[xec]

Here are a few questions about switches I need answered.

The network specifications are as followed:

*100 workstations
*4 printers
*1 server
*3 switches
*Cable Internet connection
*Workstations will mostly be used for word processing/internet browsing

What I need to know is what brand of switches we would need to purchase.
What are the specifications of the switches that would be suitable for the network described above.

If anyone is knowledgeable about this. Please take into consideration the network specs listed above and switch specs such as:

MAC Address Table size
Data Transfer Rate
RAM
Flash Memory
Manufacturer
Price
etc.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Jubei]

Well if it is requested that you use 3 switches then you'll need something with a little more ports then 24/switch (which is the standard). In this case they would need 4-5 switches. Unless you went Cisco... :eek:

You can also go NetGear or 3Com which runs between $800-$1800 for a 48 port 10/100/1000 stackable. They offer all you need and more.

Any gigabit switch will allow you to do what you're wanting here. I assume that the printers will be network compliant so all they need is an address from the server (this is the firewall and dhcp server right.. )

Lets see... AOpen, Surecom, have 10/100/1000 24 ports with Web management, 8M Ram, with 16k for MacAddressing. 1 Gigabit port to link switches together. And some offer a separate Fibre Module to be installed to link switches together from longer distances using the full capacity of the 1Gb net.
The smart Web management allows the administrator to turn off/on ports as well, and/or only be able to access certain ports within the switch. These are 24 port devices which run around $100-$250. You can buy a lot of these suckers for the price of one 3Com 50 port Switch.

I sell these here in Canada, but you may want to check some of these products out on Tigerdirect.com. They have some pretty good deals on their products with next day shipping.

Good luck!

[xec]

Jubei thanks a lot for the information you have provided.

I will take what you have said into consideration when purchasing the switches.

This being the first time me and my friends do a project like this we have a lot to learn. This project is for school by the way. The network is for a church though. Thanks a lot for your input.

[ScottGem]

As far as brand is concerned, there are lots of good brands. Cisco, 3com, Netgear, HP and several others all make high quality, large capacity switches. Your best bet would be to search for reviews of specific models.

If this is the first time you are tackling such a project then you should be consulting a network integrator. If the project is for a church, you might find one who will donate their time.

However, if this is for a school assignment, please don't ask or expect us to do your homework for you. The assignment was given for YOU to learn and you need to do your own research.

[fredg]

Hi,
I do apologize for the "expert" who deems it necessary to ridicule those who ask questions. Please feel free to ask anything you like, and some (like a good answer already give) will be happy to answer your question, without adding unwanted opinions and criticizms, and threats.
Best of luck,
fredg

[xec]

Thank you ScottGem for your response.

However, I am not asking anyone to do my homework. We have been researching and thought that if we asked here someone would respond kindly even though it was for a school project. And you and Jubei did just that.

This is the first time we are doing a project like this and thought we'd get some advice from people that know. I don't believe that qualifies as asking someone else to do our homework. Thank you for your information.

[Jubei]

Don't worry about it. I did the same thing for school myself. What's funny is that some people like myself ask these questions and are doing it for work. Which means we're getting paid for it.

So what you are doing here is perfectly legit. I hope you do well and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

J

[ScottGem]

Thank you ScottGem for your response.

However, I am not asking anyone to do my homework. We have been researching and thought that if we asked here someone would respond kindly even though it was for a school project. And you and Jubei did just that.

This is the first time we are doing a project like this and thought we'd get some advice from people that know. I don't believe that qualifies as asking someone else to do our homework. Thank you for your information.

Xec,
We got a lot of people asking questions that are essentially asking for someone to do the work. There was a recent question where someone asked for 1000 words on a subject. I don't feel the need to apologize for my response, because it was in keeping with the spirit of these forums. I will point out that you did not mention this was a school project until after you got your first answer. Had you been upfront about that, the answers might have been different.

I'll also point out we will help with school projects when the questions are about specific problems. You posted a broader, more general question that looks like it might have come from the assignment. Had you posted a question like:

We are doing a school project on setting up a network. We have decided to use Cisco switches with the following specs... Does this look resonable?

Such a question shows you have done your homework, but are looking for other opinions about its viability. This information is provided to help you with future research, not to criticize you for the past.

Disclaimer: While I used the 'We' pronoun I speak only for myself not for this site. However, I have a more than 20 years of experience at sites like these and my comments do reflect the general consensus I have found from most other helpers.

