JonMack Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 I have two computers and need to network them & my internet connection.Currently I have this setup:Internet => Wi-Fi Router => iMac ethernetted in => Internet shared via Wi-Fi network from iMac => MacBook ProI used this setup perviously:Internet => Wi-Fi Router => iMac connected via Wi-Fi => Internet shared via ethernet => MacBook ProThe reason I share my internet through my iMac is because I get quite shit wireless signal, and just use my iMac as a repeater so to speak. However I also run nightly backups to my iMac from my MBP, I used to do this via ethernet and obviously it was quite fast.However recently I've had the need to access my iMac when I'm away from home, and havnt been able to do this so I'm going to setup a VPN on it, this is why I'm ethernetted in, so I get max transfer rates from the router.But this then leads me to the problem that my nightly backups run slow as f**k because I'm doing it over wi-fi, so I want to get an ethernet switch/hub to sort this out.I just want to know what thing I need. I want it to go like this.Internet => Wi-Fi Router => Network Hub/Switch sharing internet to => iMac AND MBP via ethernet.What hardware do I need?Where should I buy it?Where's cheapest Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tank_rider Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 get a switch, a hub just evenly distributes the connection between all the pc's, a switch distributes it based on network activity and therefore you'll see the best performance possible from a switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 And you don't really ever get hubs any more.I'm guessing your router only has the one ethernet port? Otherwise just use that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-Stop Junkie Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Eh? Is the wi-fi router actually a router? Does it include a multi-port switch? If the wi-fi box is actually a router and not just an ADSL modem or access-point, then you can get away with a hub which will be a bit cheaper.If you're using a VPN, you'll need a termination point. You'll find though that the Internet connection is the bottle neck here, if you're running 4meg wi-fi even, an 8meg ADSL connection will struggle to fill 4meg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 The other option, if this is just once a day for backups, is to just connect the two computers via a firewire cable. Much simpler and faster than using a switch.The other other option is to just use a crossover ethernet cable and connect the two PCs directly. But that's not as good as the firewire idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Daily backups do you really have data that important?Even still with some decent backup software their shouldn't be a need to move much data only any changed data which shouldn't be too much unless you download gigs a day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMack Posted April 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Not that important, I'm just paranoid and just want my most recent pieces of work on there. When I was letting it backup last night, it was taking ages to scan the target drive which was annoying me.Yeah the wi-fi router is a router. Yes it has a multi port switch. But it's 4 port, and theyre filled by:Xbox, Server, my iMac, my mates computer.Tomm, I didnt think of the firewire idea, that's not a bad plan really.I know the internet connection is gonna be a huge bottleneck for the VPN, it's not gonna be massive stuff I'm transferring anyway so I dont really mind to much, it's either that or just setup an FTP server. Havn't decided yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Not that important, I'm just paranoid and just want my most recent pieces of work on there. When I was letting it backup last night, it was taking ages to scan the target drive which was annoying me.Yeah the wi-fi router is a router. Yes it has a multi port switch. But it's 4 port, and theyre filled by:Xbox, Server, my iMac, my mates computer.Tomm, I didnt think of the firewire idea, that's not a bad plan really.I know the internet connection is gonna be a huge bottleneck for the VPN, it's not gonna be massive stuff I'm transferring anyway so I dont really mind to much, it's either that or just setup an FTP server. Havn't decided yet.Too much bloody spare time . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocks370 Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Have you looked into power over eathernet?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernetjust an idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Have you looked into power over eathernet?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernetjust an ideaI'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMack Posted April 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Too much bloody spare time .Automatic backups at 5am? Took about 10 mins to setup Thanks for the useless link rocks, I wont be clicking that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 (edited) "If you are getting leopard, get and airport extreme base station. The station has a usb port so you can plug in your harddrive and it will be a shared drive and it SHOULD work with time mechine."If you want better wireless, knock down every useless(or every!) wall in your house then no interferences!EDIT : speeched marked bit maybe useless as I just skimmed read it. Edited April 8, 2007 by Joelio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocks370 Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 what you mean?"NETGEAR’s 85 Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Adapter (XE103) is the fast solution for extending your home network by using standard electrical outlets. It delivers everything you need to set up an Internet connection in any room without running new wires."up to 85 MBp/s so much faster than standard 802.11B/G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-Stop Junkie Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Power over Ethernet is a real technology, it's not a joke thing, or something to blow your kit up. It's a way of powering low power equipment (webcams, wi-fi access points) by sending the current down Cat5 cable alongside the data. I don't think you could power a laptop off it though!Networking over mains cable is something very different!Not that important, I'm just paranoid and just want my most recent pieces of work on there.How's about an incremental backup then?Yeah the wi-fi router is a router. Yes it has a multi port switch. But it's 4 port, and theyre filled by:Xbox, Server, my iMac, my mates computer.Dead easy then. Unplug the iMac connection, add a hub on that port, connect the iMac and PB. Small collison domain, shared broadcast domain, jobs a good'un. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Yeah we know power over ethernet is real... It's just that it has nothing to do with this thread. Obviously rocks means something else, which is where the confusion arose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMack Posted April 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Dead easy then. Unplug the iMac connection, add a hub on that port, connect the iMac and PB. Small collison domain, shared broadcast domain, jobs a good'un.Yeah thats what I WANT to do.I was just asking if I needed a hub or a switch to do it, and where I could find a cheap one. Instead I got loadsa bullshit about people asking why I did nightly backups (as if it matters), and telling me to get Leopard and an Airport Extreme base station and knocking down every wall in my house . No one actually seemed to read the question. So thanks for a load of bullshit answers tf, you've really done yourself proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tank_rider Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 get a switch, a hub just evenly distributes the connection between all the pc's, a switch distributes it based on network activity and therefore you'll see the best performance possible from a switch.Yeah thats what I WANT to do.I was just asking if I needed a hub or a switch to do it, and where I could find a cheap one. Instead I got loadsa bullshit about people asking why I did nightly backups (as if it matters), and telling me to get Leopard and an Airport Extreme base station and knocking down every wall in my house . No one actually seemed to read the question. So thanks for a load of bullshit answers tf, you've really done yourself proud.Stop being a spanner, no-one else bothered to answer the question as the first reply pretty much covered all your needs. Oh no i didn't tell you where to buy one from, go look on the net, it would take you 5 mins to find that switches cost pretty much nothing and are available from everywhere that does networking things.Don't be a spanner in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 Yeah thats what I WANT to do.I was just asking if I needed a hub or a switch to do it, and where I could find a cheap one. Instead I got loadsa bullshit about people asking why I did nightly backups (as if it matters), and telling me to get Leopard and an Airport Extreme base station and knocking down every wall in my house . No one actually seemed to read the question. So thanks for a load of bullshit answers tf, you've really done yourself proud.No, look again... you got one question from danny as to why, everyone else just said you were a t00l, they didn't ask why You got plenty of decent answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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