I need advice on expansion please

[pm]

I have an Allied-Telesyn AR-220E 4-port Router/switch, (cable modem
connected to the WAN port), with a Allied-Telesyn 4-port MR904TX hub
connected via the uplink port on the router and the MDI-X port on the hub.

I need to connect more computers and would like to add another
router/switch/hub but I'm not sure how best to expand. I really don't need
another router with a WAN port. But should I get another switch or just
another hub. Should I stay with one brand of equipment or will the mix
without issues?

Is there a drawback to having some on my computers on the switch and some on
just the hub?

Thanks

[CJT]

pm wrote:
I have an Allied-Telesyn AR-220E 4-port Router/switch, (cable modem connected to the WAN port), with a Allied-Telesyn 4-port MR904TX hub connected via the uplink port on the router and the MDI-X port on the hub. I need to connect more computers and would like to add another router/switch/hub but I'm not sure how best to expand. I really don't need another router with a WAN port. But should I get another switch or just another hub. Should I stay with one brand of equipment or will the mix without issues? Is there a drawback to having some on my computers on the switch and some on just the hub? Thanks
Switches allow multiple independent flows of traffic; hubs broadcast, so
can suffer from collisions. For low levels of traffic, it won't matter.
But when switches cost about the same as hubs, get the switch.

Brands should intermix, and normally do, as long as you're not using
some special feature unique to one brand. With a mix of hubs and
switches there is probably an optimum that is traffic dependent, but
a rule of thumb might be to put the machines with the heaviest network
traffic on the switch.

--
After being targeted with gigabytes of trash by the "SWEN" worm, I have
concluded we must conceal our e-mail address. Our true address is the
mirror image of what you see before the "@" symbol. It's a shame such
steps are necessary. ...Charlie

[daytripper]

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:20:03 -0600, "pm" <ccs2015@hotmail.com> wrote:
I have an Allied-Telesyn AR-220E 4-port Router/switch, (cable modemconnected to the WAN port), with a Allied-Telesyn 4-port MR904TX hubconnected via the uplink port on the router and the MDI-X port on the hub.I need to connect more computers and would like to add anotherrouter/switch/hub but I'm not sure how best to expand. I really don't needanother router with a WAN port. But should I get another switch or justanother hub. Should I stay with one brand of equipment or will the mixwithout issues?

You'd likely do best all around by replacing the four port hub with an 8-port
soho switch. Otherwise, add a 4-port switch to one of the router's lan ports.
You'll use an uplink port on the switch to the router (with a straight cable)
and gain a net of 3 more ports.

At that point you can decide which machines want to be connected to the
remaining two ports on the router, the three ports on the switch, and the
three ports on the hub. I'd put the "dogs" on the hub, put the most important
pair of systems on the router, and stick the rest on the switch.
Is there a drawback to having some on my computers on the switch and some onjust the hub?

The hub is half-duplex, certainly, which is a performance hit vs the router
and switch ports (which should always be able to run full-duplex). And the
switch and router ports probably can run at 100mb as well, while the hub may
be of the 10mb vintage. Not too hard to find bottlenecks at that hub, which is
why you'd do best to toss it and buy a bigger switch to connect to the
router...

/daytripper

[Yousuf Khan]

"pm" <ccs2015@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bro7fl$bs70$1@news3.infoave.net... I need to connect more computers and would like to add another router/switch/hub but I'm not sure how best to expand. I really don't
need another router with a WAN port. But should I get another switch or just another hub. Should I stay with one brand of equipment or will the mix without issues?

No, you definitely don't need another router. You only need the one that
connects you to the Internet, that you already have, everything else is
fulfilled through a hub or a switch.

In general, switches are much higher performance than hubs, but therefore
they also cost more. You can do full-duplex through a switch, which you
can't with a hub. Switches usually also have the ability work at 10Mbps and
100Mbps simultaneously, meaning slower computers won't slow down faster
computers on the same network. Your data is also a bit more secure through a
switch, since you won't be able to snoop other computer's traffic, like you
can in a hub.
Is there a drawback to having some on my computers on the switch and some
on just the hub?

I don't think it really matters in most people's home networks if you're
using a hub, since there really isn't that much traffic going through it.

Yousuf Khan