Re: Basic CAT5 Network Question

[David Yeend <david.yeend@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Neil,

There is no clear answer to this however in theory there is no limit......

I know of Ethernet 'snake' networks of 10's to 100's of switches used for
pipeline monitoring.

I also know of enterprise and education networks where the aggregated load
on an uplink for a 2 switch cascade is enough to cause client time out
during busy times.

Each switch in a line will add latency of varying amounts based on
influences such as background network traffic and its nature, the operation
of the switch internals etc. However, the effect is reduced when using a
sliding window protocol such as TCP. Application protocols based on UDP may
or may not operate on this basis...... For a typical home install I don't
think you need to worry too much.

And just for general informational value....

If you are buying second hand watch out for devices called Dual Speed Hubs
and possibly Dual Speed Switchable Hubs - they are not really switches but
are essentially 2 repeaters, one running at 10Mbps and one running at
100Mbps. The physical ports have the ability to detect connection speed of
the attached device and internally connect it to the right repeater. Some
have internal switches to link the 2 repeaters together...others don't.
Also
watch for some of the older Cisco Hub100s that can be seen on Ebay - they
will not work with modern Auto MDI/MDI-X switches.

With regard to Cat5e - the standard proposes 90m of solid cable leaving 10m
of stranded for patching - typical guide lines are 3m for one end with 7m
for the other. Stick to this and it will work. However I have see links of
over 200m working between switches on gigabit, using stranded, with no
errors...but then I have also seen plenty similar which don't.

Regards,

David


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