Gaming center / cybercafe network setup

causan

Hi all, I am helping setup a gaming center/ cyber cafe which will have 25 gaming pcs, 10 internet browsing pcs and 6 consoles. Luckily, our location was previously a gaming center and is already wired with drop cables installed so all we need is just the backbone equipment. Since I am new to networking and Im barely gonna take my Network+ exam next week we had someone come in and do a estimate and this is his recommendations:

1000' Black Solid CAT6 - $150
Amazon.com: Cable Matters 1000ft Bulk Cat6 Cable UTP Solid In-Wall Rated (CM) 550MHz 23AWG in Black: Computers & Accessories

50 CAT6 Heads - $35
Amazon.com: Platinum Tools 100010C EZ-RJ45 Cat 6+ Connectors, Clamshell, 50-Pieces: Weather Report: Home Improvement

2x 24 Port Patch Panels - 80
Amazon.com: TRENDnet 24-port Cat6 Unshielded Patch Panel TC-P24C6: Electronics

ASA5505 Firewall Appliance - $450
Amazon.com: Cisco ASA5505-SEC-BUN-K9 ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Router Appliance: Electronics

Cisco 1841 - $300
Amazon.com: Cisco CISCO1841 1841 Integrated Services Router: Electronics

APC SMARTUPS - $1200
Amazon.com: APC Smart-UPS RM SMT3000RM2U 2700W/3000VA 2U 120V LCD UPS System: Electronics

3x Procurve 1800-24G switches - $495
provided

1x HP Proliant dl380 G4 with Xencenter and a few VMs (MS Server AD Domain, DHCP, DNS, File/print?) - $800
provided

2x 3TB external Drives for file/non-VM storage - $300
Amazon.com: Western Digital My Book Essential 3 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive: Electronics

Labor - $1000

---

total = 4810 give or take based on availability/price of amazon items

Total implementation time when parts are delivered: 8-10 hours, most likely get done on a Saturday.

Does this look reasonable? Any feed back would be great thanks.

* Also the former owners left a server rack with a 24 port patch panel and a camera security system.

Here is a couple of pictures of the server room:

ptilsen

He's going to make patch cables for 25 systems? If the place already has network drops I don't understand why you need 1000 ft of cable. You need 25 patch cables. A spool is actually cheaper until you consider labor -- if you paid someone minimum wage to make patch cables all day from a spool, it would not save much money over just buying pre-made cables of the appropriate length. If you know where the PCs would go and all network drops have been run, I don't see why he would have you buy a spool of cable

Depending on the kind of circuit you're putting it, I might advise going with cloud-based services over a local server. Adding a single physical server with multiple VMs basically adds numerous points of total network failure and lots of extra services to manage, not to mention replace every 3-6 years. With a cloud solution, you can basically get guaranteed up-time at a set monthly rate. You lose services if your Internet goes down, but you're an Internet cafe, so that seems kind of moot.

Roguetadhg

I have to agree. The Long cables are if you plan on running drops. With data drops there, just buy premade. Pretty cheap. Same Length. as well as you can buy different colors - if you want to put "Console" on one color.

I wouldn't invest in a external harddrives. I would say, invest in a RAID 1 implementation. I'm sure you'll want to keep any database of sales and the like. External Harddrives will give you the mobility, but why do you need mobility? (RAID 1 for redundancy) Harddrives die. If you don't have a copy of the information, you're just asking for the information to kick the bucket.

You can share a printer that's connected to another computer - no need for a dedicated server. Lessen some server load.

I like the ASA.

I'm interested to know how you plan on setting up the consoles. What consoles, games, etc. How are you going to handle profiles for the consoles?

causan

Thanks for the replies guys. The reasoning I was told for making our own patch panel cables is that my boss wants to expand in the future because currently only half of our office space is being utilized and we would be able to make use of that extra cabling, but yeah Ill look into buying premade cables instead.

And great idea about going with a cloud-based service for our network. I was looking into that as well but I am not sure this will work with the software (Smartlaunch) we are going to be using which will handle the game licensing management and the user accounts.

Also setting up internal Raid 1 hard drives on the server makes total sense. So Ill have to find out why he wants to go with external.

With the consoles we are going to have 5 xbox machines connected to their own 32 in. tv's and then a Xbox Kinect and Wii (maybe a WiiU if we can get one) setup to a larger TV for motion and party music games (Just Dance, Rockband..). The games for the consoles right now are going to be MW3, Borderlands 2, SSFIV, Madden 13 and some others (Halo 4 and COD 2 releasing next month). We will have some house xbox live accounts but if users want they can bring a usb stick (or we will sell them one) with there own accounts.

