[geeks] GigE and Switches

[Dan Duncan]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, Kevin wrote:
> Is there a performance difference between having a switch with
> one GigE port built-in and several 100baseT ports

Let's call this Option 1.

> and having one
> small GigE switch patched into a 100baseT switch via a 100baseT
> port?

And this Option B.

Yes, there is a difference.

> I have one file server that has a GigE NIC and all my client
> workstations and switches are 100baseT.  I'm looking for the
> cheapest way to fully utilize the GigE NIC in the server.

Under Option B, assuming all of your client machines were plugged
into the 100bT switch and your file server was plugged into the GigE
switch, the total combined bandwidth of all the clients talking to the
server would be throttled at 100bT.  You might as well dump the GigE
switch and NIC and just plug your file server directly into the 100bT switch.

> My options are buying a new switch that has one or two GigE ports
> or just buying a small GigE switch and patching it into our
> current stack of switches.

If the GigE switch had more than 2 ports, you could get some benefit by plugging
it into several 100bT switches and the server.  You could also accomplish this by
putting multiple 100bT NICs into the file server and plugging them into multiple
100bT switches.  Both scenarios would probably require that your switches be on
multiple subnets.

-DanD

-- 
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