Help me pick a switch...

[holden7]

Okay I need help figuring out which switch to get. The switch is going to be used for gaming mostly.

So first question is about gigabit uplinks. Or is it just a gigabit port? Anyways. Lets say I have a 24 port switch. One of the ports is going to be taken up by a LinkSys router (uplink port?) to hand out IP addresses. Then another port is going to be taken up by a computer thats going to be running the game servers. So is the port that the game server is on, going to have a lot more traffic than just a regular port? Is it going to have 22 times the amount of traffic? because all the other computers are sending/requesting data from it. Isnt it going to cause a bottleneck? And if so... would a gigabit port help solve this problem?

Then, are 48 port switches much more expensive then 24 ports? Hopefully our LAN parties grow where we will need more ports than 22... so would it be a good idea to invest in a 48 port or just go with 2 24 port switches?

Next, do I need a Cisco? From what Ive been reading... seems like I really dont need one for what Im doing. But can anyone tell me if there are any features I should be looking for in a switch that I might end up needing later on if we start having big LAN parties?

Then, rackmount. I saw somewhere where someone had there switch mounted in a protective case (mobile.. so you can carry it around) and had a server mounted in the case too. Where could I get a case like that? And can all rackmount switches fit in there? And does anyone know where I could get a computer case that could fir in the same enclosure? With all its ports/plugs facing out the same side?

Okay I think thats it for now. Oh yah. I dont want to spend an arm and a leg... so yes price is a factor. So do I need gigabit? I want a 48 port.. are they too expensive? What features? And how do I rackmount it into a mobile case? Sorry its a lot of question!!! But any help is appreciated! Thanks

 

[alrox]

No, you don't need to buy a cisco switch if it's just going to be 20-30 machines on a single subnet and you most likely don't need gigabit either with those few machines. Gaming does not take up a lot of bandwidth and won't even get close to saturating a 100mbit/full duplex connection. To see how much bandwidth you're using, start up the server and have all the clients connect and play. Then open up a bandwidth measuring utility and see the transfer rates. Theres many of these programs out there, but I use Netspeed. For your needs, any consumer level switch with enough ports and 100megabit/full duplex capability on each port will suit your needs fine.

 

[holden7]

Thanks for the link .. thats a helpful little program.

48 port switches are too expensive... Im thinking about just getting two 24 port switches... how would I hook these up? Just plug an ethernet cable into a regular port on each switch? Would this create a bottleneck for the people not on the switch with the game server?

 

[Snuffaluffaguss]

It shouldn't be bottleneck, just about any 10/100 switch with a name will be fine.

 

[Garion]

Think of it this way.. Most LAN games are designed to be used over the Intenet. Most are pretty happy with 256Kb/s. That's 1/4th of a Mb/s. IF you can do 100Mb/s on your game server, it could host 400 users, even without gigabit. Most games probably only need 50-100Kb/s, so you're in good shape.

When you uplink two switches together, you typically use a crossover cable, or some kind of dedicated uplink port. this works quite nicely, but the limitation is that traffic going between the two switches is limited to the 100Mb/s of the ports connecting them together.

In reality, the "top tier" switch vendors build great products, but you really don't need anything like that for gaming or general use. I've bought a lot of stuff from ComReady and been very happy with them. GREAT prices, fast shipping, and excellent service. They have a few 24-port switches for< $100.

For now, I'd start with a 24-port switch, then add a 2nd switch later, if necessary.

On the rack mounts.. Racks are all standard at 19". You can get a variety of racks, from short to tall. Try to find a short one, then mount it in a custom box to put your server and your switch in. Would probably be pretty cool!

- G