Networks HUB or SWITCH?

I've got 2 pc's and a laptop that need to run from a network so that i can share the internet connection across them, i've got a 2 machine LAN running atm but it's time to buy a hub/switch

So i hand it over to you, which is best to buy and where from?

thanks

 

You don't need more than a hub for what you want to do, but a switch is so much better, and will be more future proof.

Hub will cost you about £25-30, a cheap switch £45-60

 

Hubs and switches.........

Okies.... in simple terms it you can think of a Hub as a 'dumb' piece of kit whereas a Switch is 'intelligent'

A hub just connects together ethernets machines. it has no idea what any of the traffic on the network means. It dont know if packets are destined for local devices or what. let alone packets type size whatever. It just relays the data and which is why collisions is a word that is used often when talking about Hubs.

A Switch on the other hand knows about types of traffic where they are destined for - are more complex have faster Processors and are managable - which means you may telnet into them or hammer 'em down the serial interface and find out various stats such as what th traffic thru-put is and so on. Having said this there is far more too swiches and hubs but this is all you need to know before I bog you down in technical stuffs.....

As network devices become heaper and cheaper I would avoid a Hub at all costs = not worth it at all.....

Various places to check....

www.misco.co.uk
www.globaldirect.com
www.computerwarehouse.co.uk

 

Get a switch!!!

FAST!!!

 

if u are using less than about 8 PC, go for a hub.

Switches are better for high loads but with low loads they actully make the network slower, as it has to route the packets rather than just fireing them out to all ports.

Basicly Hubs for low traffic, switches for high traffic

(ps cheap switches are imo, crap)

 

My Switch cost vast ammounts of money, well not my money but my ex-works money

FAST!!!!

 

and what switch was that

 

Some Cisco thing is old, I "borrowed" it with a Cisco ISDN router

 

lol lucky sod, i have played around with a 2924xl, 3500 managed ciscos, and there is a 2900 unmanaged somewhere

 

Yeah kool! we use cisco.....3500XL's with Gbix's

yummmmmm £1100 a piece!

NOISY BASTADS

 

yeah they are a bit loud, our 3500 has a gig copper Gbic to the main server, and a gig fibre link to the 2924xl at the other side of the site, we are thinking about gettin 4 more 3500's and gigi stack them to replace the hubs.

 

yeah thats what we been doing all summer getting rid of the old Cabletron MMac's and sh*ty ascom's as well as the horid 3com 1100's supersh*te's :rofl:


Got a lurvely 7200 to the London MAN at 100mb->Janet

 

Janet....neeeeeeed.........

 

Well, I'd kinda dsagree.

I had three PC's networked via a hub, one being the 'gateway' computer sharing the internet connection, the other two being regular workstations.

When trying to copy files from one PC to the other, I experienced terrific slow down... really shocking stuff, 1mbit transfer rates, or below, and thats on a 100mbit hub.

I moved up to a switch a few months ago, and bingo - no slow down.
There isnt any crosstalk to slow down everything.. so if you wanna share an internet connection, and still be able to transfer files accross your network, I'd recommend getting a switch.

I picked mine, 8 port 10/100mbit up for a little under £50 second hand.

 

yah i agree with Moose on this one.

i go to LANs at my mates and all we have to use is a 10mbit 8 port hub. when we have a break from gaming, we usually file transfer, and it goes soooooooooooooo slow its unbelieveable.

i think a transfer rate on a 4mb MP3 took about 10 mins at one point, let along when i was copying movies (not pr0n lol).

switches are the way to go, hubs are for cheapos

 

moose and rtt both have valid points, but y-it-earp said he wanted it for net sharing, and a hub would be fine for that.

switches are better at high load cos it establises a channel between the 2 pcs that are transfering files, then drops it again afterwards. This stops it "flooding" the rest of the network with crappy packets that the other systems dont want, thats why they are faster with a higher number of computers on it.

its the connecting and disconecting of a switch that makes it slower with low volumes of traffic, hubs dont do this so they handle lower loads better.

RTT

10mb hubs are bloody slow, 1.19 Megs a sec (rember networking gear is in bits not bytes), and if thats spread accros a few users u may as well be using string and 2 tin cans.

Moose

sems little odd to me getting huge slowdowns, as we used to use Norton Ghost to roll out workstations at work, and they was uplinked to hubs, when ghosting to a few stations at once it did not seem to effect the other nodes on the hub too badly.

 

ahhhhh the joy's of Multicasting

 

Talking about Multicasting.....

The Mac technicians at my place were multicasting over the network and brought the whole place down..... luckily we have a apple seeder now

 

Forsaken:

I was using an Intel In-business 4-port 100mbit hub, wth three PC's all on win2k, two of which with 3com 905's and one with some 100mbit Netgear, that FA3xx.

No I idea why I was getting the crappy transfers... perhaps with both PC's using messenger programs etc at the same time, it just went odd... it was fine for web traffc tho.. no problems there.

 

hated using ghost cos it was an arse, running RMconnect now, makes life a hell of a lot simpler