How to upgrade a small network

Hello networking folks,

My apologies if this question is answered elsewhere, I searched around but
after an hour I didn't find any solid answers and thought someone here could
maybe give me some clues.

I have a small network here of 2 PCs, a linux box and a mac. We share a DSL
connection which goes from the DSL modem directly to a 4-port Linksys router
from which we run a line clear across the house to where it plugs into a
6-port hub that we're all connected to.

Everything runs at 10Mbps, and I would like everything to run at 100Mpbs
(for internal purposes; file-sharing, printing, etc.). The problem is, I
have no idea where the original documentation is for ANYTHING, and while I
thought most of our hardware is 10/100Mbps, I can't say for sure which is
and which isn't.

How do I check which is or isn't 100Mbps, and once I've replaced whatever
isn't 100Mbps, how do I bump the network up to 100Mbps, or does that just
happen?

Sean O'Dell

In article <FyXXa.458$(E-Mail Removed) >,
Sean O'Dell wrote:
> I have a small network here of 2 PCs, a linux box and a mac. We share a DSL
> connection which goes from the DSL modem directly to a 4-port Linksys router
> from which we run a line clear across the house to where it plugs into a
> 6-port hub that we're all connected to.

Why the 6-port hub? Is it 10/100 capable? The router probably IS, and
you can easily get rid of the hub using the existing wiring. Put the
router where the hub is now. The cable across the house replaces the one
currently plugged in the DSL modem.

Now:
DSLModem-ShortCable-Router---long-cable-across-house---Hub--computers
New:
DSLModem---long-cable-across-house---Router--computers

> have no idea where the original documentation is for ANYTHING, and while I
> thought most of our hardware is 10/100Mbps, I can't say for sure which is
> and which isn't.

Neither do we, and neither can we. If you know manufacturers and the
model numbers for them, you might find what you need at manufacturers'
Web sites. "/sbin/lsmod" lists the loaded modules, and we might be able
to tell you if the driver is for a 10Mbps or 100Mbps NIC.

> How do I check which is or isn't 100Mbps, and once I've replaced whatever
> isn't 100Mbps, how do I bump the network up to 100Mbps, or does that just

I don't know. Linux NIC drivers will tell you information about the
detected link when they start, see "dmesg". The Windows (is that what
you meant by "PC"?) boxes may or may not have this kind of information
available, depending on the NIC driver and the software which may have
been provided along with it. I have no idea about the Mac.

Try it out and let us know. My guess is that the hub is your 10Mbps
bottleneck, so the above might fix it. Another possibility: the wiring.
Did you get 100Mbps-capable Cat5 cables?
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"/dev/rob0" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <FyXXa.458$(E-Mail Removed) >,
> Sean O'Dell wrote:
> > I have a small network here of 2 PCs, a linux box and a mac. We share a
DSL
> > connection which goes from the DSL modem directly to a 4-port Linksys
router
> > from which we run a line clear across the house to where it plugs into a
> > 6-port hub that we're all connected to.
>
> Why the 6-port hub? Is it 10/100 capable? The router probably IS, and
> you can easily get rid of the hub using the existing wiring. Put the
> router where the hub is now. The cable across the house replaces the one
> currently plugged in the DSL modem.
>


I don't know about the hub; I think I am just going to have to catalog
everything and start searching the net and see if I can't scrounge up specs
for everything.

> > have no idea where the original documentation is for ANYTHING, and while
I
> > thought most of our hardware is 10/100Mbps, I can't say for sure which
is
> > and which isn't.
>
> Neither do we, and neither can we. If you know manufacturers and the
> model numbers for them, you might find what you need at manufacturers'
> Web sites. "/sbin/lsmod" lists the loaded modules, and we might be able
> to tell you if the driver is for a 10Mbps or 100Mbps NIC.

The driver it uses is ne2k-pci; not sure if that means its 100Mbps-capable
or not. I'll probably just pull the card and look around for a chipset
marking or something I guess.

> > How do I check which is or isn't 100Mbps, and once I've replaced
whatever
> > isn't 100Mbps, how do I bump the network up to 100Mbps, or does that
just
>
> I don't know. Linux NIC drivers will tell you information about the
> detected link when they start, see "dmesg". The Windows (is that what
> you meant by "PC"?) boxes may or may not have this kind of information
> available, depending on the NIC driver and the software which may have
> been provided along with it. I have no idea about the Mac.

Yeah, they're Windows boxes. I don't know of any way to determine speed
capabilities under Windows either. I'm just going to have to pull
everything and get make/model or chipset ids.

> Try it out and let us know. My guess is that the hub is your 10Mbps
> bottleneck, so the above might fix it. Another possibility: the wiring.
> Did you get 100Mbps-capable Cat5 cables?

You know, this was truly enlightening: I had no idea that Cat-5 had
different speed ratings. I have no clue about the wiring either, but I
guess when I catalog all the hardware markings, I may as well write down all
the wiring markings I can find too.

One last question: once I get everything replaced, does it bump up to
100Mbps automatically, or do I need to take down and bring the network back
up fresh for everything to get up to, and stay up at, 100Mbps?

