amusement

200 machines on the same hub ... what does spanning tree look like? Sounds like a performance hit.

Perfer switches because of their ability to isolate "verbose" data link clients on the network. Bridges are cool if you want to use a network analyzer like ethereal.

ldivinag

sheeeet... the worse part is our file servers is on the same hub, if you can believe that...

our part of the building was the first to get network and in typical government thinking, we got left out. plus they keep telling us, "wait for your new building..."

GRRRRRRRRR

MvCrash

Greetings,
Switches and hubs are quite different. Even if the switch is unmanaged it is much better than a hub. Hubs share bandwidth ie: 10 ports, 10 machines, 100 mb = each machine gets to use 10mb if they are all operational. Switch is much different. 10 ports, 10 machines, 100 mb = all machines operate at 100 mb.
I would NOT use a hub. Switches are so cheap today, why buy a hub. Also, a good managed switch will allow some security depending on the firmware.

My 2 cents.

MV
127.0.0.1

MvCrash

You need a new network dude......dude!!!

200 machines even on a 100 mb hub is LOW, very LOW bandwidth.....TOO low to be worth it.

MV

MTL_4runner

I just got a D-Link Di-524 wireless setup and it works very nice for a SOHO.
I can believe I went without wireless for as long as I did!
I will say that for a wireless noob like me it was very easy to set up with my new laptop.

amusement

I have jumped the gun and started using Linux with my wireless this week. Netgear MA101 version A plus desknote 928A running mandrake. 128-bit WEP (wish for WPA 256-bit) encrytped with non-broadcast SSID (ESSID for linux users).

amusement

About hubs ...

I once worked for a mult-billion dollar company whom used Bay 5000 hubs and Cabeltron hubs for their manufactering. I was blown away. There were two to three levels of these 250 port hubs. The spanning tree logrythem was staggering and amount of "noise" from clients and servers was choking the back planes (buses) on these hubs. It was a hackers dream come true. Denial of service without even trying.

MvCrash

Greetings,
I'm almost positive that a Hub does not utiize the spanning tree protocol. I'm pretty sure that a hub relies on the NIC card sensing the collisions between packets and then re-broadcasting according to the ethernet standard as compared to the complex algorithm used by Spanning tree.
Ethernet is CSMA/CD or Carrier sense Multiple access with collsion detection which is the protocol built into the NIC Card and has the NIC card wait a random period of time before attmepting to re-broadcast the packet or frame there. The Hub just carries the electrical impulses to each computer and the NIC card either accepts the packet or drops it.

MV

amusement

good point ... i was thinking. Perhaps I was thinking about intel hub/switch POS that runs STP.

Hubs run bridging data protocol .... my bad.

User 051420

I'm bringing this back from the recent dead..I live on campus in a dorm of a relatively small school (3k students). Last Thursday, my internet connection was shut off because I have a wireless access point. Just found this out today too.... Anyways, the IT dork refuses to let me keep my wireless access point as it poses a security risk. It was using WPA, and the network was "closed" meaning it didn't broadcast it's network name. I even offered to allow access only to my MAC address, and decrease the transmitting power to as little as possible. This guy still refuses, as it poses a security risk and he supposedly "cracked" my WPA key.

Is there anything else I could possibly do to make this crap "more secure"? More software, more hardware?

HELP! a 15" Cat 5 cable isn't cutting it..

data

Well there is not much else you can do. Make him show you the wep key that he cracked. Personally I wouldn't want it on my network, but at a school there are probalby other issues he needs to address besides some wireless AP. At least you have it locked down pretty much. Were you running 128 bit encryption? He just has nothing else better to do......

amusement

Just extending a little bit more on data's comments.

WEP is crackable if there is enough "interesting" packets. If you change your WEP 128-bit keys then its harder for the hacker to crack your wireless. Disable broadcast of the SSID, as you did, is a small step in securing your wireless. MAC addresses can be spoofed.

Checkout www.thebroken.org ... its a cool underground video of some general hacking info about wireless.

User 051420

Thanks guys.. Looks like I'm SOL. The only "risk" I see is overusage of bandwith. This AP only puts me out about 50 feet with 802.11g anyways. My connection puts me on the student domain, which is heavily firewalled, and the security is on THEIR end as it should be. Non-students can go into the library and get on the SAME exact domain for free. I don't see what the issue would be if that person were to do anything from my IP (except hold me responsible).

Is there any way I can "hide" my access point on the network? I'm pretty sure that not broadcasting the SSID doesn't make me completely invisible to anybody who wants to know I'm here.

I've been using "WPA Personal Encryption", I assume I should have been using 128 Bit WEP. Either way, why was this jerk looking to "crack" my key? I call BS on him now.

Believe it or not, I'm a first semester Computer Network major. Yet, I'm STUCK in REQUIRED classes like "Windows XP" and "Hardware Maint." and not really learning anything usefull.

Lets not forget, this is RURAL WYOMING!!! Nothing happens here!

User 051420

If this wired internet gets totally insane, I'm getting 3mbps Cable and sharing it all I freakin want! No, it isn't a T3..but it's MINE.

amusement

I got good news and I got some bad news Gapguy.

The good news yes its all your 3 meg per second.
Bad news is your limited by the upload speed of 256K per second.

Sorry.

amusement

Stay awake during Windows XP class and learn about hash password schemes. It might come in hand latter when you forgot yours and need to recover it.

User 051420

Heh..thanks for the news...

My XP class is far more basic. As of right now, the rest of the class is learning about start menu customization while I surf YotaTech.
I don't forget my passwords AND I'm a Mac guy (XP convert)!

I just found out that I am allowed to have a router/switch/hub as long as it's wired. So from their remote standpoint, they couldn't tell if I were wireless or not. I'm fairly certain they'll come sniffing around for my signal though.

User 051420

NAZI's, I SAY!!! NAZI's!!!

amusement

Suggest using a router ... four port switch integrated .... firewall ... network address translation to be on the safe side. I pick Linksys but, Netgear is ok.

I say make your own domain controller in class ... it's kaos but, it will increase the learning curve of everyone.

User 051420

My XP class is FULL of middle aged females who are taking a break from their quilt guild meeting to get learned about these new fangled devices. Gimmmmeee a break!