With 30 PCs we get into a bit of a gray area. Jesse is correct in saying
that only 10 connections can be made to a workstation. However, this is 10
simultaneous connections. That means if more than 10 peers map drives to a
share on one system, every peer after the 10th will not be able to connect.
It does NOT mean that all 30 systems will not be able to talk with each
other; rather they just won't all be able to talk to each other all at the
same time. It is rare that this would occur.

One of the questions you need to ask yourself is why you are networking
these systems. If you are doing this for file sharing and collaboration or
to use a central application (accounting, email, fax server, etc.), then you
are going to need a server. If you are doing this for "casual" file sharing
where one person may need to grab a file from another system on occasion,
p2p will work. Or if you are wanting to share printers that will not
necessarily be running constantly throughout the day, p2p will work for that
as well. If your main purpose is simply to provide Internet access to all of
the systems on a single network, setting it up as p2p will work fine as
well.

For systems in an office like this you will definitely want to put them on a
wired connection. As mentioned previously, this will give you both speed and
security. There are ways to encrypt WAP connections that will make the data
itself secure, but it is still pretty easy to intercept. You can do things
to make it more difficult to intercept, but you will really need a wireless
expert to assist with the necessary configuration for all of that. Putting
everything on a wired network will prevent you from having to jump through
all of those hoops. It is more of a challenge because you will need to have
the wiring done if it is not available already. I would never consider
suggesting wireless for all of the systems on a network of this type.

Good luck!

Kyle Elmblade
[log in to unmask]

On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 7:55 PM, David Nager <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Both wireless and wired will work. There is a option you can pick to allow
> peer to peer.
> On the wireless in will be in the wireless part of the router. On a wired
> network it will be in the software.
> You have to allow for file sharing within the operating system and also
> within any fire walls set up.
>
> I suspect you will get more detail from others on this site.
> Dave
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tanmay Walke
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 2:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [PCBUILD] "How do I network 30 PC's in a peer to peer network?"
>
>
> I want to connect 30  pc with win xp in peer to peer  network in two
> stories
> building in different room. please suggest structure of network in such
> condition. Will wireless access point work or wired network work Thanks &
> regards : Tanmay Walke
>
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