I am having a LAN party at school and...

[FunkyDiablo666]

I was wondering if I could just hook up computers to a switch if it would be that simple or would I need hubs or what. I mean like I buy 2 24 port switches, connect them together, plug all the computers into them and it will work or what.

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

I don't know; I think it probably would work. Only need a Hub for maybe 3 or 4 PCs.

But I would wait for somebody elses opinion too.

 

[Itsme]

Well, I'm not 100% sure if that would work either, but wouldnt it be a heck of a lot easier with a hub?

Itsme

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Yeah, it probably will though.

 

[aharvek]

Switchs are much better then hubs, a hub is a dumb device, switches are much smarter. With a hub, data is sent to every machine and only the machine it is designed to go to accepts the data. A switch knows where data will go according to the MAC address of the packet header.

Say, use a 4 or 8 port 10/100/1000 switch to connect systems and then either give them manual IP addresses or make one of the systems a DHCP server.

 

[jackster]

i think you will need a switch to connect the hubs together.. need as in will be better as switches actually only allow traffic to do to the right IP address where as hubs broadcast to all i believe.

but done quote me on this.

Also, if you want to access the net, one computer will have to be set up as the server.

The other computer's TCP/IP settings will need to be configures to use that PC as the server.

Turn off your shared drives otherwise everyone will see what you have been downloading.

Also, firewalls on local machines are good for pricavy, but can cause problems with machines seeing each other.

In theory it should all be plug and play