Question for the Network Guru's please:

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  • Hansoon
    Field Supervisor

    Site Contributor
    2,500+ Posts
    • Sep 2007
    • 3297

    Question for the Network Guru's please:

    Customer has a Peer-Peer network consisting of 2 Workstations, NAS, router, 2 switches, two mono printers and a large color MFP. One of the workstations is located in an office together with the NAS, router one switch and one mono printer. The other workstation with the 2nd mono printer as well as the large color MFP and the 2nd switch are located in another building. There is one CAT-6 cable running between the two buildings from switch to switch. No way, never, ever, to have physically more wiring/cables between the two locations cause they are on the opposite sides of a busy road. All network traffic must run through that single CAT-6 which is coincidentally available but cannot be extended. All nodes in the network are of the Gigabit type.

    Customer want to extend the network with a 3th workstation located in again another building near the 2nd one. There is a possibility to run a CAT-6 cable between the 2nd building with the 2nd switch to allow the 3rd location to hook up the 3th workstation with switch and monoprinter. Traffic is relatively low between all nodes. They are mainly doing a few prints and scans per our between the workstations and NAS, the workstations all will have to have good Internet access through the router in the main office and during the night the workstations are being backed up to the NAS also in the main office.

    Question: Is there a great deterioration in speed or otherwise to expect in the network with all those switches in a row? Especially Internet access is an issue. Printing and scanning a lot less.

    The reason I am asking is that I see often in offices several huge armthick bundles of orange CAT-6 cables running around. Giving me the feeling that it is a must for a good, fast network. Would this network, as described here in the attached drawing, have any disadvantages with all those bottleneck switches?

    Thanks!

    HansUnbenannt2.jpg
    " Sent from my Intel 80286 using MS-DOS 2.0 "
  • allan
    RTFM!!

    5,000+ Posts
    • Apr 2010
    • 5445

    #2
    Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

    Its cheap enough to try.
    Whatever

    Comment

    • Vincent128
      Trusted Tech

      Site Contributor
      250+ Posts
      • Sep 2015
      • 332

      #3
      Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

      "daisy chaining" routers or switches is not good. You can cause a broadcast storm which will deteriorate the network.

      Comment

      • Methedor
        Technician

        50+ Posts
        • Nov 2016
        • 68

        #4
        Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

        A rule of thumb is that a network is only as fast as the slowest component. While I agree about the broadcast storm being a risk; do they have their own IT dept? I don't recall that being mentioned. I have dealt with clients that have IT, but don't think to call them unless prompted. So there could be some extra resources to tap there.

        Comment

        • slimslob
          Retired

          Site Contributor
          25,000+ Posts
          • May 2013
          • 35067

          #5
          Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

          Distance specification for Giga Bit is I believe 1000 meters between active devices. Beyond that attenuation, interference and collision can become problems.

          Comment

          • bsm2
            IT Manager

            25,000+ Posts
            • Feb 2008
            • 27454

            #6
            Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

            Find out if the new office need to share files or printers IE server or if there programs are all web based, with the other office or do they just need internet connection and a local printer? If so you don't need them psychical connected.

            Comment

            • JR2ALTA
              Service Manager

              Site Contributor
              1,000+ Posts
              • Feb 2010
              • 2017

              #7
              Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

              I miss that Owl guy on here. An IT God.

              Comment

              • Vincent128
                Trusted Tech

                Site Contributor
                250+ Posts
                • Sep 2015
                • 332

                #8
                Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

                Originally posted by JR2ALTA
                I miss that Owl guy on here. An IT God.
                Gosh Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of the LDAP server?

                Comment

                • wseyller
                  Service Manager

                  1,000+ Posts
                  • Sep 2012
                  • 1129

                  #9
                  Re: Question for the Network Guru's please:

                  Large companies daisy chain switches all the time. It is normal to have a bunch of access layer switches that connect to workstations. The access layer switch then connect to some distribution switches and then the distribution switch connect to core switches. As you move up towards the core switches the hardware is beefier.

                  In the topology shown in the picture there is no chance of a broadcast storm as there is no topological loop in the diagram. Even if there was and if the switches are good enough they will use spanning tree protocol to hopefully keep frames from looping around.

                  I think it is fine as long as the cabling is good and the upper level switches are decent enough to handle the traffic. Wouldn't take much for just a handful of devices.

                  Comment

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