network topology (a little OT)

[thnmnt]

trying to redo my netowork. currently i've got a router and lots of
daisychained hubs, one of which fried in a freak vaccuuming incident (i
don't want to talk about it). i'm wondering if i should get a 16 port switch
(in lieu of the hubs) to plug into one of the ports of my linksys 4 port
router. is this the way to go? should i use the other 3 ports in this router
also or just use the switch? i've got 10 pieces of gear including 2
squeezeboxen that need to go into wired ports. also, i tend to take in
computers like some people take in cats, so i'm sure i'll need the expansion
room. any suggestions? my router is one of those linksys wireless g
ap/router things and i've also got a dedicated 802.1b ap for my wireless
squeezebox.

ever since 'the incident' my network just hasn't been it's plucky self.

--t

[kdf]

Quoting thnmnt <thnmnt (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>:

> trying to redo my netowork. currently i've got a router and lots of
> daisychained hubs, one of which fried in a freak vaccuuming incident (i
> don't want to talk about it). i'm wondering if i should get a 16 port switch
> (in lieu of the hubs) to plug into one of the ports of my linksys 4 port
> router. is this the way to go? should i use the other 3 ports in this router
> also or just use the switch? i've got 10 pieces of gear including 2
> squeezeboxen that need to go into wired ports. also, i tend to take in
> computers like some people take in cats, so i'm sure i'll need the expansion
> room. any suggestions? my router is one of those linksys wireless g
> ap/router things and i've also got a dedicated 802.1b ap for my wireless
> squeezebox.
>
> ever since 'the incident' my network just hasn't been it's plucky self.

if they are all in the same location, it makes no difference (to my mind).
Personaly, I'd plug the 802.11B AP and the 16-port Switch into the Linksys.
This way you can plug all your wired stuff into the 16-port and hide the switch
in a closet. You can then place the router and B-AP out in the open, or
whereever you get your best coverage, and its a minimal amount of cables going
from the router to the closet. Again, if you get good enough wireless range
with everything locked away, it really shoudn't matter how you hook it up.

On the matter of a 16-port, specifically: if you can run all your cables to one
spot, then I'd go for it. I also tend to prefer switches over hubs anyway.
Daisy-chaining two 8-ports isn't harmful, and it does allow you to cluster 8 on
one floor and 8 on another if you want.

-kdf

[Steven Moore]

I would see a counsellor about the vacuuming incident, it sounds
traumatic.

Steven Moore
On 26 Jan 2005, at 8:56 pm, thnmnt wrote:

> trying to redo my netowork. currently i've got a router and lots of
> daisychained hubs, one of which fried in a freak vaccuuming incident (i
> don't want to talk about it). i'm wondering if i should get a 16 port
> switch
> (in lieu of the hubs) to plug into one of the ports of my linksys 4
> port
> router. is this the way to go? should i use the other 3 ports in this
> router
> also or just use the switch? i've got 10 pieces of gear including 2
> squeezeboxen that need to go into wired ports. also, i tend to take in
> computers like some people take in cats, so i'm sure i'll need the
> expansion
> room. any suggestions? my router is one of those linksys wireless g
> ap/router things and i've also got a dedicated 802.1b ap for my
> wireless
> squeezebox.
>
> ever since 'the incident' my network just hasn't been it's plucky self.
>
> --t
>
>
>

[JJ]

It really doesn't make a lot of difference, but for simplicity sake I'd
get the 16 port 10/100 switch and plug it into the LinkSys. Then plug all
your equipment into that switch and forget that the LinkSys has a switch.

The 10/100 switch will have greater bandwidth than the hubs, but for the
typical home network it's not likely to make a difference, except maybe
where you had a 10 Mbit hub as bottleneck between two pieces of equipment
doing large file transfers.

Make sure you understand whether you need to use a crossover ethernet
cable for the LinkSys-to-Switch connection. Many switches have an uplink
port that is already crossed over and some can also detect whether the
connection is to another switch and cross it over internally.


----- Original Message -----
From: "thnmnt" <thnmnt (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>
To: "Slim Devices Discussion" <discuss (AT) lists (DOT) slimdevices.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 1:56 PM
Subject: [slim] network topology (a little OT)


> trying to redo my netowork. currently i've got a router and lots of
> daisychained hubs, one of which fried in a freak vaccuuming incident (i
> don't want to talk about it). i'm wondering if i should get a 16 port
> switch
> (in lieu of the hubs) to plug into one of the ports of my linksys 4 port
> router. is this the way to go? should i use the other 3 ports in this
> router
> also or just use the switch? i've got 10 pieces of gear including 2
> squeezeboxen that need to go into wired ports. also, i tend to take in
> computers like some people take in cats, so i'm sure i'll need the
> expansion
> room. any suggestions? my router is one of those linksys wireless g
> ap/router things and i've also got a dedicated 802.1b ap for my wireless
> squeezebox.
>
> ever since 'the incident' my network just hasn't been it's plucky self.
>
> --t
>
>
>