Help networking guru's

bernardbernard
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
on a large network 4 hub 60 nods do they(hubs all are10/100) have to be connected buy a switch?

all computers are 100Mb

if so what is the maximum distance for hub to switch I have read dif. things my guess is 100meters hub to hub is28 meters maybe a good link on this thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    allinoneallinone Posts: 279member
    Switches are better all around not just for increasing the length of the cabling but to avoid collisions that you get with a hub.



    A 10/100 switches are pretty cheap now. Dump the hubs and go full switched. Network will be much faster.



    Hope this helps...
  • Reply 2 of 4
    corvettecorvette Posts: 561member
    Tell me if you are interested in a Linksys 8 port 10/100 switch. I have one i want to sell, and it's probably going to go on ebay soon.



    [email protected]
  • Reply 3 of 4
    jccbinjccbin Posts: 476member
    I'd go with 4 10/100 switches, each with 1 GigEthernet port and link the the four switches to a Switch with 4 or more GigEthernet ports.



    Why?

    The "max" you're going to be able to push through a 100BT connection (switch to switch or hub to switch) is less than 200Mbps (with full duplexing). This theoretically means that ONE user could max out the connection all the way through the network.



    Using GigE to connect the switches to the linking switch allows up to 10X the volume of data. This allows multiple users to send at maximum and creates a snappier network for the users.



    If you are using any GigE PowerMac G4s, and move lots of data, I'd definitely go this route.



    [ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: jccbin ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 4
    concentricityconcentricity Posts: 434member
    Bernard,



    first of all, the max distance for cat5 cabling between 2 devices is 100 meters. that includes: from the NIC to the wall; through the wall to the 'closet'; from the patch panel to the hub. (a good reason to discourage users from buying 30 foot patch cords when the distance to the jack is only 6 feet)



    next, to give you advice on the network topology, it matters what kind (if any) of connection you have to the internet, and what/where any servers are (logically, not physically).



    based on what you said, and some pretty general rules, i'd say you should buy a 12 port 10/100 switch. connect the 4 hubs to 4 ports on the switch, and set those ports to 100Mb (both on the switch, and the hub). connect any servers directly to the switch. then set all ports on the hubs (except those that connect to the switch) to 10Mb.



    you might ask "why 'slow down' the ports on the hubs?" because otherwise a single user can monopolize the entire hub's bandwidth.



    of course, if you have tons of money, time, and help, replace all four hubs with 10/100 switches with Gb stacking modules...and hell, buy a dedicated OC192 link from a local telco...







    btw, in case you couldn't tell from the above sarcasm, 1000Tx isn't really feasible at this point, unless you have plenty of money. (nor is it needed in 99.999% of networks...yet)



    [ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: concentricity ]</p>
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