22 Apr
2002
22 Apr
'02
12:21 a.m.
Pete Turnbull wrote:
What do you mean by "commercial grade"? The
difference between upmarket
devices and small SOHO devices is mostly that the ones used in larger
commercial networks are managed devices. That means you can configure them
remotely (with SNMP or a web interface), get statistics from them, etc.
By commercial grade I just meant that I wanted to avoid the home grade
stuff that may not have features, or only a few connections. The type
of thing that Best Buy, Staples, or another cunsumer oriented store may
carry for your average Windows user.
You really want a switch rather than a hub. Not many people are making
hubs (repeaters) these days, even at the low end of the market. A switch
will ultimately give better throughput, especially in a peer-to-peer
network.
Ok, I didn't know that until I started reading all these replies..... a
switch is what I'll get :-)
Go for autosensing 10/100baseT. If you're going to spend any amount of
money, you want to protect your investment by including 100baseT capability
even if you don't need it right now.
I'll probably end up with two of the computers using 100base-T.
If you see a decent modern 3Com hub or switch, that's fine but most of the
second-hand stuff I've seen is 10baseT only. I wouldn't bother looking for
IBM. Baystack, 3Com, HP, Cisco are the ones you're likely to see. And
Netgear, which is almost entirely unmanaged kit, but quite good quality.
What's the difference between managed and unmanaged?
Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA