Multi PC's from one port

[Molenski]

Hi there,

This seemed like the most appropriate forum to ask this question.

My boss has tasked me with bringing a department onto our LAN and because of money restrictions the most feasible idea is to buy a hub and connect it to one of our ports which is available and then hang 4 PC's off it.

The 4 PC's won't be used heavily and the network is copper and runs at 10Mb's.

Just wondering if anyone knew if this would be a nightmare i.e. Performance wise etc.

I know it's all gonna depend on how heavily the PC's are utilised but a rough idea would be good.

Thanks in advance.

 

[manarth]

As you said, it depends on usage.

I've hung a couple of PCs off the one port before without hassle.

Most extreme example - all PCs maxing the connection:
10Mbps / 4 PCs = 2.5 Mbps per PC


<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[bcastner]

Even in this usage I would recommend a switch.

 

[Molenski]

Thanks to both of your for advice, but bcastner am not sure that a switch will give too much of an advantage over a straight hub for just 4 PC's connected to it. Could you please expand?

Once again thanks to you both.

Molenski

 

[bcastner]

I think you actually will find it a little hard to find a small hub anymore, at least one popular vendor puts the same switch in both boxes, and charges $1.75 more for the &quot;hub.&quot;

In any case, a very simplified explanation of why a switch. The ethernet hardware uses a collision detection scheme to determine if it is okay to transmit data. If two PCs try to send packets at the same time they both stop and wait an arbitrary time before trying again.

On a hub everyone &quot;hears&quot; everyone else, so the possibility of &quot;hearing&quot; a packet being sent by another computer increases in likeliehood on a hub.

A switch is smarter. It knows the address of every machine connected to it. It knows that if Computer A wants to send a package to Computer B that Computers C, D, E, etc. need not &quot;hear&quot; about it. It creates a private connection between Computers A and B.

With a switch you can have a full 100 mbs. connection between two devices, as the connection is private. On a hub you are sharing a single connection, the traffic is always public and can interfere with what should be a private conversation between the devices.

And, we are not talking anything dramatic in terms of the price difference anymore.