When connecting hundreds of computers across multiple buildings, you'll need to consider both physical infrastructure and logical network design. The key components are:

• Fiber optic backbone between buildings (single-mode for long distances)
• Network switches in each building (layer 3 switches recommended)
• Proper VLAN segmentation for traffic isolation
• Redundant uplinks for reliability

A hierarchical star topology works best for campus networks:

// Sample network diagram in PlantUML format
@startuml
skinparam monochrome true

component "Main Server" as server
cloud "Building A" as bldgA {
  component "Switch A1" as swA1
  component "Switch A2" as swA2
}
cloud "Building B" as bldgB {
  component "Switch B1" as swB1
}

server -- swA1 : 10G Fiber
server -- swB1 : 10G Fiber
swA1 -- swA2 : 1G Copper
@enduml

Here's a basic configuration example for a Cisco switch connecting buildings:

enable
configure terminal
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1
 description Uplink to Main Server
 switchport mode trunk
 switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
 speed 1000
 duplex full
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/2
 description Downlink to Building B
 switchport mode trunk
 switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
 speed 1000
 duplex full
!
vlan 10
 name Servers
vlan 20 
 name Staff
vlan 30
 name Students
!
end

To prevent bottlenecks:

• Use link aggregation (LACP) between critical switches
• Implement QoS policies for priority traffic
• Consider OSPF or EIGRP for dynamic routing between buildings
• Monitor bandwidth usage with SNMP or NetFlow

When setting up your email and HTTP servers:

# Example Nginx config for load balancing
upstream backend {
    server 10.0.10.10:80;
    server 10.0.10.11:80;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

For the email server, consider using Postfix with multiple MX records distributed across buildings for redundancy.

Common issues and how to resolve them:

# Useful network troubleshooting commands
ping -c 5 server.domain.edu       # Basic connectivity
traceroute server.domain.edu      # Path analysis
mtr --report server.domain.edu    # Continuous path monitoring
netstat -tuln                     # Check listening ports
tcpdump -i eth0 -w capture.pcap   # Packet capture

When connecting multiple buildings in a campus environment, you'll need to consider several physical layer factors. The most common approaches are:

// Sample network topology configuration
Building A (Main Server Building):
  - Core switch: Cisco Catalyst 9500
  - Fiber uplinks to other buildings
  - Server farm with 10Gbps connections

Building B (Remote Building 1):
  - Distribution switch: Cisco Catalyst 9300
  - 1Gbps/10Gbps fiber back to core
  - Access switches: Cisco Catalyst 9200

Building C (Remote Building 2):
  - Similar configuration as Building B
  - Redundant fiber paths if budget allows

The inter-building connections form the backbone of your network. Here are your main options:

• Fiber Optic: Best for performance (1Gbps/10Gbps/40Gbps options)

  interface GigabitEthernet1/1/1
   description Uplink to Building B
   switchport mode trunk
   switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
   speed 1000
   duplex full

• Wireless Bridge: Useful where fiber isn't feasible (consider Ubiquiti AirFiber)
• Ethernet over Copper: Limited to ~100m distances

For your centralized services (email, HTTP), consider this VLAN strategy:

// VLAN configuration example
vlan 10
 name SERVERS
vlan 20
 name FACULTY
vlan 30
 name STUDENTS
vlan 40
 name GUEST

Implement routing between VLANs at your core switch for best performance:

interface Vlan10
 ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface Vlan20
 ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.0
!
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1

Your central server should have redundant connections to the core switch:

# Linux server network bonding configuration (/etc/network/interfaces)
auto bond0
iface bond0 inet static
    address 192.168.10.10
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.10.1
    slaves eno1 eno2
    bond-mode 802.3ad
    bond-miimon 100
    bond-lacp-rate 1

Consider implementing these tools:

# Nagios configuration snippet for network monitoring
define host {
    use             generic-switch
    host_name       BuildingB-Switch1
    alias           Building B Core Switch
    address         192.168.1.2
    check_command   check_ping!100.0,20%!500.0,60%
}

For traffic analysis, implement NetFlow/sFlow on your core switches:

flow record FLOW-RECORD-1
 match ipv4 source address
 match ipv4 destination address
 match transport source-port
 match transport destination-port
 collect counter bytes
 collect counter packets
!

Implement access control between buildings:

access-list 110 permit ip 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.20.0 0.0.0.255
access-list 110 permit ip 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.30.0 0.0.0.255
access-list 110 deny   ip any any log

For your HTTP server, consider these Apache optimizations:

# httpd.conf performance tweaks
StartServers            10
MinSpareServers         10
MaxSpareServers         20
ServerLimit             256
MaxClients              256
KeepAlive               On
KeepAliveTimeout        5
MaxKeepAliveRequests    100