Thanks for the help rob0!

Sean O'Dell

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 05:01:07 GMT
"Sean O'Dell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> The driver it uses is ne2k-pci; not sure if that means its
> 100Mbps-capable or not. I'll probably just pull the card and look
> around for a chipset marking or something I guess.

I believe the ne200 (ne2k) clones support is limited to 10. It would be
in your best interest to use the correct driver. 'lspci -vv' will keep
you from opening your case:
jkoenig@note:~$ lspci -vv | grep -i net -A5
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone]
(rev 64)
Subsystem: 3Com Corporation 3C905B Fast Etherlink XL 10/100
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort-
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (2500ns min, 2500ns max), cache line size 08
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
jkoenig@note:~$

--
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"Johann Koenig" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

That tip for finding out my exact network card in linux is helpful Johann,
thanks,

Sean O'Dell

"David Efflandt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2003, Sean O'Dell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Hello networking folks,
> >
> > Everything runs at 10Mbps, and I would like everything to run at 100Mpbs
> > (for internal purposes; file-sharing, printing, etc.). The problem is,
I
> > have no idea where the original documentation is for ANYTHING, and while
I
> > thought most of our hardware is 10/100Mbps, I can't say for sure which
is
> > and which isn't.
>
> If your hub is 10baseT (all hubs are half duplex), nothing on it is going
> to go any faster. So you should either follow the other suggestion to put
> the Linksys router where the computers are, or get a 10/100 switch. Then
> only communication with computers that have 10baseT nics would be slower,
> and communication between 100baseT nics would be faster.

I think I just gleaned some interesting information there. If I use a
switch instead of a hub, then individual computers can run at the highest
common speed? I didn't know that. A hub drops everyone to the lowest
common speed. A switch routes all NICs at the highest speed the switch and
NIC can both support, so communications between two computers will always be
at the highest speed all the hardware between the two systems can support.

Thanks David, that helps a lot in deciding my course of action,

Sean O'Dell

"/dev/rob0" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <wMfYa.2204$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Sean O'Dell wrote:
> > I'm leaving the Linksys and DSL modem all at one end of the house
though; I
> > just like all that being at one end of the wire coming into our switch
where
> > the rest of the computers are. I don't know why, exactly; I just don't
like
> > the computer plugging directly into the router that NATs us off to
> > internetland. It's probably an irrational fear, I know.
>
> Yes, it is. The new switch doesn't provide any sort of protection
> whatsoever, nor does the physical distance from the router. I'd prefer
> to be able to see the lights on the DSL and router. Just a short time
> ago I had a cable outage, and it's handy to be able to see the cable
> modem and to type at the computer at the same time.

When I was using dial-up modems and even when I had ISDN service with
PacBell, that was really handy, but since we got SBC DSL 4 years ago
(through PacBell initially) we have had NO trouble with it at all, so when
we moved everything from where the DSL is installed (bedroom) to the other
end of the house, I never missed not seeing those lights.

> It wasn't long ago that I upgraded to 100Mbps ... it does make a HUGE
> difference for filesharing and VNC. Have fun!

It's a huge difference. My wife keeps a lot of her photoshop files on the
linux box because I have a cron script regularly backing things up there,
and she copies them to/from her mac or PC to work on them. She hates when
they grow past a couple dozen MBs because they took forever to copy over.
Last night she copied a 70MB file to the server (which was taking over a
minute before) in less than 10 seconds. Many of her files are in the
hundreds of MBs.

> BTW, did the active NIC's autodetect the new switch? From reading "man
> mii-tool" and playing with it, ISTM that they should. Autonegotiation
> appears to be the default with most NIC's and switches. I no longer have
> my 10Mbps hub, but I have changed between a 10/100 hub (half duplex) and
> a 10/100 switch (full duplex), and the changes are detected.

My Windows PC actually did go up to 100. Windows considered the NIC
"disabled" pretty much because it had nothing to talk to. Once it plugged
into the switch, it went straight to 100Mbps. I'm not sure about the linux
box because I already had the switch up when I installed the new NIC. I
assume mii-tool could have re-negotiated with the switch, if I had
hot-plugged the NIC from the hub to the switch.

Thanks again rob0,

Sean O'Dell

In article <weuYa.66$(E-Mail Removed)> ,
Sean O'Dell wrote:
> My Windows PC actually did go up to 100. Windows considered the NIC
> "disabled" pretty much because it had nothing to talk to. Once it plugged
> into the switch, it went straight to 100Mbps. I'm not sure about the linux
> box because I already had the switch up when I installed the new NIC. I

Of course the old NIC was 10Mbps, as you know.

> assume mii-tool could have re-negotiated with the switch, if I had
> hot-plugged the NIC from the hub to the switch.

Well, mii-tool probably would not be necessary. The NIC driver itself
senses when the link goes dead (cable disconnected), and negotiates with
the new link partner (switch) when reconnected. mii-tool is a way of
changing what the driver did or will do next time.

> Thanks again rob0,

Glad to help, especially since I learned something in the process.
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