02-07-2023 01:58 AM
currently i have a branch with over 15 racks and each one is using a small 8 port hub which connects to my main switches. As replacing them with switches would be expensive I was wondering if it is ok to have hubs in the network environment for small separate locations?
02-07-2023 03:02 AM - edited 02-07-2023 03:04 AM
@baselzind wrote:
if it is ok to have hubs in the network environment
Same answer I always provide if any of us are asked the question: F**k, NO!
02-07-2023 03:05 AM
Depends on how "busy" the hub connected hosts are and whether traffic is north-south vs. east-west.
If hosts are typical users, odds are in your favor.
In cases when not, try replacing hub with "consumer/home" unmanaged 8 port switch.
BTW, you're sure your "hubs" are not switches (as real hubs are rare to find now a days)?
02-07-2023 03:11 AM
I'm not quiet sure of their type and need further inspection However in case they are actually unmanaged cheap switches are they ok to keep connected to the network?
02-07-2023 03:15 AM
There is no place for an "unmanaged" hub/switch in the network.
02-07-2023 03:58 AM
Okay?
Most would say no, and for good reasons.
However sometimes funding is very limited. If choice is do nothing vs. doing something (less than ideal), I'll do the latter.
02-07-2023 03:44 AM
- In modern networks , hubs are 'far outdated' , look for switches in the small business 'sector' (e.g.) , several arguments can be provided , one of the most important ones is Network Access Control (e.g.)
M.
03-04-2023 10:43 PM
please would someone clarify what harm can a hub or an unamanged switch do to a network?
03-05-2023 12:08 AM
- Switches provide network segregation of hosts , providing better and more performant network services, better host management access control, security (NAC) such as port (user) management options , dedicated network settings for a host (speed/duplex) , vlan separation (for instance) , ...
M.
03-05-2023 12:08 AM - edited 03-05-2023 12:27 AM
@baselzind wrote:
please would someone clarify what harm can a hub or an unamanged switch do to a network?
In a blink of an eye, an unmanaged switch or a hub can take your network down due to spanning-tree loop. And that's only for beginners.
How about a hub or an unmanaged switch can introduce an ingress threat vector for hackers into your network.
Permit me to tell everyone a nice story: In one of my job, we had a site that had a network cabinet. In the cabinet were our (corporate) switch gear, a vendor network gear and another network gear. One of the vendor gear had a DSL link connected to it. The decision to locate the two vendor switches in the same cabinet was outside our control. The vendors demand a space. But we were explicit that both vendor switches need to be different colored patch cables, which, of course the site did not follow. We also warned the site never to patch any of the switches together.
One day, that site called up to report a severity 1 incident. To make matters worse, the site contact did not follow protocols and rang up our head honcho. Basically, they "escalated" without any trouble tickets raised.
The incident was around the corporate network stopped. Printing stopped. VoIP stopped. Nothing worked. NOTHING. When we remoted into the site's network everything was topsy turvy. Everything was sporting a 192.168.X.X IP address. We spent about two hours troubleshooting without any result. Until someone accidentally found out that one of access ports suddenly had 50 MAC addresses attached to it.
We pulled all the MAC addresses and ran all of them into an OUI identifier. And then one of them stood out. A big f*cking switch.
Well, I lost it and I saw red. I called up the person who reported the severity 1 incident and yelled screamed at him (including threats to bodily harm). It was one thing to report an incident a "severity 1" without a ticket but it was something else if it was a "self-inflicted injury" and they wanted someone to blame.
03-05-2023 11:16 PM
so that unmanaged switch caused a L2 loop?
03-05-2023 11:23 PM
No, the unmanaged switch took down the network of that site because it was dishing out IP addresses.
03-06-2023 07:40 AM
". . . unmanaged switch . . . was dishing out IP addresses."
Really!!! Whose brand and specific model switch was it?
I ask because I've very, very surprised any unmanaged switch would dish out IPs (via DHCP?).
Re-reading you description of the incident, was possibly the unmanaged switch an unmanaged router ("DSL link connected to it") with a (switch) bank of built-in LAN ports? If so, such a device giving out IP addresses wouldn't be surprising, and usually would expect such a device to have some very basic management support (usually via a web interface). (BTW, having used a few such devices, myself, what you can manage on them can vary greatly, including not being even able to disable some features, possibly like DHCP running on its LAN ports.)
03-06-2023 04:45 PM
@Joseph W. Doherty wrote:
If so, such a device giving out IP addresses wouldn't be surprising, and usually would expect such a device to have some very basic management support (usually via a web interface).
The switch is (present tense, still there) one of two vendor networks in the cabinet. It was dishing out DHCP and the vendor probably did not know what is the management IP address of their switch is.
03-07-2023 03:22 PM
hi leo,
you should watch out for your BP
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