Need advice on choosing a networking device.

[error404]

Hi all,

I'm looking for people more advanced than i am in networking solutions to confirm that i'm not about to buy something useless for my purpose. Here is my situation:

On one hand, my file server, stuffed with gigs of my beloved digital photos on its three RAID1, running Debian with NFS server.
On the other hand, my brand new Quad running Ubuntu with Bibble workflow soft. I guess you already have the big picture: i mount my ~/photo directory from my server to my station, and use the station's local drive only for system+softwares+preview files. Safe, simple and flexible.

Those 2 computers are wired to a 100MBits Linksys. As they both feature Gigabit Ethernet cards, would it improve by far the traffic (hence the time i wait for displaying pictures in Bibble's browser), if i plugged them to this ZyXEL switch, then plug this switch to my router. Hence, those two lads would talk much faster than the rest of the network's PCs (which are linked by WiFi anyway).

Would it work, thanks to Ethernet's ability to auto-negotiation, or am i completely wrong, as some networks interface don't go any faster than the slowest link? If some of you could confirm i'm not going to waste money, that'd be great! Any other suggestion warmly welcome!

Cheers,

Erwann

PS: though my server has two NIC (one 100Mbit,on Gbit), building a Kernel bridge on it would force me to draw 10m crossed Ethernet cable. Drawing the straight one was already a pain, so i don't regard this interesting solution as an option any more.

[nickaal]

I was thinking about doing the same but was waiting for a cheap switch. Thanks to you I found it!
By connecting my two "fast" computers together with gigabit ethernet I noticed a nice increase in performance. You feel it more with big files but in general I would say it reduces frustration
I've been installing large programs such as games through gigabit and it was only limited by the hard drive speed of the second computer. For £22 I would say go for it. You will also be able to access your server from the wifi as the switch will link your two networks together.
It's been a few years I deactivated the dhcp in the router and noticed slightly faster internet for applications that use a specific port. It may not be handy if you connect a lot of wifi devices but once it's configured, I find it very reliable and fast. It also adds a little bit of security as if you get an intrusion on your wifi network, the hacker will need more time to find a valid IP for your network.
In the end it will be totally transparent to you except the speed increase between your two fast computers. Hope it helps, any questions please ask.

PS: I forgot to mention that you may have a bottleneck if your two computers use a lot of bandwidth in direction of the router as they will both communicate on a 100Mbits port. For internet access it's fine but if your wifi computers access large files on your server, the other computer may have slower than normal internet or ethernet connection. But it seems that in your case the server is only used by your main machine so it should be faster in general.

[error404]

Thanks Nickaal, this is exactly the answer i was waiting for!
My 2 computers are already set up with fixed IP, but i keep the DHCP up because friends are always keen on accessing the web when they step by my place with their laptops. MAC address filter is the solution in that case.
I just wanted to make sure that the setup of this switch would be as simple and transparent as you describe it. Regarding the bottleneck, as you say, i don't think either that it is a problem here.

Time to warm up the mastercard, then...

Have a good week end,

Erwann

[&roo]

PS: though my server has two NIC (one 100Mbit,on Gbit), building a Kernel bridge on it would force me to draw 10m crossed Ethernet cable. Drawing the straight one was already a pain, so i don't regard this interesting solution as an option any more.

Hi.

As a matter of interest, you don't need a crossed cable when linking gigabit NICs. Just use a straight cable and the NICs sort things out themselves automatically. I believe it's part of the Gigabit standard.

Andy

[error404]

Andy, it looks like you're right, at least according to Wikipedia

Almost all newer Ethernet network interface cards (NICs), switches and hubs automatically apply an internal crossover when necessary. This feature is known by various vendor-specific terms, e.g., Netgear calls it Auto uplink and trade, and other common vendor terms include Auto-MDI/MDI-X, Universal Cable Recognition and Auto Sensing. This eliminates the need for crossover cables, obsoletes the uplink/normal ports and manual selector switches found on many older hubs and switches, and greatly reduces installation errors, especially by non-technical users.
(...)
Automatic MDI/MDI-X capability is specified in the 1000BASE-T standard, so straight-through cables will work in almost all cases. But it is optional, so a crossover cable is needed if neither of the connected devices supports it, or the function has been disabled.

Thanks for that hint, i'll postpone my purchase, then, in case i don't succeed in setting up a bridge.

[&roo]

Hi

Yep, I've done this on quite a few setups. I've sometimes had problems with the box sitting on the gigabit side getting an IP via DHCP over the bridge (duplicate IPs) so I generally set the IP manually. It could be because of this problem but I might be wrong. (I know you're using Linux but the MS link given describes a potential router problem.)

HTH - Andy

[nickaal]

Well now that I think about it.
I have two gigabit NICs on my pc and I had a laptop wired to get internet and I was using a straight cable.
Interesting fact is that the laptop was equipped with a 100Mbit NIC, and it worked as if I used a crossover cable.
So yes it shouldn't be a problem in your case.

[lxtwin]

Hi mate, Another thing you can do is on the servers bond two GB NIC's together; this will increase the through put as well. The bonding driver is pretty easy to set up as well. I am waiting to find a wireless modem with a GB Switch built in.

cheers

[BUFF]

I am waiting to find a wireless modem with a GB Switch built in.

if you are on cable you can get a wireless router with Gigabit switch http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=617203.
I considered that but bought the Zyxel GS105A a few weeks ago to use with my existing router.

I imagine that at some point Netgear will bring out an ADSL modem/router version.