linking hubs with a switch

[skull]

My dad has been working as an administrator at his job for the last 5 months or so since the old one quit. When he took over they had one novel server with 3 network cards connecting 3 24 port 3com superstack 2 dual speed hubs. About about a month afterwards they got DSL and added a proxy server. I'm not sure why but they had to connect the hubs together though empty ports. There particular model doesn't have an uplink port. He has noticed a slow down in the network ever since. They just got a new dell server. Right now he is getting about 500K bandwidth and he was wondering how to fix it. I told him just to get a 8 port switch and hook up the 3 hubs and 3 servers to it. This would work wouldn't it? If he can get the money to buy all switches do you think it would be worth it? What type/brand switch to you recommend? Theres about 60 computers on the network now with a mix of 10 and 100 cards.

 

[R0b0tN1k]

Yes...that would help. Right now that whole network is running as one segment, probably with collisions galore. One switch will split it up into 3 segments and also improve server bandwidth. A fully-switched network would be nice, but it would be overkill in this situation. 24 port switches ain't cheap.

 

[R0b0tN1k]

Oh...forgot the brand, etc. If you already have 3Com stuff, why not stick with them? 3Com makes great stuff...very reliable. Cisco stuff is also excellent, but it will cost more. I recommend a 12 port switch...it will provide more room for future expansion (more servers, more hubs, etc.)

 

[skull]

Sounds great thanks

 

[skull]

This may be a stupid question but whats the difference between managed and unmanaged?

 

[CBuxton]

Managed means that you are able to "log in" to the unit and assign it an ip address, set ports to 10 or 100, full duplex, or half, set up trunking, and all the features that you switch provide. Unmanaged is simply a plug it in and let it run type deal. You have no control over how the unit runs. The unmanaged are usually less expensive than the managed units.

 

[CTR]

With some vendors, "managed" also implies SNMP support. Very nice for creating utilization graphs/reports.