Network hubs are a staple in small networks, server farms and workgroups.  The 24 port hub is the biggest of these network hubs and allows 24 Ethernet connections with a single box.  Many 24 port hubs are stackable to allow more than one network hub to be chained together within the same network.

The word Hub is sometimes used by manufactures instead of words like Repeater and Switch even though network hubs and repeaters are the same but switches are not.  Switches play a more active roll than their passive hub cousins.  They allow the passing of data between specific devices and computers connected to the switch.  For instance, one computer can send data to another computer on the switch without sending it to the others that may be connected or causing any interference to other devices on the network switch.  If your 24 port Ethernet hub is actually a 24 port switch you will have this added advantage but a clever hacker could connect two ports on the switch in a loop and cause a network crash which will not happen with a hub since the all devices on a network hub share the same data and cannot be looped.

24 port hubs can do some things that only  a much more expensive 24 port switch can do an inexpensive one cannot.  Any network hub can copy all their traffic and repeat it to multiple receptors and this feature is called port mirroring on a switch but is only available on very high end switches.  The main advantage of hubs over switches is their affordability.

Most 24 port hubs are used to create a Local Area Network (LAN) in small to medium sized businesses.  This allows all the computer users in the business to share information in a closed environment that is productive but still safe from outside intrusion.  Whatever your reasons for needing a 24 port hub, you are sure not to be disappointed and neither will your wallet if you choose one over a 24 port switch.

Many manufacturers make 24 port hubs.

Would a company be interested in increasing their worker productivity and decreasing costs? Of course they would! What company wouldn’t be interested in cutting costs and increasing productivity. While there are many ways and opinions about the best way to cut costs, we are going to talk about one of the least expensive and popular ways to do this, a server farm. When you are finished reading this article you will be equipped with a few of the tools necessary to reduce company costs. With all of that being said, lets go ahead and get started and save some money!

You may have heard the term “server farm” and scratched your head thinking are there animals on this “farm”? Well, the answer is no, there are no farm animals running around here! A server farm or cluster, as it is called, is comprised of servers that can range in number from a few servers to thousands of servers. And all the servers are located in a single location. Server farms are equipped with the task and primary goal of distributing data requests across multiple servers more quickly than a single server is capable of doing.

There are a few basic tools that are needed to create a server farm. Don’t worry about us getting to technical. Our primary goal is to cover the basics of a server farm so you have a better understanding of how a server farm works. The first device you are going to need are the servers themselves. Server farms typically consist of a few servers all the way up to thousands of servers! Regardless if you network has 2 servers or 2000 servers the basics are the same across the board. Once you know the number of servers that are in your network the next step is to physically connect the Ethernet cables from the servers to your 24 port Ethernet hub (if you have more than 24 servers in your farm you will need to get 2 or 3 or more 24 port Ethernet hubs). The next step is to connect the Ethernet, or fiber cable from one 24 port Ethernet hub to the next hub. You keep connecting the cables between the hubs until all the hubs are connected to each other via the cables. Next, after the physical connections have been made between all the hubs you physically connect the cables from the primary 24 port hub to your router. You now have in place all the ingredients to create a server farm!

Most modern and sophisticated medium to large size Local Area Networks (LANs) employ the use of a 24 Port Switch.  A network switch takes the incoming signal from a router and connects it to all the computers like an intelligent splitter.  Options to consider when purchasing a 24 Port Switch will be the complexities of you LAN configuration.  For a system with literally no features besides internet connectivity and sharing files between connected computers only a layer 2 switch is need but for complex website hosting servers and different password levels a more complex switch may be needed from 3, 4 or even 7 layer 24 Port switches.  If you are just connecting a LAN for sharing files and no Internet access you may consider a 24 Port Hub instead.  A 24 Port Hub is less expensive but has much less in terms of extra features.

Connecting your home or office LAN is not that difficult.  You will need a high speed internet service such as Cable, DSL, Satellite, or T1 and up connection.  The more computers that will simultaneously be using the Internet at once the fast connection you many want to get.  This connection comes in through a modem with is then connected to a router.  Most routers have small switches built in, mainly 4 or less connections.  To hook in your 24 Port Switch, just connect output number one on your router to the input on your 24 Port Switch with an Ethernet Cable.  Then connect each computer to an output on the 24 Port Switch.  Each computer will require it’s own Ethernet Cable for the connection.

Other options available on Network Switches will be the option to rackmount if your equipment is stored in a rack or 10/100 speed which means it will work with both other computer systems and also newer ones at the same time without any problems.

You shouldn’t feel like you need to employ an IT professional to set up your LAN.  It is easy with the steps I have laid out and most network switches come with software as well that make set up even easier.