networking question

[Jon]

I would like to get a small office online sharing a dsl connection.

Currently they have all the computers connected to a novell server. The sever is a p3 700 with 512mb of sdram with a couple of scuzzi hard drives.

There are 10 to 12 computers in this small office.

What would be the easiest way to get these 12 stations to be able to access the internet. Should I hook up a router and install two network cards in each station? One for the novell side and one for the internet?

Should I somehow access through the server?

Thanks in advance

[CBurcik]

What operating system are the clients using?

[cyberskye]

If you have a router, then you could save the expense of adding a second NIC. Buric asks an important question - W98 does not like to have multiple NICs. Can be done, but notoriously problematic.

[Jon]

Sorry, I should of told what OS to begin with. Windows 98se on the clients.

[CBurcik]

I agree with Cyber.......

DSL router would be the best way.

Is your network currently set up with IPX/SPX, TCP/IP or both?

[Jon]

Its currently IPX/SPX.

So would you set up each station with two nic cards one for novell(ipx/spx) and the other connect to the router(tcp/ip)?

Thanks

[Alteon]

You can bind the Nic's to both protocols, it usually works fine. Also what ISP are you using? Find out if they have a dsl/router offer. most do for business dsl. Plus they are required to support their dsl modem/router. Leaving you more options when something goes wrong, and only one place to call.

[jorey]

First of all you certainly don't need two nic's in each station.
Simply install the tcp/ip protocol on each workstation. And go for a router with a DHCP-server built-in, this saves you the hassle of manually configuring the IP-addresses in each workstation.
Greetz
J.R.

[ncswimmer]

Like jorey said, you don't need to NICs in each comp. How are all the computers hooked up to the server right now?

You could buy a 12 or 16 port router, and then hook up all the computers in a peer-to-peer network, including the server. The router should have a WAN port to connect to the DSL modem. Then the router connects all the computers to each other, as well as to the internet. Just set it up so that the router is your DHCP server, and then the configuration is pretty easy. Then you just have to make sure the clients know how to access the server to get their files, and that's about it.