Routers, Hubs, Bridges, oh it's too confusing!

[Sensibilium]

Hi all,<br><br>I'm trying to find a decent hub, etc., to run a network on Cat5 structured cabling, could anyone point me in the right direction? It's for a small business running about 7 PC's (including the server), and money is tight.<br><br>Thanks. <p>ahdkaw<br><a href=mailto:ahdkaw@sensibilium.com>ahdkaw@sensibilium.com</a><br><a href=

http://sensibilium.com/>Sensibilium</a><br>'If

you do visit my sites - be warned! You must be of a discordian nature...'

 

[Nostradamus]

Since money is tight I suggest you DON´T spend your money on cisco products. They are the best but at a rather high price. I would suggest you to look for a &quot;plug and play&quot; switch with enough ports to support your needs. A 10/100 mbit switch (autosense) with 5-8 ports can be found for $100-150. You should consider future growth abd buy some more ports though. <br>There is often no configuration needed on those switches.<br>Even though you could do with a hub (which is cheaper), the performance is worth the extra money.<br><br>hope this helps.<br> <p>Nostradamus<br><a href=mailto:soren.danielsson@liv.se>soren.danielsson@liv.se</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[wybnormal]

I agree.. for 7 people, unless you have a very specific need for a switch, go with a cheap 10/100 hub. Intel, Bay, Linksys all makde high quality products and are fairly cheap in price. Just make sure to buy more ports then you need right now. Always leave more room for expansion.<br><br>Mike

 

[Sensibilium]

Thanks for your thoughts geezers! 'Tis much 'preciated.<br><br>Switches? There's another word for hardware I know nothing about... <br><br>Would a D-Link 8 Port 10/100Mbps Hub do the trick? Would I be able to add more ports later without any problems?<br><br>Servers... What would I need to run Sage Line 50, share office documents, and serve intranet pages? Would the traffice get too heavy for the server to cope? I would obviously have to install Win2K (more software to learn!).<br><br>RAID-Arrays - Would I really need them yet? Could I just use an above-standard PC with a 20-30 gig HD?<br><br>Sorry about all these questions, I know it has nothing to do with Cisco routers, but I can't find a proper forum for all this. This forum is after all about hubs (something that I have no idea about (not that that's ever stopped me before)). <p>ahdkaw<br><a href=mailto:ahdkaw@sensibilium.com>ahdkaw@sensibilium.com</a><br><a href=

http://sensibilium.com/>Sensibilium</a><br>'If

you do visit my sites - be warned! You must be of a discordian nature...'

 

[jeter]

10/100 hub will work just find and if you need more ports you can always connect other hubs together 10/100 .