Creating a Functional Network for a Radio Station?

E-bot & Ro-bert asks: "I volunteer for my campus radio station and, as the only techy there, I've been asked to help design their new network. We're on a very fixed budget and we're working with win98 PCs. The network needs to provide the ability to simultaneously stream and transfer large files (uncompressed WAV data) w/o interruptions to the stream. I know their current idea of using a simple hub and connecting all the computers won't work, but I'm drawing a blank on what to suggest. The specifics: Two of 6 Win98 PCs need to have the ability to broadcast audio data from any source on the network. The other 4 of 6 computers must be able to transfer files on the network w/o taking too much bandwidth away from the streams. I'm thinking of QoS, but how should it be implemented? What does the slashdot community look for, and suggest, in making a high-bandwidth network?"

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[account_deleted]

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Uncompressed WAV data?

[cbiffle]

Perhaps I'm over-simplifying, but uncompressed WAV data (2-channel, 44.1khz, 16-bits-per-channel) is only 1.411 Mbps. For the network itself, a 100 Mbps switched Ethernet should provide plenty of bandwidth and dramatically reduce latency.

The switch will allow you to dedicate 100 Mbps each way per machine by preventing each box from having to see streams in which it is uninterested. It will also allow you to run full-duplex, which will decrease latency if you're ACKing your transmissions (e.g. using TCP).

Really, a 10 Mbps switched network would probably be sufficient, but good luck finding a 10 Mbps switch these days.

I'd be more concerned about the ability of Win98 boxen to stream/process realtime data without hiccups, but I assume you've already got that solved.

So, let me get this straight

[hey!]

Your specifics are too thin to be very useful.

I'm guessing the following:

The two PCs that "need to have the ability to broadcast audio data from any source on the network" have their audio hooked up to the broadcast equipment (maybe they're in the studio?).

So the requirement is that these PCs be able to access WAV files sitting on any old computer the station has lying around, without having to stage it on the broadcast PCs or on CD first.

You don't mention any special media software or anything, so I'm guessing when you say "Stream", you don't mean "deliver isochronous through the Internet or some other complex network, buffering and reassembling out of order bits, so that the data is played without skipping although possibly with considerable latency." You probably mean "click on a WAV file using Windows file sharing and have it play right away over our broadcast equipment without skipping."

It sounds to me like a Golden Hammer scenario. As resident computer geek, you feel it is your responsibility to deliver a technically whizz-bang solution. I'm guessing that what they really need, given their budget and technical sophistication, is some form of sneakernet: physical media and common sense operational procedures. People were running to the record library for call in request shows years before anybody had a computer network after all. And there are drawbacks in hooking up PCs that are connected to your radio to the machine the station volunteer uses to troll the Internet for pr0n.

Okay, here's what I'd do.

[Tuxedo Jack]

For starters, go buy Win2K licenses. Only get the bare minimum; your college _SHOULD_ have an academic license program that gets you copies on the cheap. If not, go the fun way; go on eBay and get them there.

Since you're streaming, I assume you're streaming to the entire campus (and possibly the web, via the WAN link). Grab yourself a cheap Linksys 8-port gigabit switch. Don't cheap out and get a hub; get a switch. That'll take care of LAN bandwidth; don't worry about the WAN bandwidth (that's the university's problem).

Here's a link to that on Newegg (I don't know if you can claim tax-exempt, since you're a college organization):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manu factory=&PropertyCodeValue=1501%3A10238&PropertyCo deValue=1502%3A10242&PropertyCodeValue=0&descripti on=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=30&Submit=Prop erty [newegg.com]

Since these are Win98-era machines, I'm assuming they don't have anything other than regular PCI, so no PCI-E gigabit cards. You can get gigabit PCI NICs from Newegg pretty cheap - I see them for $12 and shipping here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manu factory=&PropertyCodeValue=1281%3A9683&PropertyCod eValue=1282%3A9687&PropertyCodeValue=1628%3A10711& PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPric e=&SubCategory=27&Submit=Property [newegg.com]

Next, we come to the real doozy, QoS implementation on the streaming machines. If your college supports it, grab a Win2K/Win2K3 Server license from them on the cheap and install Windows Media Components on it. That'll allow you to stream audio and video over the LAN/WAN. If not, try to dig up an OEM license.

2K/2K3 support QoS out of the box, so that issue is solved.

Depending on the amount of listeners you have, you may want to upgrade to another gigabit LAN drop sometime.

Anyone see anything I missed?

Re:Start with the network

[Jjeff1]

Burning Karma, but it's late. Cisco FastHUB 300 [cisco.com] 100 Mbit Hub. These also had a modular port which you could plug in a management module with a 10 or 100 Mbit switched port. I feel so much better now.

To actually be helpful, the parent is correct, a decent managed switch would be good. Actually being able to measure traffic will help to diagnose problems. In fact you might want to setup performance monitor on any existing PCs and duplicate the production traffic, just to see how much bandwidth you'll actually be using.
Additionally, if you're staying with 98 on these machines, consider something like deepfreeze and/or some strong administrative policies. The last thing you want is dead air while bonzi buddy is sending your credit card numbers to Russia.

Re:So, let me get this straight

[hey!]

Dude -- You're the one looking for free network design advice.

The first rule of asking for free technical help is do your homework. The second rule is to describe your problem precisely. The third rule is to have a thick skin.

If you do those three things, you can get your free advice. It's rather presumptious of you to expect to get professionally valuable advice if you don't do those things.

If you get off your high horse, you'll see I'm trying to be helpful here, which I have no obligation to do. Nor do I have an obligation to be nice, the way I would for a paying client. By in large, being nice gets in the way of being helpful. I'm telling you to do your homework first.

Re:win98???

[justforaday]

Campus radio stations are often owned by the school and hence a liability. If the station was caught knowingly installing pirated software on their machines, there's a very good chance the school would shut them down instantly. Don't suggest such moronic ideas next time.