Out home network is beginning to sprawl. Like a lot of small networks, it’s grown organically and although parts of it have been nicely planned, the network on a whole is a little disorganised. As most machines run services at one time or another, we use static IP addresses in preference to DHCP, and our addressing scheme consists of picking a number that isn’t in use. Not so good.

So last night I thought it was time to do something about it. In good project management style, instead of actually doing anything to correct the problem, I installed Visio 2003 and drew a pretty picture. I drew all our servers, workstations, laptops and PDAs along with the 100Mbps, 10Mbps and 11Mbps wireless networks with their associated routers, switches, hubs and access points. All jolly good fun.

The best bit now is that not only do I have an attractive diagram to stick on the wall and stroke my beard at whenever we need to assign a new IP address, I also have an understanding of what IP addresses are in use and also how the network is logically formed. Of course I knew the formation of the network before, but putting it down on paper (with what are essentially icons) has really clarified it in my mind. A highly recommended exercise if you’re unclear as to how A joins to B on your network. Of course, the trick is keeping it up-to-date.