The Basic Tutorial.
This is only to be used as a guide, as many LAN event setups and layouts can dependant on the amount of people, venue and types of computers and servers used.
Decide from the start how big you want your LAN Event to be.This can be the difference between holding it in a garage to holding it in a Hall, Church , Stadium etc. Small LANs generally up to around 10 people/PC’s can quite easily be held in a house or garage. This decision will determine what Venue you need to use. A good rule to use is 1 person equals 1meter of table space or there abouts.
Choose a suitable Venue.
For a small LAN event up to 10 PC’s the average house or garage can handle this with ease, for above 10 PC’s a small hall or church venue would be needed, this can be hard depending on what your looking for and some halls have restrictions on power use or time frames. Recently I have found that some venues will not allow overnight events due to security concerns. This is not the norm, but does pose some issues for LAN events. In Auckland and Christchurch there is Dedicated LAN venues available for hire, these are located at Playtech in Auckland and L3 in Christchurch, Both venues are purpose designed and have been laid out well, with LAN’s in mind. Both venues can cater for several PC’s possibly in excess of 50 PC’s.
When hiring Halls, there is several things to take into consideration, Power, Site Access, Tables & Chairs, Internet Access and one thing that some forget, Insurance. Several venues now ask for Event Organisers to take out Event Insurance to protect the venue against damage etc.
Hire of Halls depending on size and features can cost a small fortune so be prepared.
Network Equipment.
Ok this can sometimes be a problem especially for larger LAN’s. At the bare min for a 10 PC LAN plus say 1 or 2 Servers, a 16 port 100Mb Switch is more than enough or even a couple of 8 port 100Mb switches will do the job well. Above 10 PC’s and you will need to start seriously looking at gigabit networking.
Trademe can be a good source of second hand equipment. Make sure that if you are using gigabit networking that everyone is using atleast Cat5e cable min, this will ensure good speeds and low latency across the network.
If you are going above 50 PC’s then you need to start looking at multi-gigabit uplinks or Fibre Optic uplinks between servers, switches etc, this will ensure that there is no bottlenecks across the network. try to evenly place to switches around the room, this should allow all participants get equal access to the network switches.
Internet Access can be an issue as well, if your LAN is small and running from a Home or garage then a simple DSL connection that most homes have is more than enough, Internet access however especially in NZ can become expensive if you go over your datacap. Make sure than everyone has there PC’s up to date before arriving at the LAN and that there is little to no downloading. Some LAN’s will use a Vodem or T-Stick Mobile Internet. These can offer suitable internet access for things like Steam Auth etc. Telecom now offer a Prepaid T-Sticks that can provide simple yet effective internet access for minimal cost. These however would require abit of setup to get working.
Power equipment.
As a general rule, limit the amount of PC’s per plug box, This can be a major issue for some LAN’s. a good guideline you will find on some US LAN sites is 4 gamers(PC’s) per 15amp circuit or 6gamers(PC’s) on a 20amp circuit. I personally (when 3phase setups aren’t available) restrict LAN’s to 2 plugs per gamer and now more than 4 gamers(PC’s) per wall socket. This gives you a margin of safety and means there is generally little chance of overloading a Circuit. Personally 3 Phase is the better way to go and means that the chance of overloading is very small. It is always good to work out the circuits in a venue before hand and make sure you know how many wall sockets are on each circuit before you begin plugging in computers. To check circuits find the switchboard/circuit breaker box, this will generally tell you the circuits and how many wall sockets are on a particular circuit.
Tables and Chairs.
For a small LAN, your dining table and desk may be all you need. For a LAN event in a garage, you may have to rent some folding tables and chairs. Your local party rental store will be able to help you out. Most halls and similar venues have tables and chairs onsite. Check the Yellow pages or ask the venue for recommendations.
Games to be played.
Remember you will have people at your LAN who have different tastes, try to cater for these, otherwise you may not see them again. Try for Games that are free or that alot of people will have. Most LAN’s ask the question before hand on what games attendee’s want to play. This can make it alot easier on the day. Run some competitions or tournaments these can be alot of fun and really get the LAN active! If you are good with software, HTML, etc consider using something like ALP or Autonomous LAN Party which can help with running these. Also consider gamers with older computers. Setup and run dedicated game servers for games like Counter Strike, Call of Duty 4 etc etc, these can provide better performence for games and make it easier to control the games, It also means you can actually join in rather than trying to use your computer to run the servers.
Sponsorship.
This can be alot of help to cover costs and provide prizes in return for advertising etc at the LAN. Some companies will do this when asked to but others may say no. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and make you are professional.
More to come….
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