What's the best way to connect 300+ school computers to the web?

I'm not a techie, but I need to connect about 312 computers to the web and I need to do it as cheaply as possible. (School budget).



The quirks of this job are these: All the computers are in nearby rooms, and we have free, unlimited access to ethernet cable.



Can I just get fourteen 24-port hubs (each of which will connect to 24 computers) and then daisy-chain those 14 hubs to a main hub and then connect that directly to our incoming connection?



I know that's not very elegant, but I suppose my main question is - will it work?

What's the best way to connect 300+ school computers to the web?
The last I checked, you could only reliably chain hubs 3 deep. So, as long as you keep it under that you should be OK. Sometimes, just multiplying doesn't suffice because it doesn't work out to be handy for the numbers you need to connect in each room. If each room has 24 or fewer computers, or closer to 48, you're in luck. If each needs 30, the design might need some reworking, because it's trickier to wire it to have a single hub serve 6 from this room and 6 from that, etc.



When you say "ethernet cable" are you using real coax (thick or thin), or Cat-5, or Cat-10? With or without conduit? There are local fire safety regulations you should check that are often more stringent for schools.
Reply:Your idea is pretty much how large networks like schools are built. Those 24 hubs (each of which could serve a classroom) are then chained to another hub, which connects to the main PC that connects to the internet.
Reply:You definitely don't want to use hubs. They will drastically affect the available bandwidth on your network. I would look for some managed Cisco switches and a router. If you're not already using a firewall, I'd look at a Pix Firewall or something similar. I would look around locally for someone willing to help with the design since you don't want to leave yourself open to security issues.



The basics are real simple though, you just stack switches together. A good switch for your needs would probably be a Cisco 2960, a nice basic 48 port switch.



Checkout techsoup.org, they help schools and non-profits find cheap solutions to their needs.
Reply:It might work, but not very well. You'll want manageable switches to build a switched network. Hubs do not scale well. This is not a trivial project and has many variables depending upon you physical location.



Where will the switched be located? How are the hosts to be wired to the switches? Network drops? Uplinks?



You might want to segment your network too, 300 host in one LAN is a lot.



Maybe you can post some more details about your site and requirements?
Reply:your going to need descent switches from cisco or go the dell route:



http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/produ...



this is not a cheap project around 15k easily