On Tue, 31 Oct 2000, Darren Garside wrote: snip . .
I'm planning to have a server connected to an 8 port switch (In a room to themselves). Each cable from the switch goes to a classroom where there is a hub. The cables then run from the hub to wall-mounted CAT-5 sockets. Cable runs from the CAT5 sockets to the PC. I'm confused about which of these links requirs standard cat5 UTP wiring and which require cross-over configured cable. I suspect that as the hubs have uplink buttons I only require cross-over cable for the final 2m run from wall-mounted socket to PC. Am I on the right lines or is there a far superior layout?
This sound fine in general. I would recommend you to stick to Cat 5 cabling with 100M hubs and switch if you can. There isn't that much difference in price now and you will need the bandwidth eventually. In general the patch leads should be normal straight-thru ones. Cross-over cables are only used to link hub-hub or hub-switch (if you don't use an uplink port) - or PC-PC in a minimal, hubless, scenario. The only other question is whether an 8-port switch is enoughHow many classrooms/hubs will you have; you could do with a few spare ports for future expansion. Just my thoughts, I hope you find this useful. ____________________________________ Giles Nunn - Network Manager Carms Schools ICT Development Centre Tel: +44 01239 710662 Fax: 710985 ____________________________________