[ScottGem]

Hi,
I do apologize for the "expert" who deems it necessary to ridicule those who ask questions. Please feel free to ask anything you like, and some (like a good answer already give) will be happy to answer your question, without adding unwanted opinions and criticizms, and threats.
Best of luck,
fredg

Fred,
First, I did not "ridicule" or threaten anyone. For you to make such comments in this thread is just another example of your false and malicious harassment of me. If any apologies are in order, its from you to me for such comments.

Second, I stand by my comments. It is a long standing principle of boards like these that helpers are circumspect when replying to homework type questions. Most helpers will not do so.

Lastly, Fred, you do NOT have any official standing on this site. For you to apologize for another members actions is gratuitous and unnecessary. I see you have done that in another thread. It appears the only reason for you doing so was to add to your message total as you falsely accused me of doing in another thread.

[xec]

Yeah I think you're right Scott. Maybe I should have said that it was for a school project from the beginning. But anyway, the question could not have been from the "assignment" because every single team in the course has a different project. Oh, and let's just drop all the "issues" from the last posts.

*Start of explanation of course, don't read if you don't want to.*

The course is supposed to prepare us for the "real world".
Each group is composed of 4-5 members. Each team has to go out on their own and find a company to do a project for. We were lucky to have a member in our group that already had a project. The project is for the church he attends.

*End I guess*

We did decide to go with Cisco products.

When we are finished with the project a month or so from now I'll post some pictures/updates/etc. if anyone cares to see. But anyway, everyone have a good weekend.

[ScottGem]

Xec,

Interesting, so this isn't a theorectical project, but a real one?

You really can't go wrong with Cisco, they are to switches almost what Intel is to processors.

Some other suggestions.

First, you will need a router of some sort to work with the Cable connection to the Internet. If the cable connection is a standard broadband connection, then one of several brands of broadband routers will do.

Second, I would consider one smaller switch (8 port) to use as sort of hub. You would connect your broadband router to this as well as the other switches. I would also connect the server to it as well.

Third, depending on the physical layout, you may want to locate the switches to serve clusters of PCs. A Cat 5 cable run is limited in length (about 300 meters I think). So you might want to locate the switches closer to the PCs.

P.S. Thanks for understanding where I was coming from and not listening to the malicious attacks from others. You obviously didn't feel ridiculed or threatened by my responses. I haven't a clue how he would see ridicule or threats in them.

[cbee55]

If your planning to go for Cisco, get 3x 48 port switches, which should give you 144 ports, take 1 port from each switch for uplinks. You could use more than one port for uplinks and use etherchannel for more bandwidth, or could use additional ports for redundancy. Alternatively, you could buy one big switch (Catalyst 4500), and purchase 3x 48 port line cards.

If you have 100 users on the network at the same time, you may consider spliting network down into smaller VLANs, but then you would need a suitable router to traverse the VLANs.

ScottGem suggested having a 8 port switch as a form of central hub. While I understand his reason/logical thinking/network design for this, an 8 port switch is more than likely going to be a cheap and cheerful switch (Cisco don't do 8 port switches, I think), which could potentially become a bottleneck. Cisco switches are fast, using some of the best hardware around, if you stick all your most used devices, i.e. server, cable router, etc on this switch, you MAY find everything else slows down while it waits for the 8 port switch to do it's bit, you could also rule out the possibility for using technologies such as Etherchannel.

ScottGem also mentioned cable lengths. This is also important to take into consideration, and can often be over looked. I have been to several sites which have network connectivity problems, only to discover that some of the cable runs were long enough to reach the next city (well almost). The cable run for CAT5 is 100 meters, which means the cable from your switch to your PCs, and between your switches shouldn't be any longer than this (may still work though).

[ScottGem]

Thanks CBee for the correction on cable lengths. I always forget whether its 100 yds (300 meters) or 100 meters.

You also make a good point about my suggestion about using a small switch as a hub. A lot here depends on budget and the other equipment used. Given the stated use of the PCs (primarily word processing and Internet surfing), I didn't think expensive, high speed equipment was necessary.

[cbee55]

ScottGem - I always get the cable lengths mixed up with feet/yds/metres, Cat5 one of the few I can actually remember.

Fair point about budget, and the fact the PCs are used mainly for Wordprocessing and Surfing, but my line of thought is, Xec has decided to go for Cisco products, which if your looking at a budget, Cisco probably isn't the best choice as one the cheaper 24 port switches cost around £600 (about $900), with the 48 port switch costing around £2300 (approx $3750).