Surgery - A note of festive cheer adds sparkle to network mayhem

Q: We recently upgraded our network hub to a 10Mbps switch. However,he networking market, and here are a few of those seasonal predicaments. we have noticed some pretty poor performance since installing it a few months ago. Each user is connected to a dedicated port and, as much as I understand the technology, this should mean that each user has a dedicated 10Mbps connection.

Right?

A: Yes, that's correct. Each user directly connected to the switch has a dedicated 10Mbps connection. However, performance is directly proportionate to the number of LEDs on the front panel. If your switch has a lot of LEDs, performance will be excellent. On the other hand, if your switch only has a bare minimum of LEDs then we're afraid performance will be poor.

One thing we'd like to see more of is LEDs. Sure there's a functional side to all those flashing green, amber and red lights, but don't you think they look pretty too? We feel that vendors should add random pattern generators to the front panels of their network products, whether they be switches, hubs, routers or whatever, so that they will flash away merrily in their racks, and make your comms room look more cheery.

It's also the perfect solution for Christmas decorations, what with the season of goodwill only a few weeks away. If you have a sturdy enough tree, and long enough cables, you could always decorate the tree with your network equipment. Otherwise, just apply tinsel and snow spray to add that seasonal touch to your comms cabinet.

Q: If SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, then why is my network - five Unix servers, three NT servers and approximately 5, 000 users using a mixture of Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, NT Workstation and Unix, spread across six different offices in three separate countries - such a pain in the backside to manage, configure, optimise and generally keep up and running?

A: Unfortunately the term simple just describes the protocol rather than the actual features it provides. It is one of many industry contradictions that we have come to know and love, such as SMTP, the Simple Mail Transport Protocol, TFTP, the Trivial File Transfer Protocol and stuff like 'plug and play'.

Perhaps the most bizarre one is 'structured cabling'. Take a close look at your wiring closet and see just how neat and tidy all those patch cables and everything are.

Standards committees are another fine bunch, although working for the greater good of the networking community they can be very fickle organisations.

Standards often take ages to ratify and even then a few small, but major, details are missed out and so we have to wait for version two! Much like Windows 95, I guess, which has to go down in history as the world's greatest beta test program.

We digress. Network management can be tricky, but our benchtest, starting on page 41 of this issue, will guide you through the many pitfalls you may encounter.

Q: I run a small gift distribution centre that has a worldwide presence. My network consists of three separate systems; manufacturing, picking and packing, and distribution. Both manufacturing and picking and packing networks use DWARF version 3.5, while the distribution network uses REINDEER version 2.0. Obviously the two network systems are not compatible as they are, so do you have any suggestions for linking the two?

A: What you are going to need is some kind of translator to sit between the two systems. Now, unfortunately, because these are two very different networks you will need some sophisticated kit to handle the conversion from one system to the other and back again. However, a few Japanese electronics companies have developed products that can translate between DWARF and REINDEER, and vice versa. There have been one or two problems with different versions of DWARF, but as these devices aren't too expensive you should buy a selection and see how you get on.