🚀 go-pugleaf

Kinda vague subject line, but...

I'm planning our networking layout for a building we'll be moving into
sometime next fall. The whole place will be wired for 10bT, and I have the
option of tying each workstation (fancy name for a desk) into either the
ethernet hub or an appletalk hub (via RJ45 patch cables). There will be
~50 desks in the place, mostly using appletalk.

What I've been considering, very strongly, is to use GatorStar GX's. That
gives me 24 ports, and there are "x4" interfaces available, so I can do
the whole building with roughly no more than 2 macs/port. Not bad.
However, I see the amount of traffic thru the GatorStar climbing pretty
dramatically - the overall networking strategy at our site seems to be
pointing toward file and application servers, most of which will live on
the ethernet side of things, so I may end up choking off my gateway.

I can solve that by using two GatorStars, w/ ~1 device/port. Lower atalk
loads, lower gateway loads.

My question: If I want all the Macs to be able to talk to each other,
what's the best way to accomplish that? Do I IP tunnel from one Gator to
the other, even tho they're likely to reside in the same rack? Can I link
them together via atalk (doesn't seem likely, but I'm no expert)?

Email or post, and thanks!
 
                tom coradeschi    <+>    tcora@pica.army.mil

PS: Another idea is to go wild buying ethernet cards, but I'm not sure I
want to do that. Am I wrong?