Question What network switch should I opt for a workstation with 10GBE Network Card ?

[manishbjain]

We are a small business . We have recently purchased a high end workstation with 10GBE Network Card. The Workstation also works as a server which serves files to the other 3 pcs in the office. We are currently using a 300mbps - 4 Port network router ? But We need a faster connectivity now . What Network Switch should we have that will help us get the best of the money we have spent on the 10GBE Network Card on the Workstation. Can someone suggest our ideal network model ?

 

[Muadib]

Sorry Couldnt get you. The whole network Vs Most Network. Would the router give me 1GB Wireless speed ?

If you mean to the internet, the answer is no. If you mean from one wireless pc to another pc in the network, you won't get a full Gbps, but you will see an improvement.

 

[mv2devnull]

Most of you call an integrated all-in-one device that has router, switch, and AP simply as "router". That is, quite frankly, confusing. At least one ISP calls it "modem", which is no better.

• switch: relays traffic between machines in same subnet
• router: relays traffic between two different subnets
• AP: converts between wired and wireless in same subnet

It is the radio technology in both AP and wireless client that determines how fast they can communicate. Its limits are different than on wired links.

When you have two devices communicating, there must be a route from one ot other. The slowest point in that route is limiting the throughput.
Lets say: wired PC---discrete switch---AiO---wireless laptop
* Traffic between PC and discrete switch is via wire
* Traffic between discrete switch and switch in AiO is via wire
* Traffic between switch in AiO and AP in AiO is via wire
* Traffic between AP in AiO and laptop is via wireless
Since the router in AiO is not involved, it or the speed in WAN-side (set by ISP) has no effect.

If you do replace the AiO then you might get a faster port on its switch and faster AP.

Another case: three PC's (A, B, and C) wired to switch
* A and switch have 10 Gbps link
* B and C have 1 Gbps links to switch
* Any two of the PC's can communicate at 1 Gbps (full duplex)
* If B talks to A and C simultaneously, then sum of speeds is at most 1 Gbps
* If A talks to B and C simultaneously, each can get 1 Gbps as the 10 Gbps link from A to switch can easily do 2 Gbps

The speed that you can get depends on the links that the traffic uses and on who else is using those links at the same time.

 

[fkoehler]

Its not that difficult, although again the OP is drip-feeding us information.
I was under the impression he previously said the rest of his devices were 100Mb.
Based on that, blithely stating that the best solution was to simply buy a new router was not automatically the best idea at all. We have no idea of the costs for a new wireless router w/Gb, compared to a dumb Gb switch.

If a switch is much cheaper, then thats obviously preferred.
WAN to LAN does not need Gb, and since there is no talk of using VLANs, everything can take place on the L2 switch.
LAN devices all connecting to a cheap Gb switch will give him the same flexibility of a new wireless router, potentially at a much cheaper price.

Realistically, why someone decided to spec a 10Gb port on a workstation for a network thats 100Mb is rather telling, as is this thread.
Dump the 10Gb if its a card, get a cheap Intel 4-port Gb card and team/bond if you want 2Gb from workstation.

He has already gotten his server a 10Gbps nic card. Please explain how keeping his current router will get him where he wants to go?

 

[manishbjain]

Its not that difficult, although again the OP is drip-feeding us information.
I was under the impression he previously said the rest of his devices were 100Mb.
Based on that, blithely stating that the best solution was to simply buy a new router was not automatically the best idea at all. We have no idea of the costs for a new wireless router w/Gb, compared to a dumb Gb switch.

If a switch is much cheaper, then thats obviously preferred.
WAN to LAN does not need Gb, and since there is no talk of using VLANs, everything can take place on the L2 switch.
LAN devices all connecting to a cheap Gb switch will give him the same flexibility of a new wireless router, potentially at a much cheaper price.

Realistically, why someone decided to spec a 10Gb port on a workstation for a network thats 100Mb is rather telling, as is this thread.
Dump the 10Gb if its a card, get a cheap Intel 4-port Gb card and team/bond if you want 2Gb from workstation.

Sorry about the Dripfeeding but that is all I knew at that stage.. Thanks to this discussion that has helped me a tonne in understanding my current network condition. and what I actually need.

Thanks folks for all the help. And ofcourse @mv2devnull for helping us with a wonderful explanation on how the devices differ functionally with each other. This helps a lot.

 

[mv2devnull]

Couple more cases for fun:

* You have the more common home setup: wired PC---AiO---wireless laptop
You add discrete switch to get the wired PC---discrete switch---AiO---wireless laptop
- Speed between PC and laptop is not affected, unless the discrete swich is worse than PC and AiO
- Speed between two wired PCs can improve, if the ports in AiO were slower than the PC's

* You have wired PC---discrete switch---AiO---wireless laptop
You purchase a discrete AP and connect it to the discrete switch
- Now PC--laptop -route can be wired PC---discrete switch---discrete AP---wireless laptop , the AP in AiO can be disabled, and specs of AiO do not matter
- The discrete AP is easier to place "optimally" than the AiO, particularly with PoE
- One can have more than one AP for better coverage

Note:
Some routers have multiple ports, but do not have AP nor switch. They can route between more than two subnets and some ports can be 10Gbps
Even AiO can route between more than two subnets. For example:
- The WiFi can have separate subnet(s)
- A physical port can be for "DMZ" subnet
- Multiple subnets can be separated on one physical wire with VLAN technology. Requires that device on other end of wire supports VLAN too

 

[Fallen Kell]

With the newer wifi6 standards, the wireless network has 9.6gbps of possible bandwidth. Do not expect to get that full speed between 2 devices as it is shared by all devices connected to it with optimal multichannel radios, and by any other wireless network that is within range (and usually if there is another wireless network in range using the same channels your network uses, you will be forced to use the slower of the protocols, i.e. if they are a wifi5 and you are wifi6, you will be downgraded to wifi5 speeds so that interrupt handling will work).

So, in theory wifi6 is multi-gigabit capable. In reality, it depends on the devices you have, the antennas those devices have, and the networks around you.