Networking Limitations of a Consumer-Grade Switch

[Pilbromatic]

Hi all,
Got a question about networking which I'm trying to get my head around...

So, using a standard off the shelf UNMANAGED gigabit switch (just a cheapie), I have a scenario that I need to know about before I go and buy a whole lot of equipment...


Ok so let's start off and say it's a perfect world and the workstations connect at a full 100 Mb/s and the server connects at 1000 Mb/s...

So I'm looking at having say, four or five workstations connected to the gigabit switch (at 100Mb/s) and also a gigabit connection from the switch to the server. In this scenario, taking into account everything I've said above, would each of the workstations get a full 100 Mb/s to the server, or would everything be limited to 100 Mb/s total? I could see potential for the server to only talk to one of the workstations at a time and only at 100 Mb/s, but hopefully all four could communicate to the server simultaneously.

Sorry, it's very hard to explain but I hope you can understand my question! Please ask me if you need me to explain further...

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[RealBeast]

A gigabit switch can handle a total of 1000 Mbps of data in each direction, so 4 or 5 100Mbps machines will not overtax the switch. If your server can handle the data, the switch will not be a bottleneck.

 

[Pilbromatic]

Thanks - So slightly more shaping this towards what I'm wanting to know - So each of these computers will run at a full 100 Mb/s to the server?

Cheers!

 

[RealBeast]

Thanks - So slightly more shaping this towards what I'm wanting to know - So each of these computers will run at a full 100 Mb/s to the server?

Cheers!

Yes, as long as less than 10 of them at a time are communicating through to server (minus some overhead, so let's say less than 9).