*I also forgot to mention that the former owners left a server rack and a 24 port patch panel. I also have some pictures of the server room Ill edit into the OP.

ptilsen

You could use a Windows 7 file server for smartlaunch. If you want a more serveresque solution you can put it on 2008 R2. One extra-small virtual machine through Azure is under $10/month:
Windows Azure Pricing Calculator | Cloud Offers | Cloud Pricing
Edit: I should link the full calculator and point out that obviously you need to add things like storage and bandwidth. Still, it is ideal IMO to have a fixed monthly cost based on your needs, and I think it will be cheaper up-front and in the long-run.
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/?scenario=full

Even on the physical server, I've seen literally dozens of loaded G5 and G6 DLs on eBay for under $1000. Something about $800 for a G4 doesn't sit right with me.

But really, I think you need to be looking at having a huge pipe, possibly redundant/load balanced circuits, rather than a physical. It doesn't sound to me like your LAN needs are really going to exceed your WAN needs, so from my perspective you might as well go all cloud and just focus on making sure your Internet is redundant and fast.

causan

Pardon my ignorance, I'm really a newbie to networking my background is more in computer science/programming. So with using a cloud based service such as http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pr...?scenario=full for all our MS Server AD Domain, DHCP, DNS needs and we would be able to ditch the HP Proliant dl380 G4 and 3TB external Drives equipment?

ptilsen

Yes, that would be the idea.

SteveLord

I'd like to know why the former owners are now "former." Primarily because these businesses are rare in most of US and never last long. You cannot have gamers using anything other than a dedicated PC (since I see VM and Cloud talk came up). These will also require costly upgrades over time to keep up with the industry. You'll also get raped on software licensing costs. Ultimately, I guess that's not your issue if all you're doing is help set this up. Feel bad for whoever is dumping money in this though.

Roguetadhg

I don't know. I like the "Social" aspect of gaming. It was the largest reason why I went to lan parties, dragging something that was height and weight equal to a little person.

Something about seeing your friend, shooting him in the face, and then gloating. Priceless.

It's like Arcades, in the states. They went the way of the dodos. Every arcade I've been at, closes. There's only so much Dance Dance Revolution I can do to keep a place open!

ptilsen

I'm definitely not recommending against dedicated PCs or anything. Cloud is for the server-side services.

I don't know, I feel like there's still a market for this. Instead of gamers spending hundreds on hardware, games, and Internet, they rent it. The trick is pricing it right. Are your customers a lot of the same people who come in often, or occasional parties?

I will say it's a big, risky investment I wouldn't personally take. At least going more heavily towards a cloud-based model limits the up-front risk.

demonfurbie

we had a few gameing cafes down here most went under one switched it up and it turned out great ... its a gaming tavern with djs/anime fests, techno, and a bar

Gaming Tavern South

SteveLord

^

We had one try the "cyber bar" several years ago. Went from a big location in a plaza to a mall. And now they're closed. They are like arcades/LAN parties and are doomed for the same reason. PC gamers all have their own beefy PCs and generally unrestricted fast internet at home, so why would they go to one? Anyone else owns a console. Even if you don't how do you convince your friends that do...to go to one?

This kind of idea basically forces them to make their money off food and drinks. And it doesn't take long for people to avoid paying a hefty price for mediocre food......all while in the presence of minors? No thanks!

I miss LAN parties and time at the arcade. Glad I was part of a generation that got to experience them regularly.

Roguetadhg

A Bar with games would be awesome. More like a hangout. Which is great. Up in Pennsylvania, there's a Card place that hosts games on the side - it's more of the "Bonus" for coming. If you want to play some games while waiting to do something because I got my arse handed to me by a Goblin deck, you can.

I think that's the key. A place that does more than gaming. I'd say a college town would be good, as well.

LAN parties, I felt was great because in the day. Those days you'd beg to have a Cable/DSL connection. Now, speeds are faster. My buddy's house he's got 2 TVs. At peak, 4. For one thing - Gaming. Yeah. When 4 people funnel their paychecks into one guy's house, the room becomes awesome. Mountain Dew bottles, Fast Food wrappers. So awesome.

I could definitely see how a "Tavern" could benefit by adding a gaming section - besides a pool table or three. You'd appeal to the persons that want to be social, but just don't want to drink at the bar, or dance, or watch people dance, sit at the bar. It would make me coming back for more. FPS some people down while drinking a cold beer. Win.

I think TechExams needs to open up a "Gaming Tavern"

causan

I hear ya guys, when I went to interview for this position I told my boss the same thing, that the pure LAN gaming center does not seem that profitable. He agreed, but I guess he has some friends who run some successful gaming centers down in southern Cali he has been working with and we are gonna have additional streams of income, one of them will be PC and video game console repair which I have some experience with. We are also looking into doing possible website design and hosting, used video game buying and selling, ebay item selling and listing. Being his employee I definitely want this business to be as successful as possible.

And as for the former owner, from what I understand the business was doing well enough for the first couple of years where he opened up another location about 45 minutes away from here. But either from mismanagement or losing interest he decided to close both locations and follow a different career.