I have just purchased 5 Dell Optiplex workstations and a Dell PowerEdge SC440 server running Windows 2003 SBS R2. The server has a gigabit ethernet adapter. I intend to install JobBoss on the server and do a client install of JobBoss on each of the workstations. I am mainly concerned about how fast this software is going to run once we have it configured. Currently, we have a Netgear 10/100 8 port router. As I understand it, this router supports up to 100Mbps of throughput. Each workstation has a 10/100 network adapter adapter, also capable of 100 Mbps of throughput. The server adapter though is a gigabit adapter capable of 1000 Mbps speeds.
I was thinking of purchasing a gigabit network switch (such as a Netgear GS108) as it supports 1000 Mbps. But then I thought, my workstations all have 10/100 adapters. Is there any advantage to getting a gigabit switch if the adapters on all of the workstations only support 100 Mbps?
I also have one question on the software side. Since Windows 2003 SBS can act as a DHCP server itself, does it make sense that I would want to buy a switch instead of a router?
Thank you in advance for your response.
I was thinking of purchasing a gigabit network switch (such as a Netgear GS108) as it supports 1000 Mbps. But then I thought, my workstations all have 10/100 adapters. Is there any advantage to getting a gigabit switch if the adapters on all of the workstations only support 100 Mbps?
I also have one question on the software side. Since Windows 2003 SBS can act as a DHCP server itself, does it make sense that I would want to buy a switch instead of a router?
Thank you in advance for your response.