Square ONE Question

Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the corridor?
Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet connection currently
required, data from and to the server only.

How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to 500?
User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes 100 at a
time.

It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM and
memory to store the application only.

Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~ and
Thank You.

WayneD

BTW, long-airport-corridor is used here to help picture the application
environment/



"WGD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4m5vi.43$SV4.13@trnddc08...
> Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
> connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
> WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
> permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the
> corridor? Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet connection
> currently required, data from and to the server only.
>
> How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to 500?
> User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes 100 at a
> time.
>
> It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM and
> memory to store the application only.
>
> Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~ and
> Thank You.
>
> WayneD
>
>

WGD wrote:
> Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
> connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
> WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
> permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the corridor?
> Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet connection currently
> required, data from and to the server only.
>
> How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to 500?
> User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes 100 at a
> time.
>
> It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM and
> memory to store the application only.
>
> Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~ and
> Thank You.
>
> WayneD
>
>

This is not a Windows-related question. Further, a wireless "hotspot"
that has the capacity for 100 or 500 simultaneous users will require
commercial equipment rather than the SOHO equipment typically used by
most of the people who post here.

You have multiple issues. How many clients a wireless access point can
service simultaneously depends both on the computing power of the AP and
the bandwidth available (and the bandwidth you expect the users to
require). You also probably will have to have multiple access points,
and how they are configured (e.g., mesh network or some sort of roaming)
is beyond the scope of the newsgroup.

You can certainly build a computing "appliance" that doesn't require a
hard drive. Whether this capability is included in or separate from the
wireless access point would be another design choice.

Perhaps someone here will be able to point you in more specific
directions, but for starters you might look at
http://www.bbwexchange.com/turnkey/
http://www.bbwexchange.com/hotspots/
Although that one of those sites discusses designing a wireless Internet
Service Provider, and you don't require that, the Internet connection
really is the simplest part of designing a WISP.

Or Google for "hotspot design"

alt.internet.wireless also may be a useful source.
--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Lem ~ Thank You for the speedy and concise reply. Others, as Lem suggested,
appreciated.

Wayne D


"Lem" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> WGD wrote:
>> Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
>> connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
>> WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
>> permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the
>> corridor? Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet
>> connection currently required, data from and to the server only.
>>
>> How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to
>> 500? User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes
>> 100 at a time.
>>
>> It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM
>> and memory to store the application only.
>>
>> Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~
>> and Thank You.
>>
>> WayneD
>>
>>
>
> This is not a Windows-related question. Further, a wireless "hotspot"
> that has the capacity for 100 or 500 simultaneous users will require
> commercial equipment rather than the SOHO equipment typically used by most
> of the people who post here.
>
> You have multiple issues. How many clients a wireless access point can
> service simultaneously depends both on the computing power of the AP and
> the bandwidth available (and the bandwidth you expect the users to
> require). You also probably will have to have multiple access points, and
> how they are configured (e.g., mesh network or some sort of roaming) is
> beyond the scope of the newsgroup.
>
> You can certainly build a computing "appliance" that doesn't require a
> hard drive. Whether this capability is included in or separate from the
> wireless access point would be another design choice.
>
> Perhaps someone here will be able to point you in more specific
> directions, but for starters you might look at
> http://www.bbwexchange.com/turnkey/
> http://www.bbwexchange.com/hotspots/
> Although that one of those sites discusses designing a wireless Internet
> Service Provider, and you don't require that, the Internet connection
> really is the simplest part of designing a WISP.
>
> Or Google for "hotspot design"
>
> alt.internet.wireless also may be a useful source.
> --
> Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking
>
> To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

WGD wrote:
> Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
> connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
> WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
> permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the corridor?
> Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet connection currently
> required, data from and to the server only.
>
> How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to 500?
> User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes 100 at a
> time.
>
> It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM and
> memory to store the application only.
>
> Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~ and
> Thank You.
>
> WayneD
>
>
You might like to think about some form of thin client. This way network
traffic is reduced, security can be bolted down and if internet access
is required later then it can be provided with better security than the
clients, at the server end via a gateway connected to it.

Even if conventional Wi-Fi technolgies are used, with the above solution
security is controlled at the server end and not the client (always the
weakest point). If you use a Unix type client it can be even more secure
and old PC's used as terminals. Wi-max as an alternative to Wi-Fi will
also give greater range and support more concurrent devices than Wi-Fi.

WGD - your network is not really complex - some of your "parameters" do not
make sense. First "...I have an application "similar" to
connectivity..."?????

Reference to "a long airport corridor" seems to refer to a physical
constraint - In an actual network the constraint can be "physical" or
"electrical" to reduce or restrict activity/ not problem there..
The requirement of no Internet access reduces design complexity to, and
based upon your assumptions, an "intrannet".

As to the number of consurrent connections - there would have to be an
assumption as to the number at any given time and Server access configured
accordingly.

There are some problems with "...It is desired that client hardware contain
NO hard drives, working RAM and memory to store the application only....".
First: such client hardwasre is "old stuff" - in the past referred to as
dumb terminals (workstations) - terminal functions still in use today.

Second: "...working RAM and memory to store application only..." does not
(pardon the pun ) compute. Note from your post "...data from and to the
server only...." - all applications/data (under your scheme) would be
located on the server(s) - the clients would access applications on the
server and would "manipulate" data on the server meaning no data to the
client.

Wayne, lastly, regarding "...Please help/advise or vector me to a book or
paper on this subject ..." - there must be a Barnes and Noble, or other
bookstore nearby.




"WGD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4m5vi.43$SV4.13@trnddc08...
> Here is a real-life question. I have an application "similar" to
> connectivity, let's say, in a long airport corridor. As users can today
> WiFi-connect to the Internet while waiting for a plane, what do I need to
> permit 100 users to connect to a server located at one end of the
> corridor? Users need to connect to the server only, NO Internet connection
> currently required, data from and to the server only.
>
> How do the parameters change when the number of users is increased to 500?
> User connection will be random, sometimes 10 at a time, sometimes 100 at a
> time.
>
> It is desired that client hardware contain NO hard drives, working RAM and
> memory to store the application only.
>
> Please help/advise or vector me to a book or paper on this subject ~ and
> Thank You.
>
> WayneD
>
>