Hubs and switches on same network

System: Windows Server 2003 SP2, Workstations are Windows XP SP2. One server
and about 80-100 workstation. Cat 5,5e cable.

We have about 14 switches from different manufactures (Linksys, Dlink).
Some are 24 port, others are the smaller 4-8 port brand. We also have 3 hubs
two 24 port and one 8 port intel Hub.

We are seeing errors connecting to Active Directory and getting Group Policy
to apply. Login is taking a while, as if it is hanging, waiting on a process.

Are the hubs totally negating the effect of the switches by sending the
packets out all the different ports to be processed by the switches, or are
switches capable of handling this.

Thanks
Anthony

Hello Anthony,

Connection problems can have that as a reason, but also there are other options
like DNS problems which will result in long logon times and GPO problems.
You should get rid of the hubs anyway. That kind of technology creates lot
of not needed network traffic.

As a starting point please post an unedited ipconfig /all from a problem
machine and your DC/DNS server.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
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> System: Windows Server 2003 SP2, Workstations are Windows XP SP2. One
> server and about 80-100 workstation. Cat 5,5e cable.
>
> We have about 14 switches from different manufactures (Linksys,
> Dlink).
> Some are 24 port, others are the smaller 4-8 port brand. We also have
> 3 hubs
> two 24 port and one 8 port intel Hub.
> We are seeing errors connecting to Active Directory and getting Group
> Policy to apply. Login is taking a while, as if it is hanging, waiting
> on a process.
>
> Are the hubs totally negating the effect of the switches by sending
> the packets out all the different ports to be processed by the
> switches, or are switches capable of handling this.
>
> Thanks
> Anthony

Hello:

Some possible issues to check:



1.) Are your AD subnets set up properly in AD Sites and Services (if you
have more than one subnet)?

2.) Are all the DNS and WINS servers assigned by DHCP correct, and are
those servers operating correctly? Make sure your XP clients, if they are
part of your AD domain, are using the DC/DNS server as their primary DNS
server, not your ISP's DNS server or anything else.

3.) Check the NIC settings on the computers with the slowness issue. If
your hubs/switches are 1 Gb/s, all devices should be set to auto-negotiate.
If they are 10/100, sometimes you need to hardcode the speed/duplex.

4.) From my understanding, Cat 5 is NOT 1 Gb/s compatible, but Cat 5e
is.

5.) Having all those different brands of network hardware can definitely
cause issues. They're "supposed" to be compatible, but that isn't always the
case. I've seen weird things happen between different brands.



--
Regards,
Mel K.
MCSA: M

"Anthony Fontana" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:F991B079-ECA4-4DAB-B3C3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> System: Windows Server 2003 SP2, Workstations are Windows XP SP2. One
> server
> and about 80-100 workstation. Cat 5,5e cable.
>
> We have about 14 switches from different manufactures (Linksys, Dlink).
> Some are 24 port, others are the smaller 4-8 port brand. We also have 3
> hubs
> two 24 port and one 8 port intel Hub.
>
> We are seeing errors connecting to Active Directory and getting Group
> Policy
> to apply. Login is taking a while, as if it is hanging, waiting on a
> process.
>
> Are the hubs totally negating the effect of the switches by sending the
> packets out all the different ports to be processed by the switches, or
> are
> switches capable of handling this.
>
> Thanks
> Anthony
>

The switch will see the hub as a busy computer. A switch is intelligent in
that it knows what MAC address is on what port, allowing it to forward a
specific packet to a specific port. A hub is simply a repeater and takes
every packet received and broadcasts it out every port. The performance
difference between and hub and a switch is significant to put it mildly.

The answer to your question depends on where the hub is located on the
network. If you think of the server(s) as your core, it should be plugged
into a switch. If you have it plugged into a hub (Server > Hub >
Switches/Hubs/PCs), yes, the hub is negating your switch performance and may
cause all kinds of issues, especially if you have 80-100 workstations
accessing it. The hub should be the last device before the PC if they're
used at all. IMO, the hub should not be a device on the network. If I
design a network of more than 10 or 20 computers, I only look at managed
switches. I usually design based on a core switch with all other switches
plugging into that switch.

As for the problems you're seeing, your network hardware and design is
something to be looked, but there are many other possible/likely problems
causing your symptoms as the others have mentioned.

CAT5 is spec'd for 100Mbit.
CAT5e is spec'd for 1000Mbit.

"Anthony Fontana" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:F991B079-ECA4-4DAB-B3C3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> System: Windows Server 2003 SP2, Workstations are Windows XP SP2. One
> server
> and about 80-100 workstation. Cat 5,5e cable.
>
> We have about 14 switches from different manufactures (Linksys, Dlink).
> Some are 24 port, others are the smaller 4-8 port brand. We also have 3
> hubs
> two 24 port and one 8 port intel Hub.
>
> We are seeing errors connecting to Active Directory and getting Group
> Policy
> to apply. Login is taking a while, as if it is hanging, waiting on a
> process.
>
> Are the hubs totally negating the effect of the switches by sending the
> packets out all the different ports to be processed by the switches, or
> are
> switches capable of handling this.
>
> Thanks
> Anthony
>