My new Dell server running Novell 6.5 supports 60+ users. The network connections are via one 10/100 unmanaged switch with three other 10/100 switches connected to that. Since the server NIC on the motherboard is rated 1Gb, I am obviously wasting bandwidth, and all my network is running at 100Mb. A 4-port 10/100/1000 switch is quite cheap, and I would like to ask if there would be any noticeable gain in attaching a 1gb switch directly to the motherboard NIC, and daisy-chaining all four 10/100 switches off it. In other words, due to the store-and-forward elements of a switch the server might be able to work faster, effectively driving more than one 10/100 switch at a time. There is also a second 100Mb NIC card in the server, and I am pretty sure the server can quite easily drive two NICs at once, so maybe there is also a choice to be made between a flat network structure or a segmented one. Anybody like to comment on the sort of performace improvements of each approach?

There is NO WAY anyone would be able to correctly identify that without a network analysis....YOU HAVE TO KNOW what traffic is running on your network. I just finished doing a network analysis last week at a company that was a complete Windows shop, and found IPX running. I found the culprit, turned it off, and voila bandwidth improved. My recommendation, you could do it the professional way, and install something like a Converged Access QoSWorks box that would identify all your traffic by application, and IP addresses, or short, though lower reliablity method, would be to just buy a Gig switch and see if performance increase.... I would recommend that with that many users and consideration for a Gig, go ahead and get a managed switch, start VLANing off your traffic...if your trying to improve network then at least do that. D

You don't say why you are chaining hubs or if they are all in the same building. Makes a difference. You do not need to analyze your network. This is simple topology design. Yes you will get an improvement running gig to the distribution switch [4port gig switch] but if you really want to optimize put in something like a HP4000 with a gig copper module. This would allow all the pcs to connect into the switch and from there to the server at gigabit. Otherwise you would be better off replacing the switches with ones that have/can have a gigabit uplink [unless you can add a module to the existing one] Segmenting the network may add a performance boost or it may slow down your server due to the extra processing from routing between nics. Better is adapter teaming which is where you combine the nics [I use intels] for double the bandwidth. but you have to have a backbone switch that supports this.