cascading switches, gigabit use, and much more [panduit] [friendly place]
Q: I am the reconstruction of a nursing facility network. The buildings concrete floor, solid construction and overhead built in a cruciform. Its not a pleasant place to perform cable.
Cable runs will have to travel down the first hall PANDUIT, and I try to design with remote switches, to the bundle requires the hall to a minimum DSL connection. Full circulation is higher than 100 meters in the worst cases, so some cascading is necessary. There are about 16 workstations so far. These are a mix of Win2k and XP machines with 10/100 NICs.
1) Everything will want access to the Internet, and most sites will want access.
2 server) the DSL, the primary users of the server and the server itself at one end of the long hall.
3) Nobody complains about slow server access u003cyetu003e, but many more people will be educated and do data entry on the win2k server for medical records.
4) There are two remote locations with 5 or more stations on each one, 200 meters or so away from the DSL and server end.
5) we have enough on Cat5E hand.
A) Should I scrap the CAT5e and CAT6 in just? in mind, after I get up the hall, there are a number of predetermined holes that closed circuit TV has been routed. I can backup to initiate and implement the next RJ6, but it would require some tighter bending.
B) Should I go with gigabit switches and a gigabit network card in the server to start?
Re:In this day and age, gigabit NICs in a server are the norm (heck they're included). And the price of a gig switch port is next to nothing.
The only thing you have to worry about is cabling and where your closets will be. Over 100 meters? Gotta do fiber.
If you're running cable, run cat6.
Re:I'll be performing full tests on the runs, and could easily go Gigabit everywhere later. I think I will spring for 2 gigabit switches and one NIC for the server.
The biggest bunch of users are not at the server room. I can link them back with gigabit, and connect everything to a gigabit switch for the backbone.
Re:I don't know if you're going to be moving around pictures / xrays / other large files, but if you're doing mostly text-like-stuff as I would expect most hospitals to do, 100mbps should be plenty. I mean, you can use cat5e and if you do a good job, you can upgrade to gigabit stuff in the future … as for putting the servers on gigabit ports, why not — you'll have the ports and gigE nics are cheap now.
Re:Many protocols will run OK on 10BaseT. I'd hate to pinch a penny or two and have speed issues down the line.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Thanks for the replies. Wireless is out of the question, of course. I happen to use it for one specific purpose there, but it is off on it's own class C, and hardware firewalled away from the rest of the network.
The gigabit question is really about insuring quick connection to the medical records server. I could see as many as 10 workstations connecting to the server in the future, worst case scenario.
I was wondering if it was worth using gig switches and the 1 NIC in the server to help with that.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that medical software could run on a 10mbps network.
Re:Thanks for the replies. Wireless is out of the question, of course. I happen to use it for one specific purpose there, but it is off on it's own class C, and hardware firewalled away from the rest of the network.
The gigabit question is really about insuring quick connection to the medical records server. I could see as many as 10 workstations connecting to the server in the future, worst case scenario.
I was wondering if it was worth using gig switches and the 1 NIC in the server to help with that.
Re:Take into consideration that Giga together with Internet will result in relatively small improvement over 100Mb/sec. (Optimize Giga and optimize TCP/IP for Internet do not nice play together).
The combination of Concrete, Distance, and HIPPA deem Wireless No to be the preferred solution. The Resultant bandwidth will be much less than half of 100Mb/sec.
:sun:
Re:Being that it is a nursing home facility I would think he would want a wired network to ensure security for the possible patient records that might be kept on the network. All the HIPAA rules/guidelines are pretty strict. I would hate to have wireless AP's on my network which happens to be a health clinic for a major university. They would make it a lot tougher to secure my network!
John
Re:One word. WIRELESS
Stick a nice router/AP in the center of the X and you should be good to go. Or if it's too long on each leg, stick one in the center of each hallway.
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Tags: friendly place, panduit