Very Very Frustrating Issue

[Hussain]

Hi,

I have my whole house wired up with CAt 6 cable and I have recently moved in.

My ethernet is setup in the following way:

Linksys Ea3500 Router <-------> Dlink Switch 1008A<------->Linksy E3200 Router setup as Access Hub <------>Windows Server

Now linksys E3200 shows that connection between switch and access hub is 10 mbps. The read/write speed from Windows server for all computers connected to Dlink Switch 1008A are also in 10 mbps range (i.e 1 MBPS)

However if I setup my network in following format I get gigabit Ethernet speeds (i.e. read/write speeds of 80-100 MBPS)

Router <-------> Dlink Switch 1008A<------>Windows Server

I have tried swapping the routers but the result is the same. The distance between switch and access hub is about 45 feet. Can you please tell me what is wrong here?

Thanks

 

[XavierMace]

Why are you trying to use a router as a switch/hub?

 

[Lorne]

He is using it as an access point.

I am wondering why he does not just hook the server to the dlink along with the e3200, Unless he is using the e3200 for firewall purposes.

 

[Hussain]

The reason I am using access hub is because in my home theatre I have only one ethernet cable whereas four device need to be connected i.e. my server, xbox, router and popcorn hour media player.

Now can any network guru help me out please.

 

[Sheep221]

Adding 2 switches in row will create collision because every port on switch 1 (D-Link) is reserved for only one device, adding switch 2 (linksys) splits one port on D-link for multile devices, which leads to decreased speed(actually it's pretty neat that it even works).

You have 2 options that will work:
1. set linksys to be router again and set forwarding for specific things you want to use
2. move your D-link close to your devices and remove last linksys

 

[JackMDS]

Either bad cable/connection in the Mix, or the E3200 is not configured correctly as an Access Point.

 

[Enigma102083]

Adding 2 switches in row will create collision because every port on switch 1 (D-Link) is reserved for only one device, adding switch 2 (linksys) splits one port on D-link for multile devices, which leads to decreased speed(actually it's pretty neat that it even works).

You have 2 options that will work:
1. set linksys to be router again and set forwarding for specific things you want to use
2. move your D-link close to your devices and remove last linksys

This is less of a problem than you think it is.

 

[Sheep221]

This is less of a problem than you think it is.

Well bring up the solution then, I'm all your ears.

 

[serpretetsky]

Adding 2 switches in row will create collision because every port on switch 1 (D-Link) is reserved for only one device, adding switch 2 (linksys) splits one port on D-link for multile devices, which leads to decreased speed(actually it's pretty neat that it even works).

You have 2 options that will work:
1. set linksys to be router again and set forwarding for specific things you want to use
2. move your D-link close to your devices and remove last linksys

I'm not sure I understand the problem that you are referring to.

1) Collisions no longer exist since the networking world moved away from shared channel technologies (hubs) to fully independant channel technologies (switches) and then changed from half duplex connections to full duplex connections.

2) Ports on hubs have no clue how many devices are connected to an individual port. Ports on switches are specifically designed to keep track of the mac addresses (plural!) on each port.

edit: OP, which port are you using on the linksys switch? Wan or Lan? I realize you have tested by plugging in the server directly to the 45ft cable and it worked, but none the less, for testing purposes, have you tried swapping out the 45ft cable for a different one? Can you temporarily bring the linksys switch much closer and test with a short cable? I'm just wondering if you do have some cabling issue that your server is able to overpower but your linksys switch is having trouble with.

 

[Mushkins]

Well bring up the solution then, I'm all your ears.

Using a switch *is* the solution :whiste: Everything being one big collision domain hasn't been a thing since the switch replaced the hub. Do they even *sell* hubs anymore outside of niche legacy hardware suppliers?

The OPs issue is definitely that the second router is not properly configured. It's still trying to do some sort of routing instead of just acting as a switch. Either replace it with a regular old switch or work out the config issue and poof, no more problems.

OP, make sure the second router in the chain is not using the WAN port to connect to the upstream switch/router. Make sure the WAN port is empty and you're just plugging the upstream connection into a regular old port. A lot of those SOHO routers still treat the WAN port as a special port even if you disable routing, and it's expecting it to be connected directly to a modem, not another switch.

It could also be as simple as having a regular old Cat5 cable instead of a Cat5e or above in the mix. If the cable cant handle 1Gbps, it's going to autonegotiate to the highest rate it can properly handle. If it's a poor quality or damaged cable, that might just be 10Mbps.

 

[Phaetos]

^^^ What he said, easiest thing is to just put in a little 8 port switch and be done with it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Adding 2 switches in row will create collision because every port on switch 1 (D-Link) is reserved for only one device, adding switch 2 (linksys) splits one port on D-link for multile devices, which leads to decreased speed(actually it's pretty neat that it even works).

Uhh, truely bizarre non-sense.

Each individual switch port to switch port is a collision domain. Since they aren't shared, there will be no collisions. (Each port connection has it's own collision domain.)

switches are DESIGNED to have multiple down/up-stream devices connected to one switch port. That's what their MAC table memory is for.

Yes, having multiple devices on one switch, uplinked on a single port, will slow those devices down if they are all active, but not due to "collisions".

 

[Enigma102083]

Well bring up the solution then, I'm all your ears.

Hooking up another switch will solve this problem and I REALLY doubt that there's enough bandwidth being used for trunking limitations to be an issue.

 

[Sheep221]

Nevermind then, guess I am old fashioned since I havent upgraded my networking skills for a while.