At 4/16/01 03:47 PM -0400, you wrote:
> > But use a switch instead of a hub. You'll get better throughput with a
> > switch.
>
>Bummer, all I have right now is a hub and the nic's for all my boxes.
>Could this
>be setup so a switch could be added later when the budget permits?
Yes. Hubs and switches (at least on the low end) are interchangeable.
Hubs take whatever they get on one port and rebroadcast it to every other
port; so an 8-port hub shares a total of 10Mbps (or 100Mbps) between all 8
computers. No privacy, and maximum theoretical bandwidth per computer if
they were all active is 1/8 of segment bandwidth.
Switches, on the other hand, remember MAC addresses and assign them to
ports, so that they take what they receive on one port and *only* transmit
it on one other port, where the destination computer is located. Only those
two are involved, so you get privacy and each port has 100% of its
bandwidth available for communication without bothering anyone else.
Switches, therefore, are a *far* better choice and provide for much faster
connectivity.
(There is a way to make a switch broadcast everything to everywhere, either
for hacking or network monitoring purposes... but in your house it's pretty
much irrelevant and the explanation above applies.)
As far as budget goes, I have had absolutely wonderful experiences with the
Linksys 8-port EtherFast Switches, which are 10/100 and only cost about
$75. I've also had great results from the new Linksys Print Server, which
has 2 parallel ports and a 4-port 10/100 switch for $120. Although that's
somewhat beside the point, let me tell you that a hardware print server
does make life *reeeeeally* easy when you have a wife and like to tinker
with your servers. :)
Even better, though, I've just realized that you have *DSL*. Linksys sells
a cable/DSL router that'll do NAT and DHCP for you (firewall too? don't
remember). They're like $90, or $140 if you want a 4-port switch built in,
or $180 for an 8-port 10/100 switch built in. Me, I'd buy the $90 and a
separate 8-port switch from them... that way I feel is more flexible for
the future.
<laugh> No, I don't work for Linksys. I just have had fantastic results
from their stuff in the last year, and it's quite cheap. (I use the
switches and the print server; no router since I have ISDN).
>Are you saying that Samba has to go on the box connected to the internet?
>Wouldn't that 'weaken' security a little? I was thinking I could put Samba on
>one of the networked RH boxes and serve the Windows box from there.
The "border" computer really should run as little as possible.
--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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