Beating the dead horse...

[Pigeon]

I'm trying to upgrade the old 10mbit hub I'm currently using, and can't for the life of me find a hub (100mbit =P) that's not really a switch. I'm using a cheap linksys router from CompUSA, and would like to keep using it, because it can be on 24/7 without driving up the powerbill, and I dual boot the linux box I use to run showeq and my other EQ acct. (whilst there probably is a nat server for win98 but I'm not getting anywhere near it) I'd like seq functionality with the performance of a switch... (it takes almost half an hour to transfer a divx from my roommate's to my computer over the 10mbit connection...)

Both my windows/EQ box and my linux/SEQ box have 100mbit net cards, and I've trading adding random 10mbit devices to the hub/switch to try and force it into hub mode, still no dice. And no, ethereal didn't pick anything up either. Latest attempt was a SMC EZ Hub 10/100 dual-speed hub... model number SMC-EZ5805DS

Are there any solutions other than using your SEQ box as a router or using a real honest to goodness hub? Is there any way to jury-rig the linux box to capture packets not normally pointed at it? Any freeware windows apps that captures network traffic and forwards it somewhere else? Or has all of this been done already and I just never read the thread?

This doesn't sound like a problem that's going to go away, either... The only reason to buy a hub instead of a switch (other than showeq) is because it's cheaper, and on a 5 port hub there's virtually no price difference anymore...

-Pigeon

[fryfrog]

you still have your crappy 10mbit hub right? get one of those linksys switch-hubs that will become a 100mbit hub with a 10mbit device hooked up... plug in your 10mbit hub to that, then plug your router into the 10mbit hub.

or, just plugging the hub with nothing hooked up to it, and it performing upload will count as a 10mbit device hooked to your 10/100 switch-hub.

thats basically how i get around the issue.

my router is a 10mbit device, hooked to a 5port 10/100 hubswitch. then, anything that needs to sniff is hooked to THIS hub. it is then daisychained down to an 8port hub with all 100mbit devices (hub-switch running in switch mode). since all traffic goes from 8port switch(hub) -> 5port hub(hub) -> internet, i can sniff all i want :)

really it just takes a few moments of creative networking.

**i have two of the linksys hub-switches, one is older and square shaped, the other is newer and more... stylin ;)

[Yueh]

Rube Goldberg would be proud

[fryfrog]

who is Rube Goldberg?

[Yueh]

Take a look here:

http://www.rube-goldberg.com/html/gallery.htm

[lostpacket]

ROFL Rube - that's a name I haven't heard in awhile! Thanks for that nugget of joy

[onnatop]

I use a small 8 or 10 port (don't honestly remember!) NetGear 10/100 hub. Works fine, cost about $100, can hook up my 10Mb DSL modem to it and my computers to it at 100Mb, no problem with SEQ.

[S_B_R]

Maybe we should start a list of 10/100 hubs that are known to work..? I personally have the Rube Goldberg style network topology..

       Cable Modem
           ||
       10baseT hub
      ||         ||
Linux NAT Box  SEQ Box
      ||
  10/100Switch
  ||        ||
EQBox    Other PC(s)

The Box I'm using for NAT doesn't have the horseporwer (120mhz Cyrix) to keep up with SEQ, or I would be using that. Once I get off my lazy a$$ I'll junk my current NAT box and rebuild my current SEQ box to do NAT And SEQ.

[Ataal]

Here is the 10/100 hub that I am using:

D-Link DFE-904 Fast _ST-NW-DLI0581 1 24.00

Bought it from SHENTECH.

My setup is :

ISP----DSL modem----linksys router/switch----10/100 hub----SEQ machine and EQ machine.

Works great for me.

[pha|con]

For me it's:

cable modem
      ||
NAT/SEQ linux box
      ||
Netgear EN104TP hub
     ||          ||
EQ comp   Other Comps

Note: The hub does not have to perform as a hub, only as a switch in this scenario.

[Ataal]

"Note: The hub does not have to perform as a hub, only as a switch in this scenario. "

They perform the same function.....A switch IS a hub, except that it's a "smart" hub, it doesn't pass through broadcasts that can bog down networks. Thus a hub cannot perform as a switch unless it is indeed a switch.

You may have meant something other than what you wrote down, in which case I'm sorry for sounding redundant, but I didn't want any networking noobs getting confused.

[S_B_R]

Originally posted by Ataal
You may have meant something other than what you wrote down, in which case I'm sorry for sounding redundant, but I didn't want any networking noobs getting confused.

Judging from his diagram, I think he ment, the hub could be a hub or a switch, and it wouldn't matter. Since SEQ is running on the NAT box...

[fryfrog]

or unless its one of those infernal switch-hubs :)

[Ataal]

Exactly, that's why I said if he meant something else, than I appologize. But, the way he said it sounded like a hub could perform as a switch...in fact he said "only" as a switch. I just wanted to clarify things...I think you'll all agree that there is alot of misinformation posted here at times.

[n-sane]

Not sure if anyone cares, but this comes up so often and most people seem to be only partially or completely educated on the difference, so this looks like a good place for a post.

HUB - Used to be known as a "multiport repeater". This device simply duplicates network traffic on ALL ports. A hub takes Packet A that comes in on Port 1 and sends it to ALL ports. A hub is a layer 1 device. It does not look at or care about the contents of the Ethernet packets.

SWITCH - A switch is a layer 2 device. It examines the MAC layer addresses on all packets and keeps them in a table (called a MAC table). It then uses this table for directing Ethernet traffic to the appropriate port. Given the following scenario:

Switch Port 1: Device A - MAC address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Switch Port 2: Device B - MAC address yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
Switch Port 3: Device C - MAC address zz:zz:zz:zz:zz:zz

When Device A sends a packet that is destined to Device B the traffic will go in Port 1 and ONLY go out Port 2. It will NOT be present on Port 3 because the switch has learned these MAC addresses and knows that Device B has a MAC of yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy and is on Port 2, so it only sends the packet to Port 2.

Broadcast traffic is sent to all ports.
Everquest traffic is NOT broadcast traffic. A broadcast packet has a destination MAC of FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF.

10/100 "HUB" - BAH these things are a wreck, but they are taking over the home/small office market. Each manufacturer probably does things differently. The basic concept is that the device internally has a 10M hub and a 100M hub connected together via a 2 port switch. It then assigns each port to one of those hubs when a device is connected based on it's media type. Most of these units will act like a hub for all ports of the same media type, so all 100M devices will see each others traffic, but they may not see the 10M devices traffic unless it is directed specifically to them. I saw one of these devices that even put all the 10M traffic on the 100M segement, just didn't put the 100M traffic on the 10M segment. Your milage may vary.

If you need to move enough local traffic to warrant a 100M switch but still want seq, the 1 Hub 1 Switch solution is going to work everytime. If you have a 10M hub and it is working properly, don't mess with upgrading unless you have a specific reason. Unless you're moving a tremendous amount of data around <like entire Divx movies, Pigeon =P> you're probably not going to be able to tell the difference in network performance. Your 10M hub is good for about 3Mbits/sec of actual network traffic. Most Cable/DSL services are 1Mbit or less.