each location. This has several advantages, the first being reduced labor costs. Indeed, 65% of the investment you make in wiring will be for labor, the rest will be for the cable. It will cost no more in labor to run four network cables into a classroom than it will to run two. In case you need to expand your network or a cable gets damaged, there is already a backup in place.
With Ethernet use only Category 5 wiring; while this will be more expensive than Category 3, you won't have to replace it to switch to a faster speed network.
Involve the professional staff early on. They will take ownership of the computer lab and network and want it completed. During planning, listen to what the teachers want. Make it clear that the district or school is behind this 100% and wants them to provide input as to direction and purpose. If teachers want small clusters in classrooms, give it to them. Remember that the purpose of a computer lab is to enhance the students' education. Whatever you do, it should be educationally sound. The curriculum should drive the computer program, not the other way around.
When planning, divide the budget into four broad categories: computers, networking, software and training. Use these figures to see where you will need to raise additional money or perhaps implement your program in stages. While every situation is different, this assures that essential items won't be overlooked.
Troubleshooting
When making changes, change only one thing at a time. That way you know what went wrong and can easily restore it back to the way it was.
Carefully document changes to the network and allow proper time to evaluate the impact. Once set up, most networks will run without needing any changes.
Performance can almost always be improved by judicious tweaking of certain parts of the networking software. Always record all settings before you begin and make backup copies of critical network files.
