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What I want to achieve is to serve an HTTL server on a LAN. Let's call it a server and give it the address 192.168.0.2. I would like to let people access this server via the browser on their mobile devices but only if they are connected to the LAN via WiFi (they can not connect from outside the LAN area like via WAN or something).
Normally it would not be a problem unless I want many people to connect at the same time. I've heard that the maximum amount of users that may connect via WiFi is 256 (including a server and router) with the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. Changing the subnet mask may increase the amount of users (is that true?) but in reality more than 20-30 would halt the router.
Here come the questions:
- Are there routers that allow simultaneous connection of more than 200 users?
- Will changing the subnet mask give me the opportunity to have more than 255 clients in the network?
- Does WiFi radio bandwidth allow so many users at the same time?
- Can it be solved via multiple access points? I mean one router and 3-5 or more access points?
- Is it possible to have a DHCP server give users IP addresses from 192.168.0.1 to for example 192.168.3.255?
Additional info:
- Security issues don't concern me; there may be no encryption for logging into the network if that makes the problem easier to solve.
- If there are more expensive but better solutions — feel free to give them to me. A greater amount of access points or a better router is not a problem to buy.
24And if you are really expecting 500 users on your network, maybe look at professional gear, not home routers. That will also give you the tools and firmware to set up something like this with multiple APs with manageable effort. – dirkt – 2018-09-23T14:50:36.897
2I deleted my previous comment (not given as an answer, a distinctly different thing here), the humor was misplaced and I apologize. I stand by the core of my previous comment that enterprise grade networking hardware would likely be a requirement for this scenario though. – acejavelin – 2018-09-23T15:15:32.920
Some good advice here: https://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?t=125117
– AndreKR – 2018-09-24T14:08:22.1633What will your users be doing? It's note quite the same if they are just connected and exchanging a few chat messages or if they are all streaming a 4K video at the same time... (Hint: forget about the latter). – jcaron – 2018-09-24T15:37:57.200
Also, do you know what kind of devices will be connecting? If you have control over them and you know they are all dual-band 802.11ac devices, it's much easier than if you have 500 random devices, most of which will be 2.4 GHz only, many of them only 802.11n or worse... – jcaron – 2018-09-24T15:50:13.423
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You can ask steve jobs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6cIeZmFdPs 500 device crash his demo.
– Juan Carlos Oropeza – 2018-09-24T15:58:47.340I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is asking about professional grade equipment which is out of the scope for [su]. – Burgi – 2018-09-25T08:58:36.240
"I would like to let people access this server via the browser on their mobile devices but only if they are connected to the LAN via WiFi" So you don't want to allow hardwired users to be able to access your Intranet? Or is the terminology just mixed up? – InterLinked – 2018-09-25T19:24:05.713
@Burgi, something of this magnitude is typically out of scope for the average home user, but use of pro-grade equipment doesn't make it off-topic. This kind of one-off event doesn't fall within corporate IT constraints. It can be something a computer enthusiast needs to tackle. Think of it as a home computer issue for a family with 500 kids. :-) – fixer1234 – 2018-09-26T23:35:35.797