Network setup for a LAN

stroebs

stroebs

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I need assistance on a setup for a LAN I'm hosting soon. I would like some assistance in what layout I should be using. Here is the layout for the lan that I have drawn up already but I can see some flaws in my plan that could arise and ways that it could be more economical to save cabling expenses etc.
 
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well instead of having a square shape maybe have rows and then you can fit more people in and then less cabling and where possible try and get people to bring there own cabling...,....
 
I now have another question. I need to change my layout as I only have 3 x 24-port switches, 1 x 12-port and I have 5 x 12-port hubs and 2 x 24-port hubs... Would there be a significant delay when lan gaming if a hub was used?
 
well if possible make sure that everyone at least has a 100MB connection otherwise it will slow the guys down that are using the hubs
 
2nd one is much better.. if only because you have all switches on your network pretty much...
 
Do the any of the switches have gig uplinks? Or gig ports? The 8 port 100mb switch will result in all the 24/16 ports sharing a 100mb uplink to the switch; and all machines sharing a single 100mb connection to the server....
 
Could you suggest another way of doing it? I've measured in AutoCAD and it looks like my second design is by far the most efficient as I'd only need a maximum cable length of 4 metres to each PC in the triangle wit the 24-port switch in it. Then I'd just need 5/6 longer cables to inter-connect the switches
 
Thats a damn good point Conrad... I hadn't even looked at the uplinks to the server.

You should try getting a gigabit "core" router... then at least you're hopefully not going to throttle every other machine into sharing a 100meg connection.
 
stroebs said:
Could you suggest another way of doing it? I've measured in AutoCAD and it looks like my second design is by far the most efficient as I'd only need a maximum cable length of 4 metres to each PC in the triangle wit the 24-port switch in it. Then I'd just need 5/6 longer cables to inter-connect the switches
Click to expand...

The second one is better; makes efficient use of cable which is always good. Its also going to be MUCH easier to set everything up in the middle of the tables and not run the cables across walkways etc....
 
I have a 24-port Gigabit router as the centre of everything. No hubs will be used. only switches.
 
Do the switches have gigbit up links? If not, then

100MB <connected to> 1000MB = 100MB. The port will work at the lowest speed, making your 1gig switch a 100mb switch.... Does your server at least have a gig ethernet port? Can you list the switch models?
 
How'd Rondebosch rowing get into the tags??????

Back on topic: You got enough power and ventilaiton for all this?

Each PC is going to add up till your plug points melt...
 
I have 2 x 3-phase power supplies (1 is supplied by a 3-phase extension cable) and another few plug points inside the gymnasium at my school. All of this will easily supply my computers with enough power. Ventillation won't be a problem because it's in a two-story gymnasium with windows located at the top as well as vents.

Rondebosch Rowing got in there because it's a Rondebosch Boys' High Rowing fundraiser for all the rowers. :)

I beleive the switches DO have 1Gig uplinks and the servers will have Gigabit ethernet which means it can service 10 x 100Mbit connections at once. Correct? (Each server is set up in a cluster with network load balancing. (I'm using Windows Server 2003)
 
stroebs said:
I beleive the switches DO have 1Gig uplinks and the servers will have Gigabit ethernet which means it can service 10 x 100Mbit connections at once. Correct? (Each server is set up in a cluster with network load balancing. (I'm using Windows Server 2003)
Click to expand...

With gig uplinks you should be fine, and it should service more than 10 points; assuming that not every port will run at full 100 ALL the time....

Out of curiosity, how will you use NLB (or clustering, if it's a cluster)? What will be running on the server?
 
I was just told to run a cluster with NLB so that if one server gets bogged down with P2P traffic (all games, patches and software we will be using will be on the server) then traffic is shared over to another server. The servers that will be hosting the games will not be on the cluster as I don't want leeching traffic to slow gaming down.
 
OK. I don't think P2P file sharing will impact the server, assuming that the copy is happening from one PC to another. Also not sure if NLB will work with the Game server software, is it HTTP based? Clustering is totally different to NLB and also not suitable for your setup.

I would keep it simple, and just have two standard servers, each hosting different games....
 
Unless the game server software itself supports NLB or CLustering, you'll be SOL pretty much.

I agree with Conrad, simple setup, 2 servers, 2 or 4 different games at any given time.
 
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