Tom,

One potential problem that has not been addressed here is the type of cable
run through the shop.  Are you running fiber or copper?  Running
cable(copper) in a shop environment is a recipe for disaster.  All kinds of
interference can be induced on the cable (EMI, RFI ...).  I consulted at a
local shop here in Cincinnati where they started with copper (not my
recommendation) and found things seem to work ok.  Once they started
production throughput, it was clear there was a problem.  The more
workstations they installed on the shop floor the worse the throughput.

After re-wiring using fiber and switches instead of copper and hubs, the
problems went away.

They since have made it a standard to run fiber anywhere cable was needed on
the shop floor.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wonsil [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 5:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Lack of Network Performance


>>> This is a fast Ethernet peer-to-peer network (supposedly ... the
>>> indicators on the switches and hubs all say that 100 Mbs is
>>> active, anyway). One thing I could do is install a switch part ways
>>> out to the other half of the building and have all the lines connect
>>> there to boost the signal? Will that work? I've also heard of
>>> repeaters to boost the signal.

Tom,

I don't know how old your hubs are but I recently started replacing hubs
with unmanaged switches (literally plug and play - no tables to maintain)
and that really cuts down on the collisions.  They have come down in price
too (@ $125 for a 24 port duplex 100MB switch for units from Linksys/Cisco
or SMC.  I'm sure HP has an equivalent too.)  It has made a large
improvement at the school when the computer lab is in full swing.  The
teacher can monitor the students' screens and that generates a lot of
traffic.  Having the full-duplex helps in some applications too.  The nice
thing is you don't have to do it all at once.  I would start with your
Internet access point and then move out to the problem areas - keep users
who do heavy transfers on one switch if possible for example.

Mark W.

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