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    Managing a small network for an SMB.

    A note about hardware. If this is going to act as a sort of file server as well and the data is important, you will need some sort of backup in place. My suggestion would be to setup raid 5 and have nightly or weekly backups (more depending on the data and it's importance).
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    Q-Tec switch rubbish

    Never heard of them and there's probably a reason for it...while you don't need a cisco switch for basic home networking, I would stick to the known, decent brands.
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    broadband in college dorms

    To my knowledge (haven't lived in the dorms for 2 years but I think it's still the same), students do not have bandwidth caps. The jacks are set to 10mbps so in that way you are limited. You aren't supposed to run servers and the likes but you can get away with it as long as you don't max out...
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    broadband in college dorms

    Most colleges offer some sort of internet access in dorms. Most of them are via straight ethernet jacks and are regulated by them; they may have any combination of high speed connections for the entire campus. I go to the University of Pennsylvania and I'm not even sure what their total...
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    Using an old PC as a firewall.

    For an extra $10, I would say go with the pentium 2 system (128mb ram should be more than enough).
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    Suggestions on a switch with fiber module

    Well the obvious choice would be cisco. The 3512 has 12 10/100 ports with 2 optional GBICs. Fiber GBICs are very easy to come by. It depends, however, on what exactly he'll be using them for and his price range.
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    Actual Speeds

    I would have to disagree with you here...speeds of 80-95 are easily attainable.
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    Actual Speeds

    For one, your numbers are off by a couple factors. 100Mbit=100mbps=12.5Mbytes/second & 1000Mbit/Gbit=1000mbps=125Mbytes/second. If the most you've seen on a 100mbit network is 50% utilization, something's going on. You should be able to easily see 80-95%. Gigabit is a bit trickier, the...
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    what good paying jobs should a beginner aim for

    Like people have said previously, it greatly depends on what you want to do and your background. I would fully agree that a college degree is a must, especially if you eventually want to do management type stuff; even if not, it will help out tremendously. I also agree that a help desk type...
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    Using an old PC as a firewall.

    I would have to agree with you here. The operating cost is probably much closer to a 'boxed' router than you would initially think (i.e. not that much). What you go with depends on whether or not the added flexibility/features are needed/worth it for you. An older computer running any variant...
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    Using an old PC as a firewall.

    Look into m0n0wall, it's a great solution for a nat/firewall box and can be run on virutally any old hardware (as well as CF cards).
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    Onboard NIC nonfunctional

    have you tried a difference cable and different port on the switch?
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    Onboard NIC nonfunctional

    Is the onboard nic enabled in the BIOS? That would be the first thing to check. Then, what does the device manager say about the nic (assuming windows)? Maybe there's an IRQ conflict between devices. If absolutely nothing works, a PCI nic is easy and very cheap to come by although I...
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    Network Gurus: Need help to setup a school network

    Why not just use a wired solution? From your description, all of the computers are all located in two rooms so running ethernet to these places shouldn't be a problem. It will also give you the reliability you desire.
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    Gigabit -- Iperf vs. real life

    I'll have to try jumbo frames but processor utilization is minimal (server is a dual xeon 2.66GHz w/1GB ram). I'll also look for tweaks on the nics and will look at manual configuration of the nics and ports (why not try?) Windows filesharing will be slower generally than ftp but not that...
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    Gigabit -- Iperf vs. real life

    Hey everybody, I know this has been covered a million times but I just wanted to share my results and ask a few questions. I currently have my home LAN setup such that I (my desktop) am connected to my cisco 3524 via 1000mbit fiber (1000Base-SX GBIC) and my file server is connected via...
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    Need a new router for a large house w/ 4 comps

    While it may not be an option, have you looked at all into wiring the house? It may not be the best option in this situation but you cannot beat the reliability that a wired setup would provide.
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    Need to run ethernet cable across the apartment...

    I would suggest going to the nearest home depot. They have several options for this sort of thing and I personally used something that is basically a nail with a U shaped plastic hook attached to run ethernet along the baseboards of the house I live in right now.
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    3COM NEW ENTERPRISE NETWORK PRODUCTS

    Are you just stupid alphnasx? first of all you ask for peoples' advice about 3com and their support and just about everyone says to stay away from it; did you take a second to listen and take in the advice? Before anybody had said anything, you already had your mind set that 3com is good and...
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    Dynamic DNS

    look into dydns, i've used them a bit and they have a good reputation. you shouldn't have to worry about such things with them. peter
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    DUAL Gigabyte Ethernet "Simultaneous"?

    They mean Gigabit per second (gigabyte/8 per second)
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    are UPS necessary for servers?

    ebay is a good place to start. i also may be selling an APC Smart-UPS 700 if you're interested (450watts). It's rack-mount however (3U) so not sure if you could use it. Email me at: pschied AT sas DOT upenn.edu if interested.
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    My xp pro file server. When i Try open a directory from server it take a longtime to display

    You guys are all completely wrong here and not helping this guy out at all. I have had the same issues before and it generally has to do with cacheing and/or offline files. Try the following things and let me know if you have any success. -under tools->folder options->view check the box "Do...
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    cat5 or cat6

    You have no idea if cat 6 would help him. He hasn't specified what he will be doing over the cable. If he's using 10/100 gear, there's nothing cat6 can do for him. Even if he is doing 1000mbps, cat5e should do just fine as stated earlier as long as it's terminated properly, etc.
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    setting up a server

    The performance of raid 0 is great and with regular backup, nothing really to worry about. I might move to a raid 5 array at some point but I've heard mixed things about it and I definately don't have the funds for a raid 10 array. Right now, backing up to external drive(s) regularily works...
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    Rack mount questions

    I personally would suggest 2U, something inbetween. When I first got my rack, I didn't care what size chassis I got for my servers (was just happy to get any) and subsequently got a few 4U ones. They're bulky and generally you end up getting older ones. I am now moving to a smaller...
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    setting up a server

    I just upgraded my file server to dual xeon 2.66GHz processors, 1GB PC2700 ECC RAM, 74GB Raptor for OS (FreeBSD) & 2x 300GB Maxtor SATA 16mb cache in raid 0 array all sitting in a nice chenbro 2U chassis (8 hotswap SATA bays:) ). I personally started out building a file server for our house...