I would like to extend my lan, to outside my house and along the street, I know very little about networking but can manualy setup tcp/ip to work and i understand the principles of hubs/switches but thats all. What i need to know is will an 80 port MMAC-M5FNB with M5MPSM redundant power supplies 8x TPRIMM-22 10base-T hub cards suit my needs? Would be very gratefull if someone can help or has used one, I understand it needs programming, does it need programming for the bare minimum working network? I know it could also be done better by chaining hubs and I will have to buy more wire but I am skint and the unit is cheep.

Thanks if you can help.:D

Sounds like some old Cabletron equipment. I may be able to dredge up some old knowledge.

If I remember correctly the TPRIMM is a repeater module, so unless you're needing to manage it remotely you shouldn't need to do anything with it. The MMAC has three backplanes, A, B, and C. Each of the cards will have a jumper on it to select which backplane to use. Set them all the same, pop 'em in, and you should be good to go.

Richard

Yes your correct, it is cabletron equiptment, I dont know anything about it at all.

Please forgive my ignorance, the "TPRIMM is a repeater module" there are 8 of these that look like they slot into the main chassis.
I dont know what a repeater module is... I mean is this equiptment just a very large 10baseT hub? or does it do other things like can i make one TPRIMM to act as a hub and another as a router? I am completely lost.

I am considering either buying 16/24 pt 10base T or this cabletron, would you reccomend the cabletron with that in mind?

Of course i would realy appreciate any info you can give me at all about it.

And, did these units get used in ISPs?

Thanks

You're going to share your connection with your whole neighbourhood? :eek:

I can get it for £15, if it does what a 3com 8 prt 10base T does then it will do me. Also i would like 2 seperate intranet hubs, one windows one linux. And I want to plug in a 24 stack of 486s for other purposes. Then i want to have some lines left over for other things like some long wires to peoples houses. I will be using a 56k and a 512k connection. Not quite the whole hood.:)

But will the cabletron do this?

Thankyou for your post Noldar, I managed to get hold of the manual for the unit which makes things much clearer, on reading it I see that It siad just what you said. The unit wont do everything i need but will do most, it also has an EMME So I buy it and play with it :D

Cheers.

If all you have are the 10baseT hub cards then you basicly have, just like you said, a very large 10baseT hub.

I think the EMME is a management module. The management module allows you to enable/disable ports and probably change some other settings. It should have a console port on it to access the management functions and if you had the Lanview/Spectrum software you could manage it from your PC. I don't remember if they had telnet access.

Cabletron made all sorts of cards that could go into the MMAC chassis. Routers, bridges, repeaters, terminal servers, etc. I thought the TPRIMM sounded like one of the repeater cards (a repeater just regenerates a signal), but it's been a while since I've worked with any of the Cabletron stuff.

I may still have some documentation lying around the office. I'll check and see if I have anything on that card. I think I may even have some old Cabletron gear boxed up in storage. I have a Cabletron T-shirt too :stickout

I'm still not exactly sure what you're trying to do, but yes, the Cabletron stuff should do the same thing as the 3com hub.

Richard

The EMME does have a console port, what im trying to do is firstly build a linux cluster for rendering my 3D meshes, I also want to learn about clustering, thats the main and first thing i want to do with it. BEOWULF! :D

Idealy i would like to create at least three seperate networks from it, one for out of building, one for cluster, one for some in house windows boxes. Having a router and a bridge would be the biz!

Networks is something i know little about so i think maybe this is a good place to start? hehehe.

Anything you can find / DIG on it will be very much appreciated.:D

Ive just found out it weighs in at 38kg! Arrrgghhh!

On that note im finaly going to sleep.

Thanks for your great help Richard, your a star!:D

Kind regards
Scott

I dug up some of my old documentation and found some more documentation on the web. Here's the website address for all the Cabletron documentation:

http://www.enterasys.com/support/manuals/

The TPRMIM is a 10baseT hub card with a repeater module built in. That means each port has it's signal regenerated. Most 10baseT hubs do not regenerate the signal.

The EMME is actually a router module, so you could possibly use it to connect to DSL or something along those lines . It would definitely require some configuration though.

Just for kicks I went and dug through some boxes in storage and came up with the following stuff:

(2) MMAC-M3FNB - 3 slot chassis
(2) ETSMIM - 16 port Terminal Server Module
(2) IRBM - Repeater Bridging Module with AUI & Fiber
(1) IRM - Repeater Module with (2) AUI & (1) 10base2
(2) CSMIM2 - 16 port Communications Server Module
(1) CRM - Cisco Router/Bridging Module

At one time our corporate network was all Cabletron equipment. We replaced it all when we upgraded to 100mbit.

Richard

Heh, I'm upgrading a facility now that's using MMACs, FMS hubs, and cameo boxes on a ThickNET backbone, not to mention the Annex boxes scattered throughout, 4 ports of which are actually still in use, lol.

My advice, stay away from the MMAC, or any repeater technology for that matter.

Also, how do you plan on extending the network down the street? Cat 5 across the yard, lol? You'll need to run outside plant if you're planning on running out of doors, as well as surge protection at every point of entry.

Anyways, if you run anything over 100 meters, you'll have to regenerate the signal as well.

I'm a network engineer and I hate seeing stuff slapped together, but honestly, the Cabletron box should work fine for what you're asking.

(2) MMAC-M3FNB - 3 slot chassis
(2) ETSMIM - 16 port Terminal Server Module
(2) IRBM - Repeater Bridging Module with AUI & Fiber
(1) IRM - Repeater Module with (2) AUI & (1) 10base2
(2) CSMIM2 - 16 port Communications Server Module
(1) CRM - Cisco Router/Bridging Module *:D

Wow! I wish I could afford the postage, but moneys tight at the mo as im unemployed. But thankyou for the info, when I get my money sorted out I will get back to you if I do implement this system.

Thankyou again, your advice has been most helpfull.


MDJ2000
My advice, stay away from the MMAC,
Interesting.

Why do you say this? The reason I am planning this type of system is because of the price. Do you think it will cause me more problems than it is worth in the future?

Given what i am trying to do and that I know nothing about this area can you suggest another solution?

This is a hobby at the moment, not a commercal project.:D

Sorry to confuse, the MMAC should be fine for a home lan. Just make sure you get everything you need from the start as this gear isn't manufactured anymore. I'd suggest getting some extra cards and such in case you have a failure.

Just curious, how many ports do you need?

I need about 40-45, but idealy I want 3 hubs, 1*24 / 1*16 / 1*8

Yes, the availability of spares is a worry if I begin to depend upon it, the fans cost a lot I see and there could be other complications

Now that I am thinking about it more seriously this could be a big problem if anything goes wrong.

I will think about it....

It depends upon what else I can find, of course a couple of 10baseT 24prts would do the trick.

The preffered method for me is switches but. well thats going to cost me too much so I will see what spares are available from what sources in the UK, If I can get enough bits I will certainly go ahead.

If anyone in the UK has a spare (large) switching hub they dont need I am interested in buying it.

I will ponder for a couple of days.:)

You guys have been very helpfull, I have been checking out all the points you have both mentioned and am now have a greater knowledge of my situ, hopefully enough to choose the correct combination of equiptment.

Again thankyou.