Connecting Switches
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From: ChrisUK on 11 Aug 2010 06:12 Hi, I know this isn't strictly a SBS question but I'm hoping someone can answer me a simple (I hope) question. My SBS network has outgrown it's current office and we need to get a couple of PC's, telephones and a printer put in another office about 40 meters away. To get a bit of breathing space I want 10 data points in this new office (we will only need 5). My local voice / data installers are wanting to run 10 cat5e cables to this new office so will require around 500 meters of cabling and "x" amount of time for wages. I have a Dell PowerConnect 2816 in my main office. Instead of running 10 new cables, could I get another PowerConnect 2816 and put it in the new office and run 1 cable connecting the switches? These new pc's won't be heavy network users so hopefully there won't be bottleneck issues... Thoughts? Is this possible with powerconnect 2816's? I've looked at the specs on the dell website but I'm not certain. Regards, Chris
From: Brian Cryer on 11 Aug 2010 07:59 "ChrisUK" <ChrisUK(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:3CCC3204-166E-4062-9612-FA56FF99D705(a)microsoft.com... > Hi, > > I know this isn't strictly a SBS question but I'm hoping someone can > answer > me a simple (I hope) question. > > My SBS network has outgrown it's current office and we need to get a > couple > of PC's, telephones and a printer put in another office about 40 meters > away. > > To get a bit of breathing space I want 10 data points in this new office > (we > will only need 5). My local voice / data installers are wanting to run 10 > cat5e cables to this new office so will require around 500 meters of > cabling > and "x" amount of time for wages. > > I have a Dell PowerConnect 2816 in my main office. Instead of running 10 > new > cables, could I get another PowerConnect 2816 and put it in the new office > and run 1 cable connecting the switches? Yes. But if you do that you might find it cheaper and easier to forget about a second server, just have a switch and upgrade your network to 1gbps. If you do run a single cable then the cable is the most likely point for any network contention between the two offices, but if you ensure that you run 1gbps rather than 100mbps then that's not likely to be a problem unless you run a very busy office. We have that type of set-up here, after the business expanded into the office next door we have a switch in both offices connected by a single cable (cat 6) and don't seem to have any contention or performance issues that I'm aware of. Sadly you might find that reducing the number of cables doesn't make a great difference to the bottom line. If you have phones then those will still need a separate cables - presumably unless you have a separate phone contract fo the other office. > These new pc's won't be heavy network users so hopefully there won't be > bottleneck issues... > > Thoughts? Is this possible with powerconnect 2816's? I've looked at the > specs on the dell website but I'm not certain. Forget the second server. SBS doesn't like seeing another SBS server on the network, and (unless you want a member server for other reasons) you'll find it a whole lot easier to administer if you stick with a single server. HTH. -- Brian Cryer http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian
From: James Hurrell "j_a_hurrell at hotmail on 11 Aug 2010 12:08 On 11/08/2010 12:59, Brian Cryer wrote: > Forget the second server. SBS doesn't like seeing another SBS server on > the network, and (unless you want a member server for other reasons) > you'll find it a whole lot easier to administer if you stick with a > single server. > > HTH. I think the Powerconnect 2816 is in fact a switch Bryan, not another server. FWIW, we do the same... no issues at all with 5 PCs on Cat5e at 100mpbs...
From: ChrisUK on 12 Aug 2010 03:41 thanks for the replies guys. You are correct James, it is a switch and I'm glad to hear you are running a similar scenario without problem. I'll go for that route then and it should save some money :-) "James Hurrell" <"j_a_hurrell at hotmail" wrote: > On 11/08/2010 12:59, Brian Cryer wrote: > > > Forget the second server. SBS doesn't like seeing another SBS server on > > the network, and (unless you want a member server for other reasons) > > you'll find it a whole lot easier to administer if you stick with a > > single server. > > > > HTH. > > I think the Powerconnect 2816 is in fact a switch Bryan, not another server. > > FWIW, we do the same... no issues at all with 5 PCs on Cat5e at 100mpbs... > > . >
From: Brian Cryer on 12 Aug 2010 04:29
"James Hurrell" <"j_a_hurrell at hotmail com"> wrote in message news:Oqyiy9WOLHA.4824(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > On 11/08/2010 12:59, Brian Cryer wrote: > >> Forget the second server. SBS doesn't like seeing another SBS server on >> the network, and (unless you want a member server for other reasons) >> you'll find it a whole lot easier to administer if you stick with a >> single server. >> >> HTH. > > I think the Powerconnect 2816 is in fact a switch Bryan, not another > server. > > FWIW, we do the same... no issues at all with 5 PCs on Cat5e at 100mpbs... Oops. My mistake! -- Brian Cryer http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian |