Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu From: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk Subject: Re: Farallon StarController restictions Message-ID: <42404@ut-emx.uucp> Date: 11 Jan 91 19:04:22 GMT References: <10299@pogo.WV.TEK.COM> <42382@ut-emx.uucp> <1991Jan11.135537.22335@phri.nyu.edu> Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp Reply-To: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Distribution: na Organization: The University of Texas at Austin Lines: 38 In article <1991Jan11.135537.22335@phri.nyu.edu> roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: > I am pretty sure the limitation is one device per *branch*, and you >are allowed 4 branches per port (one on each of the 4 pairs of punchdown >terminals). That makes it 48 (or 44) devices per SC. By the time you have I haven't looked at the documentation for the SC in a long time, but if I remember right, only the ports are individually controllable, not the branches, so for ideal control on the network...(I decided to look it up) ---------------------- page 33 of the SC user's guide Recommended Cabling Configuration For easy network management and troubleshooting, we recommend that you connect one branch to each StarController Port and one device to each branch. Using this configuration, you can connect up to 12 branches and 12 devices (one device per branch) to a single StarController. This configuration lets you quickly identify a network device that is malfunctioning and prevent the malfunctioning device from affecting other devices. ---------------------- >that many devices on one LocalTalk segment, you will probably want to start >looking into traffic-filtering bridges to segregate your network into >smaller pieces anyway, so I don't consider the device-count limitation to >really be that severe. There isn't any advantage to hooking up one device per port branch on the SC, so I use the 3000 ft limit per port and hook up as many devices as I need to. My network is fairly low traffic, and I figure I could go to well over 44 devices on our SC. My advice is to ignore Farallon's recommendations and, following their limits on wiring distances and branching, design your network after having mapped out both the physical layout and the likely data flow over the network. I've seen situations in which 25 machines should be considered a maximum and others where 60 was tolerable.