Finally compared Daisy chaining vs star topology for a big office network...

Had a client with 30 desks in a warehouse space in Tulsa. I was about to run daisy chain drops like I always did but then I got a quote for a proper star setup with a 48 port switch. The cost was about $400 more in cable and switch upgrades... but the daisy chain test showed 15% packet loss after the 4th hop. Star topology gave them full gigabit to every desk with zero errors. Has anyone else run into serious issues chaining more than 6 devices?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinl907d ago

The Tulsa warehouse job had 28 desks and I went daisy chain first to save money. After the 5th hop the latency spiked so bad people couldn't even load their email. I had to tear it all out and run star topology with a 48 port switch like you did. @jamesblack is right, star is the only way once you go past maybe 4 or 5 devices. I learned that the hard way wasting a whole weekend fixing my mistake.

jamesblack7d ago

Man I learned that same lesson wiring up a friend's office, star is the only way to go for more than a handful of desks.