a gigabit lan connection between 2 pc's on a 6 pc network

[falken264]

I have a network with 4 pc's and 2 laptops.
I will refer Laptop 1, 2 and PC 1, 2 as A
I will refer PC 3 as B
I will refer PC 4 as C

On my network i want the computers B and C to have a special bond through a gigabit lan connection (none of the other computers support gigabit lan). Maybe an additional network between the two of them? I still want all the computers (A, B, C) on the same network, and for all of them to be able to connect to each other.

The router is D-link DL-624
Both B and C have two network cards each.
All computers have windows XP

I will use computer B as a storage computer that should always be switched on and computer C as my main computer. The other computers aren’t actually mine and must therefore not be affected the special connection between B and C.

Thank you for your ideas.

 

[Madwand]

I'd get a gigabit switch, and connect it to the router.

(1) Then I'd detach B and C's existing connections from the router, and connect only their GbE ports to the gigabit switch.

(2) Alternatively, if the GbE switch had enough ports, I'd connect all the wired computers to that switch.

The difference between these two approaches is the bandwidth between {B,C} and the other computers on the network. In (1), the total bandwidth is 100 Mb/s and shared between B and C. In (2), B and C don't share that 100 Mb/s unless they're both talking to the same computer at the same time.

 

[fredweston]

Connect a crossover cable ebtween B & C's GbE ports, assign each a static IP from a network not being used anywhere else on the LAN. Modify the hosts file on B and C with the GbE IP addresses for each. This will force them to talk over the GbE to each other, and they will still use the 100mbps to talk to everything else.

 

[blue68f100]

I had the same need and went with the gigabit switch, works great.

 

[DeadFire]

Just to let you know, that the ways that were suggested here will work. But if you have a gigabit router and have a 100MB NIC hooked up to it, then it will make ALL ports auto negotiate to 100MBs. Ya, it sucks but that is routers for you...

But yes, if you want your two gigabit computers to have a special bond then you will have to give them both an extra NIC card and assine an UNUSED IP in the network to them. That can prove to be difficult though, but I don't think that you will have any problems.

 

[blue68f100]

That not totally true. I have a managed gigabit switch connected to a 100base system. I only have 2 devices that support gigabit, pc and Snap4500 (only device on switch). My test shows with my 2 gigabit hardware on the switch, I have been able to disconnect by 100base router and still move files at the same rate. I must admit its only 20-25MB/s but it's beats 100base 10.5MB/s. Don't know if it due to the managed switch or due to the fact a switch will bybass a higher device if it can.

 

[Madwand]

Just to let you know, that the ways that were suggested here will work. But if you have a gigabit router and have a 100MB NIC hooked up to it, then it will make ALL ports auto negotiate to 100MBs. Ya, it sucks but that is routers for you...

Not true in general. I've tried a number of GbE switches (unmanaged and managed) and a GbE router (which is essentially a router with a GbE switch), and have not had this problem. If you have this behaviour, you probably have a badly designed switch; it's not the norm.

There are some reports of switches having this behaviour in the past, a fair bit of misinformation out in the field and problems due to bad cables / autonegotiation / settings issues, etc. -- these are my guesses as to why this comes up from time to time.

If someone cares to mention specific switches and revisions (and testing details) showing this problem, it might help. The consumer D-Links and Netgears that I've tried have not had this problem, and I've specifically tested throughput to check this.

 

[DeadFire]

Sorry, what I ment was even if you have a gig lan speed on one computer, you will only transfer at the speed of the slowest line.