Advertisement

06.02.2008 at 08:33AM PDT, ID: 23450175
[x]
Attachment Details
[x]
The Solution Rating System

With so many solutions, how can you tell which solutions are most likely to help you and which ones are not? To provide you with a tool to use, we rate our solutions based on various elements that most accurately determine if a solution is a quality solution. To explain what factors affect the solution rating, here are the elements we take into consideration when formulating our solution rating.

  • The Grade of the Solution
  • The Zone Rank of the Expert Providing the Solution
  • The Number of Author and Expert Comments
  • The Number of Experts Contributing
  • The Feedback of the Community

Your Input Matters
Because of the way the system is set up, the most important variable in this equation is you. As a member of Experts Exchange, you are able to cast your vote on the quality of the solutions in regard to how complete, accurate, helpful and easy to understand each solution is. When you provide your feedback, each rating is adjusted accordingly. So, if you see a solution that has a poor rating that you think is a good solution, let us know by rating it. As you do, the rating will be adjusted and will become more accurate for other members of our site.

If you have any suggestions that you would like to make for our rating system, please ask a question in the Suggestions Zone of Community Support.

Thank you!
9.1

Switch with server machine sharing the internet - good?

Asked by Frosty555 in Network Design & Methodology, Network Routers, Network Switches & Hubs

Tags: , , , ,

Normally a conventional home network is setup by purchasing a "router" by linksys or d-link or somebody, and it is the dhcp server, hands out IP addresses, shares the internet, etc.. All in one package that does everything.

that's great but it doesn't scale up to 50 computers easily.

Alternatively (I think, correct me if I'm wrong), you can have just a commercial switch, like a 3com superstack, or some gigabit switch. It connects to a windows server machine which has two NIC cards, one for internet, one for the switch. Then you configure the server machine to be the DHCP server, to route internet, as the DNS, the firewall and everything like that.

Okay, so questions:

1) I'm told if at all possible, setting things up in hardware is far superior to doing it in software with an operating system. Is that true?

2) The hardware I've seen that does routing seems to be pretty primitive. Can't handle more than 15-20 users. What kind of commercial grade hardware routers exist that ARE designed to handle large networks?

3) So is having a windows server sharing internet, being the dhcp server and ultimately doing the router's job a scaleable and reliable way of setting up a medium sized network?

4) How much traffic can you expect a reasonably decent desktop-machine-running-as-the-server to be able to handle with this kind of setup?Start Free Trial
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 08:54AM PDT, ID: 21693103

View this solution now by starting your 14-day free trial. Setting up your free trial is quick, easy, and secure. We will return you to this solution, unlocked, when you're done.

 

About this solution

Zones: Network Design & Methodology, Network Routers, Network Switches & Hubs
Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Server 2000, Linksys, Gigabit Switch
Sign Up Now!
Solution Provided By: Addihul
Participating Experts: 1
Solution Grade: A
 
 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 09:02AM PDT, ID: 21693182

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 09:14AM PDT, ID: 21693282

Assisted solutions are selected by the member who asked the question as a comment that contributed to their question's solution.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Assisted Solution or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 11:29AM PDT, ID: 21694277

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 11:48AM PDT, ID: 21694449

Assisted solutions are selected by the member who asked the question as a comment that contributed to their question's solution.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Assisted Solution or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 12:22PM PDT, ID: 21694785

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]06.02.2008 at 12:35PM PDT, ID: 21694920

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 14-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
 
Loading Advertisement...
20081112-EE-VQP-43 / EE_QW_2_20070628