LAN Network Recomendations

[dancer]

Hi, i'm holding my Lan in about 1 month.
I am currently trying to get sponsership for it from my supplier but no luck so far.
So, i may have to look at purchasing some switches.

I would love to go with gigabit as i already have one of these http://www.repotec.com/giga_ethernet/RP_G3800U.htm
and also an 8port Netgear gigabit switch.

I will need 50 ports and was juste wondering if these would be ok, or i would be better off going with a managed switch at 100mb/s?

Thanks.

[primesuspect]

i don't see anything about the backplane bandwidth, and honestly that looks like a pretty low-budget switch.

For 50 computers you might need something considerably beefier, such as an HP Procurve 4100GL (http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/switch4100glseries/overview.htm)

last year for 30 computers I used a 3Com SuperStack II 3300, and a netgear unmanaged 10/100 for the server and a few extra stragglers. This year my 3com died right before the lan, and we ended up using a mishmash of unmanaged switches. It worked out, but we had under 30 people.

gigabit isn't necessary, as for gaming you won't need the bandwidth per wire, you should be more concerned with aggregate bandwidth on the switch backplane itself.

[dancer]

hmm, that one would be nice, but it looks painfully expensive.

It looks like this 8port provides 16Gbs Aggregate Bandwidth.

[dancer]

omg, i just found the price from my supplier for that one.

$7,327.39

lol, i def won't be getting that one.

I'm looking prob in the $200 range.

[GrayFox]

Ebay a 3com stacker.


edit: Your looking about $10 for lots of ports and 10/100 speeds :).

[dancer]

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&sku=3C39036-AA&pathtype=support

found that one for about $250

[GrayFox]

wow you really want Gbit my advice would be what most lans do, charge more for Gbit and stick them on a little 8port linksys switch and put everyone else on some old 10/100 switch from ebay :).

edit: Definatly avoid dlink last lan I was at had dlink switches....... the connection keep droping out for half the people there.

[dancer]

hmm.
the one off ebay above is 10/100 36port for $250 with 6hrs left.

[primesuspect]

Why would a lan provider charge more for gigabit? That's just wrong. It's profiting off of ignorance. :-/

Dancer, 3com makes very good switches. My superstack II 3300 was running for about six or seven years, 24/7 non stop with nary a glitch until last month.

[Park_7677]

At our LANs (http://www.fusionxlan.com) we use Dell PowerConnect switches. Started off by getting a great deal on one, and then buying another because of how well it worked for us. We have the 2124 (24 port 10/100 + 1 gigbit uplink) and a 2616 (16 port gigabit). During gaming any two gamers can send data back and forth with about 88% use of bandwidth. They are great for the price.

Check out Dell's small networking section. You can get 2x 2324 (24 port + 2 gigabit uplinks) for just over $200.

Here (http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/small_workgroup_fast?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd)

[dancer]

hmm, the only pricing i can find for dell here in australia is for the 16port version with no gig @124 aud each.

Thanks for all the help guy's, i should get this worked out now, and let you know how it goes.

[profdlp]

I wish there was some way I could make it down there for your LAN. It looks like it's going to be quite an event. :thumbsup: :ausflag:

[dancer]

I just thought of another question.

If i had a gigabit switch, say 8port, as the main backbone switch, and i connected the 2 gig ports of a 24 10/100 + 2 gig switch to the backbone, would the 2 ports screw the network up and colide or would they balance the load from the switch?

[drasnor]

I haven't had any problems with my DLink 24-port 10/100 unmanaged (can't remember the model, it's at work). It's kinda old though; I do most of my network gear shopping at the Computer Goodwill. The only problem switch I've ever had is an older Netgear 10/100 that had frequent disconnects with Intel PRO100E network cards.

[dancer]

Well, thanks for all the help.

I managed to pick up one of these cheap on ebay.
Netgear FS750 (http://www.netgear.com.au/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=109)

And i'm renting one of these puppy's as well for the office and for the servers.

Netgear GS724T (http://www.netgear.com.au/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=247)

So here's hoping it all goes well.