One or Two, Routers or Switches ?

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buywheels

Hi, I am not a computer professional and am quite ignorant when it
comes to networking. I have a question to the group and will appreciate
if some knowledgable person can give me an answer.

Recently I have been assigned a task to set up a six computer lab at
work. They all run on Windows 2000 Pro (Don't ask me why they don't
hire a pro to do it) We have two network feeds in the room. My question
is, what is the best inexpensive way to hook up the six computers to
the network, while making maximum use of the bandwidth provided by the
two feeds ?

Should I buy one or two, switch or router ? If I buy one switch can the
two feeds be plugged in and utilized ? I have seen a switch with eight
ports but does not specify where should the feed goes, does it matter ?


If one switch / router will not work and I will have to buy TWO to make
use of the two network feeds, what would be the differences between
having routers or switches ?

Thank you in advance.
 
You would want to use a switch in this scenerio. Routers are used to
connected to seperate networks, whereas switches connect multiple devices on
the same network. You can only plug one "feed" port into your switch. This
will go in the upliink port on the switch. You then plug your PCs into the
remaining ports. Depending on how much money you are willing to spend, and
the physical limitations of the area you are working in will decide if you
need more than one switch. If all PCs can be located close enough together
so that you are not running wires all across the room, then a single 8 port
switch will work for you.
 
If both of the feeds are to the same switch (as I would suspect), you would
only use one of them (using both would create a loop and bring the network
down). You want a switch. A switch will allow full bandwidth connections
between hosts on your local segment (classroom) and you will share the 100Mb
back to the next switch. 100 Megabits is way more than the average classroom
will ever use.

....kurt
 
Thank you Kurt and CD for responding, appreciated your help. Tell me if
I understand both of you correctly: the best thing for me to do is to
get two switches, one for each 'feed', then plug three computers into
each switch. Correct ?

Kurt mentioned that plugging in two feeds into the same switch will
create a loop and bring down the network.... wow, that surely sounds
interesting..... let me see if my boss will give me a raise in the new
year ;-)
 
You'll have to check with your network folks to find out what is "behind"
the "feeds" into the room. Odds are, they were originally designed for one
computer each. If so, they will probably be limited to 100Mb or 10Mb each.
Therefore, putting one switch on each would be prudent to share the
bandwidth. You'll also need to get with your network people to find out how
to configure your IP and tcp/ip properties on your computers.

Don't know where all this "bring the network down" stuff is coming from. Two
feeds are two feeds. They would normally be designed to be used
simultaneously. Whether by a computer directly, or by a switch is no never
mind.

-Frank
 
Home Depot sell 4 port "Leviton" switches for about $60, I'm sure you can
get cheaper too. I would think any Office store would have similar.

There are actually 5 ports in the back, all self configuring so it does not
matter at all which you use for feed.

I would buy two of those and plug one into each feed, then 3 computers into
each switch. There may be another switch (the two feeds will be "Split" from
something) but nothing should require special setup unless there's something
really old in there.

The Leviton ones have two lights, one to show connection and the second if
that connection is at 100 rather than at 10, so simply plugging one in will
show whet you are getting from the feeds. If it only manages 10 then you may
in future want to work back from the feeds to see if newer equipment would
give you a better speed, but it is also somewhat dependant on cable length
and connection quality so even good equipment will step down to the lower
speed in it encounter a lot of losses. (You can achieve a network connection
with an old bit of 4 core phone wire but any length will kill 100).

There were some "Odd" systems using the same jack (RJ45) and they won't work
with a normal network card, I can't for the life of me remember an example,
but you will be able to see immediately with a switch whether there's a
connection or not and then you will know whether there's a re-wiring job
involved or not :)

Charlie
 
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