Data Switch Query

Post Reply
belchingmatt
Posts: 2893
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Spartaaa
Data Switch Query

Post by belchingmatt »

This place is better than the help forum.





Right we have two of these in our patch cabinet we are currently reaching our maximum capacity. There are 11 cables running across the floor to the server cabinet so if I can get rid of these it will free up some of the ports.



What I want to do is get a gigabit switch and stick it in the server cabinet. I can connect the servers, UPS and NAS box to this switch easily enough but would it be as easy as it sounds? Does it integrate automatically?



How many cables would I need between the new switch and the current ones? I have no idea of what the network traffic is like.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
Site Admin
Posts: 6538
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:00 am
Location: Midlands
Contact:
Data Switch Query

Post by JJW009 »

OK questions first:



1/ What are the two existing switches? Are they managed, and do you know how to manage them? (Managed means programmable, like your router at home - usually through telnet or a web interface)



2/ How are they connected together? If you look round the back, do you see a ribbon cable? Or if you look at the extreme right-hand port, which is often the up-link port, are they just connected using one cat5 at the front?



3/ Do they have any Gigabit ports on them?



4/ Are any of your servers connected with 2 ports? This is load-balancing and allows for faster data.



There are 2 ways of connecting switches together. One is just to join two network ports together, and the other is to use a proprietary high-bandwidth connection. The proprietary links are usually ribbons, and might be 10Gigabits or faster.



In your case, you could join the new switch to the old switch with just a single cat5 cable. If the existing switches have a Gigabit port then this will probably be fine. If they only have 100Mb ports, then all of your server traffic will be limited by this link. Depending on how busy the servers are; this could be a very bad thing.



NEVER connect two cat5 leads between the switches unless you know exactly what you are doing. You'll turn them into useless Christmas Trees; all flashing lights and no data... The reason is, you create a loop. Some switches are clever enough to spot it; some just go epileptic! On some others, you can program them to combine the bandwidth - but you need to know what you're doing.



What you need to do in networking is imagine the flow of traffic from the desk to the servers. You have some pipes which are fatter than others; Gigabit > 100Meg > 10Meg etc. Now compare it to a river or a road network. There is no point in a 100 miles of motorway, if it has a 6 meter stretch which is just a dirt path - the congestion will mess up the whole network.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> <img src='http://myanimelist.net/signature/JJW009.png' border='0' alt='user posted image'> ??? <img src='http://imagegen.last.fm/LastfmMyspace/oartists/5/JJW009.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
belchingmatt
Posts: 2893
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Spartaaa
Data Switch Query

Post by belchingmatt »

I'll take some detailed notes tomorrow but from what I know now.



Cisco/Linksys 24 gigabit ports



HP Procurve 24 10/100 ports and 2 gigabit ports



I'm not sure how they are connected but I don't recall having seen a ribbon cable. The Procurve has power over ethernet for the phones we use.



We have 3 servers and a NAS box which are all connected with two patch cables each. There is another cable going to the ups so that makes a total of 9. I know there are 11 going to the server cabinet so I really ought to find out what the other 2 are. lol




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
Site Admin
Posts: 6538
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:00 am
Location: Midlands
Contact:
Data Switch Query

Post by JJW009 »

That's a very advanced setup, and would require "proper knowledge" to avoid degrading the performance.



I think it would be a bad idea to put a switch in the server rack just to reduce the cables on the floor. A better long-term view would be to get the racks next to each other!



It does depend on the exact configuration though. A gigabit port is more than 6x faster than a 100Meg port, so you could in theory run a single cat6 cable from the server switch to the Cisco; if at the moment they are only on 100Meg ports.



Here's the catch: you'd have to set up load balancing on the new switch. You'd have to do some research first.



Ideally you should get another Cisco to match the existing one. They do PoE switches too; we use them all the time. If you stick with Cisco, then you can always find someone to help program them. We used to sell the Procurve too along with other stuff, but we're pure Cisco now. It's not my field of expertise though; I just get to fiddle like you...




--------------------


<div class='signature'> <img src='http://myanimelist.net/signature/JJW009.png' border='0' alt='user posted image'> ??? <img src='http://imagegen.last.fm/LastfmMyspace/oartists/5/JJW009.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
belchingmatt
Posts: 2893
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Spartaaa
Data Switch Query

Post by belchingmatt »

Advanced setup. <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->





Sorry, it's just that you should see the support company who set it up for us.



I understand that things can get stuck in a loop etc. so I'll look around for the management stuff and see what's what.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
belchingmatt
Posts: 2893
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Spartaaa
Data Switch Query

Post by belchingmatt »

No ribbon cable or any other obvious form of link between the two switches. The gigabit switch is just connected directly to all of the servers



valserv - 1

UPS - 1

Tape drive - 1

NAS - 2

backupserv - 2+1

sqlserv - 2+1



The +1 on 2 of the servers is for the iLO.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
Site Admin
Posts: 6538
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:00 am
Location: Midlands
Contact:
Data Switch Query

Post by JJW009 »

The HP switch is probably connected to the Cisco switch by one of it's 1Gb ports. They must be connected together somehow; unless the HP is purely used for speech and no data.



This is what we use. Have a quick look at the video; it's informative.



http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7077/index.html




--------------------


<div class='signature'> <img src='http://myanimelist.net/signature/JJW009.png' border='0' alt='user posted image'> ??? <img src='http://imagegen.last.fm/LastfmMyspace/oartists/5/JJW009.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
belchingmatt
Posts: 2893
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Spartaaa
Data Switch Query

Post by belchingmatt »

They are connected by one patch cable. I think we'll be leaving it for the moment and if I really need to free up any ports I'll switch a couple of laptops to wireless. <!--emo&:P--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.

Post Reply