Adding more workstations to a network

Nutter helps a user decide which path to take in adding more workstations to a server

We wish to add another 10 clients to one of our networked rooms and have run out of network ports on the wall. We have 25 ports in the wall. Should I contact the cabling company and have it add another 10 ports or can I buy a 16-port switch and add the PCs to that?  Would this be more cost effective and would it slow the network?

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The way for you to connect your new workstations to the network depends in part on how busy your network is in terms of how active the workstations are sending/receiving to the server.  One way of looking at this is to see what kind of load your server is under. Check the server console to see how active the processors are, how busy the disk channel stays, etc.

While putting another switch downstream of your existing hub/switch is an option, keep in mind that if the card in the server, the cable between the new switch and the other hub/switch or the hub/switch and the server, or the existing hub/switch fails or has a problem, it could take your whole network down.  If you’re going to add a switch, think about spending a few dollars and adding a second network card in the server and running your new switch connected to the second card.  This will keep you from having all your  workstations down at once due to a single hub/switch or cable failing. 

When you have the new cabling pulled, consider spending a little more money and have extra wire pulled.  The labor is what will probably cost the most.  Having some extra cable pulled could save you money down the road and give you few more connections without having to spend more money to get it installed later.