Preperations for home automation with existing equipment thru network adjustment questions

I have several computers on a home network. ADSL with an Asante FR1004 4 port internet router.(DHCP enabled) The router has filled up, and I need to use a 4 port switch that I have to expand for the media server/touch screen kiosk pc and future expansion in the A/V area of my home. Looking forward to the future,I hope to have some sort of automation,the kiosk pc just has to many serial ports for me to ignore.

My biggest question is... Can I hope to just unplug what is there and re-cable for the addition of the switch, plug it in and have it run? (ihopeihopeihopeihopeihope) This is a mixed bag of W2k,NT4S,NT4WS and W98 and has been working great so far. Other questions... Will I have to assign static IPs to the switch connected pcs?

Will I have to use a crossover cable for the connection between the Asante and the D-Link DSS-5+(vH3)? Never mind, found it in the manual,answer is no to the crossover cable.

Is there a problem with 50' between the devices?

This is sundays project, with the normal massive clean of the wall space and inside the equipment. Nothing says it has to be done then, just a personal goal.(get up sunday and power down all equipment)

Back Shortly, going to town for a handfull of cables.

That's true only if the DHCP leases expire and are handed out to other devices. When offered an address a device will generally get to keep that address 'for the duration' unless something else gets assigned it. This usually only happens when the DHCP pool of leases is very small and the devices nearly consume all of it. That and the expired machine was off long enough for the server to 'think' it could reassign the address. Now, this is usually the case for most home and small office level router devices that have DHCP services. ISP connections using DHCP are often another matter as are larger office networks. They usually have policies that would explain what's what.

That said, for devices that have server-like functions it's often a very good idea to give them static addresses. Just assign them address from one part of the subnet and start the DHCP address block somewhere else.

As for 'will it work' most switches will automatically figure out what sort of cable is required. That said it's always good idea to have a spare cross-over cable handy. DHCP should, if the devices are truly switches, work seamlessly across them.

-Bill Kearney

You may need to assign IP static adresses to your internal computers if they will be running servers that will be accessed from other computers. Changing IP addresses tend to break these types of setups.

My home computers have assigned IP adresses so when there is a power blip and they and the router reboot, the assignments all stay the same. Some routers won't do port fowarding when DHCP is enabled. I've got a laptop that uses DHCP and it gets its address starting at the .100 point I've set for DHCP in the router.

Thank you for this informative post, sounds like it will work, as the current system works across reboots and shutdowns for maint. I just was not sure if the DHCP would still apply thru the switch. Logic flaw on my end, what you posted made sense of it for me. Theory in hand, here comes the other hand for the power switch! (27 days for the desktop, the file server has been up 56 days)

Thanks again,and to all the posters here!