Adding more network ports to my PC?

[Chris Wilson]

I have just bought a cheap used HP LaserJet netowrk printer, but stupidly I didn't check if I had a spare port on my Netgear DG834 ADSL router. I am now having to swap cables with another printer.

I may want to add network points in other rooms and in my workshop next time we re decorate, so with thought to future proofing would this allow me to connect up to 23 ports off the router?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProCur...puting_NetworkSwitches_RL&hash=item45fd528689

There are lots of variants of HP ProCurves on Ebay, all about the same price, and I am unsure what features I need. I may want to add another 2 or 3 PC's or laptops to the network, and be able to plug them in wherever suits, plus be able to use the printers from any PC.
I have seen this HP one listed, but from the HP site FAQ's I don't know if this 1/2 duplex thing is an issue, I know nothing about networking I'm afraid :

Q: Do the HP ProCurve 10/100 Hub 12, 12m, 24, and 24m support full-duplex? The hub ports can only operate in half-duplex mode. If the attached device is running in full-duplex mode, and cannot auto-negotiate to half duplex, it will cause a lot of late collisions on the network, degrading performance for all nodes.

Q: Do the HP ProCurve 10/100 Hub 12, 12m, 24, and 24m support 802.1Q/802.1p? The HP ProCurve 10/100 Hubs allow 1522 byte size packets tagged with an 802.1Q tag but do not decode the VLAN ID. The hubs do not participate in VLAN tagging or VLAN priorities. The packets will be forwarded without any problems.

The hub, switch, or router will correctly sense (not auto-negotiate) the 10Mbps or 100Mbps speed. Since the end node was configured for a specific speed and duplex state, and therefore does not negotiate, the hub, switch, or router will choose the communication mode specified by the 802.3u standard, namely half-duplex. With one device running at half-duplex and the device on the other end of the connection at full-duplex, the connection will work reasonably well at low levels of traffic. At high levels of traffic the full-duplex device (end node, in this case) will experience an abnormally high level of CRC or alignment errors. The end users usually describe this situation as, "Performance seems to be approximately 1Mbps!". Often, end nodes will drop connections to their servers. In this same situation, the half-duplex device will experience an abnormally high level of late collisions. The network administrator must take care to verify the configuration of each network device during installation. Also, check the operational mode of each network device. That is, check both how you configured it and also that it comes up as you expect, for example, at 10Mbps/half-duplex.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[TNGL]

Half duplex means that data will only travel one way at a time, where as full duplex means that data can travel in both directions at the same time, which is much better. I wouldn't bother with a HP ProCurve to be honest with you, the hub that you've found on the bay looks ancient. It also doesn't support speeds of 1gbps. If this is for home use, would you really require 23 additional ports? You also wouldn't require 802.1Q in a home environment either, unless you'd like to segregate yourself from everybody else on your network by using VLANs.

I'd suggest something such as a TP-Link TL-SL1226 if you really want 24 ports, or the TP-Link TL-SL1117 if you think 16 ports would be better for your situation.

 

[Chris Wilson]

I probably don't, and won't need as many as 24 ports, but space isn't an issue and I just picked it because it was HP, and I have had good results with used HP stuff. Not even knowing what 802.1Q *IS* suggests I won't need it 16 ports is probably plenty, what advantage does the single 1gbps port have for someone like me in a SOHO type environment? Would the even cheaper TL-SF1016DS unit without the 1 gig "thing" be adequate, I am not known for updating my PC stuff until museum owners show an interest in my current set up

Thanks for your help.

 

[PistolPete]

Bare in mind that the HP unit is a HUB, not a switch.

You'd probably be better off getting a cheap gigabit switch like the TP-SG1008D if you don't need that many ports.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-012-TP

 

[TNGL]

I probably don't, and won't need as many as 24 ports, but space isn't an issue and I just picked it because it was HP, and I have had good results with used HP stuff. Not even knowing what 802.1Q *IS* suggests I won't need it 16 ports is probably plenty, what advantage does the single 1gbps port have for someone like me in a SOHO type environment? Would the even cheaper TL-SF1016DS unit without the 1 gig "thing" be adequate, I am not known for updating my PC stuff until museum owners show an interest in my current set up

Thanks for your help.

1Gbps speeds are good if you have a NAS, or regularly transfer files from one PC to another over the network. However, if you're only using it for the Internet and not big file transfers, then a 100mbps switch would be fine.