DSL router at the front of the house, where the master phone point is. Powerline network from the router to my internet gateway/server (SME 7.5, about 500Gb, critical material in a RAID config, DHCP, proxy, NAT, email, file store, media downloads, DLNA etc).
Network to a hub with two PCs (study and studio PC), Wifi router, cat5 link to Entertainment center hub (Sony BDP-S370 for DLNA playback from the server, XBOX360), and a wired link upstairs for my sons laptop.
We also have a SKYPE/landline phone system that uses a dedicated wifi access point to attach to the network.
ADSL2+ through ISP-provided broadband modem to wireless-N/gigabit router. Wired to laptop1, wireless to laptop2, iPhone, HTC Desire HD, etc. 1.5TB NAS on router for music, movies, docs, etc. Works pretty well!
I have multiple Cat6 going to most rooms and televisions, and to a structured wiring cabinet in the basement, terminated to Cat6 110 blocks. The cable modem, router, and switch are all in the cabinet. For iPads and such, I have a wireless router in the office behind one of the computers. Everythings behind a NAT firewall with an appropriate ssh port opened for remote access.
In the house, I have my PC and my wife has hers. My PC is the “master” PC for shared media (iPhoto, Aperture, and iTunes). It’s also the master PC for my account. Her PC is the master PC for her account. I use rsync over ssh to copy her PC’s account to my PC (so she can log into my PC and have everything), and I do the same to her PC. Once those two are common, I use rsync to mirror the accounts and shared media from my PC to the media server in the basement and (if on the network) the portable media server (the bash script is smart enough to see if everything’s online).
Her bookmarks are copies in the rsync. I use MobileMe and the built-in Firefox sync for mine. Our contacts are mostly shared and kept in sync for all accounts using my MobileMe account. My work contacts are mastered in Outlook on my work PC, and sync’d via iTunes at work.
My “awesome setup” flatteringly referenced above is still a work in progress, but here’s the current state:
TimeWarner-provided cable modem and Linksys router providing ethernet to 4 computers upstairs and wifi-g to 1 computer downstairs, my BlackBerry, melody’s iPhone and her netbook.
The upstairs computers are:
[ul][li]bedroom, primarily for DVRing and IMDb searches brought about by TV watching,[/li][li]office 1, which shares primary application functions (MSOffice, Photoshop, Quicken) and secondary DVR functions,[/li][li]office 2, which records radio programs off the air and serves as a network jukebox, and[/li][li]office 3, which was originally intended to be my network backup machine and is soon to actually achieve that.[/ul][/li]
The downstairs computer is my laptop, which due to a failed display, is now permanently hooked up to my TV and used largely to view the various stuff the two DVRs upstairs record for me and for Netflixing.
I have a couple of other computers lying about, including one that has DOS/Win3.1 on it for the rare occasions I need to dip back into that for something. The only place I have yet to put a computer that I intend to is my kitchen (for recipes, natch), and that’s just because I haven’t got round to it yet. That will be wifi, too, since it’s downstairs.
I do hope to set up a VPN at some point so we can access my DVRs from melody’s house, but just haven’t got round to that yet either.
We have fiber to the house, which winds up as a single CAT6 coming into the wall in our spare bedroom. To that is hooked up a NetGear wireless router (a/b/g). I ran cable through the walls to the kitchen for the main desktop, and we have a second older desktop connected in the bedroom. Three laptops, the Wii, PS3, and a couple of DS consoles connect via wireless.
As an IT professional I feel ashamed to admit that we have no backup policy on place other than “most of the important stuff is stored on more than one computer, isn’t it?” Speaking of which, has anyone here had any experience with CrashPlan? It looks like it might be a good solution for keeping things ‘backed up’ locally, if it actually works as advertised.