Xref: utzoo comp.dcom.lans:2804 comp.misc:6080 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!cfreese From: cfreese@super.ORG (Craig F. Reese) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans,comp.misc Subject: Re: Installing Thinwire Ethernet Summary: The extra MR hardware is worth it... Message-ID: <9121@super.ORG> Date: 12 May 89 00:12:40 GMT References: <1381@ndmath.UUCP> <179@usna.MIL> Sender: news@super.ORG Reply-To: cfreese@super.org (Craig F. Reese) Organization: Supercomputing Research Center, Bowie, Md. Lines: 55 >>So, how can you wire 10-20 offices so they can all easily tap into the >>thinwire? The installation has to be neet...no big loops of cable hanging >>down from the ceeling...etc. All the offices would have to be on the same >>segment of thinwire...sending a seperate thinwire cable to each one isn't >>practical because there are TO MANY offices. > >I know you don't want to hear this BUT..... > >The cost and praticality all depends on your viewpoint. The major cost >of running a single thin wire to each office always seems to be the >multi-port repeaters (I call them MPRs but I am told many folks call >them DEMPRs). MPRs are not cheap- BUT running around finding out who >is screwing up the network whenever some clown unplugs his pc the >wrong way also costs a lot in terms of wasted resources and pissed of >network managers. > I whole heartedly agree. We just wired our new facility. Our approach was to put 2 BNC connectors/room. Each of these ports runs to a wing computer room which contains a 19" rack. In each rack there is a BNC patch panel which presents the end of the station (office) wiring, and the ports to the group of MR-9000s (Cabletron's MR) in the rack. The MRs are connected into building wide backbones. I believe the following issues guided our decision: 1) the extra cable, connectors, and wallplate cost was minor 2) all configuration (& thus control) exists in the racks (lockable I might add). We wired ~120 offices, and having that much "distributed" configuration would be hard to manage 3) each machine is isolated from the others by the repeater (i.e. people can rearrange their offices without "killing" others) 4) with the terrible lack of network management tools, having the machines 1 per link allow us to visually watch the network. (the cabletron boxes have a few lights for each MR port. This makes it easy to locate chattering PCs, and disconnected links) 5) since we have two wallplates, we can run a star-loop if we want to. 6) If we want to run more than one machine per office we can 7) we can easily and quickly load balance across the multiple thicknet backbones that the MR connect to by simply changing the patch panel. The hardware costs for the network is higher due to the extra MRs, but it has proved welcome in the past few weeks since we moved in and set up shop... craig (maybe this networking wasn't a waste of time afterall) reese. *** The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent *** those of any other land dwelling mammals.... ----------------- Craig F. Reese Email: cfreese@super.org Institute for Defense Analyses/ Supercomputing Research Center 17100 Science Dr. Bowie, MD 20715-4300