Which server should get 1Gbit?

[rhyds]

On my curriculum network, I have two servers, one is running exchange and WSUS, while the other is running Apps, DC, Fileserver and print server. At the moment our exchange server is connected to the only spare 1Gbit port on the switch, with the other server running at 100Mbit. I was thinking of either swapping the two over, and putting the exchange box on 100mbit, or getting a 5 port gigabit switch and hooking both up to the gigabit port.

 

Does exchange and WSUS generate enough traffic to warrant 1gbs, or should the main server have it all?

[ThatBoringBloke]

look at the servers workload, which server do you think is doing most and is most active?

 

How often are updates sent out to clients? (late at night?)

 

How many emails get sent each day?

 

Personally I'd have the dc on the GB port.

[Butuz]

At the very least put the DC on Gigabit - whats the point of having fast email fi the rest of the network is dog slow?

 

Preferably - get both of them at gigabit - buy another switch and daisy chain it - not ideal but a heck of a lot better than as it stands!

 

Butuz

[kmount]

DC onto Gigabit as Exchange will function OK over slow links (hint, over l'internet!).

[rhyds]

I was thinking that way, but as it stands it aint getting changed until after our inspection next week

[powdarrmonkey]

Does exchange and WSUS generate enough traffic to warrant 1gbs, or should the main server have it all?

 

Yes, it does, but your fileserver is much more important. How can you tell? Users will complain if their files are slow arriving during heavy load (beginning and ends of classes is a prime candidate) but not if the silent, hidden background update is a bit sluggish.

[Geoff]

I'd be thinking about buying another GigE switch personally.

[rhyds]

I'd be thinking about buying another GigE switch personally.

 

Getting the £50 out of them for a 5 port unmanaged switch is probably going to involve pleading, begging or possible threats of violence so no chance of a new switch.

 

I'll swap them over in a few weeks and see how it goes.

[Geoff]

Ah, I don't buy rubbish like that...

 

HP ProCurve 2824 24 port Gigabit + 4 x MINI-GBIC - Misco.co.uk

[Joanne]

show them the one you want to buy and the one you should have (as above) they'll give up the £50 then I'm sure!!

[rhyds]

The current switch is a 2626 with two 1Gbit ports, one for the backbone and the "constested" one. TBH I only considered the 5-port unmanaged jobbie to split the one spare giggabit port to both servers, but i think the fileserver should have it. The only issue is that the Exchange box is externally accessable over t'interweb, but I would think that 100mbit should be ok considering that the firewall only has 100 mbit connectivity.

[powdarrmonkey]

TBH I only considered the 5-port unmanaged jobbie to split the one spare giggabit port to both servers, but i think the fileserver should have it.

 

I do this to solve the same problem, and it works fine. It's a temporary measure though, we're going to outgrow even this soon.

 

This is £25 from insight at the moment.

[CHR1S]

What speed is the internal backbone on one of those? I know its an in theory comment but if its low enough and you are running high traffic over it you will create a bottle neck and be back at square one.

[rhyds]

Well I've swapped them over, lets see if things grind to a halt or go like greased weasels...

[powdarrmonkey]

The 5-port model has a backplane of 10Gbps and the 8-port equivalent is 16Gbps (so full-duplex wirespeed, basically).

[powdarrmonkey]

Oh and it will honour priority tags as well, so if you employ QoS on your network you won't notice a drop in quality for tagged packets.