1

Weird question of the day: Has anyone here configured a real (say five or more client) Firewire network? If so, what were the advantages/headaches? Which Firewire hub (or Firewire switch, if that's the correct term) did you use? What happens if you plug a drive into the network - is it available to any of the client computers (I'm assuming not, but am curious)?

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    c'mon, FW is dead. Even it's owner -- Apple stopped using it.
    – vartec
    May 24, 2009 at 17:29
  • 1
    Well, that's maybe a bit hasty. Apple stopped using it for one product line. If Firewire3200 gets mothballed, I guess we'll know for sure.
    – username
    May 24, 2009 at 18:01

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Not sure there are "switches" per se as the topology would require you to chain the computers together, one by one, using two ports in all but the last and first one - subjecting the network to the "single point of failure" problem of old-time coax ethernets.

The distance of a firewire-cable is also very limited at around 5 meters I've heard, before requiring an active repeater.

As you'd run TCP/IP over Firewire (there's an RFC around I think) the firewire disks would be unrelated to the actual network and just work as a locally attached disk on whatever machine it's plugged into. You'd have to share it over the network as usual...

...so I have a hard time seeing the point if the machines in question have ethernet ports ^^

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    the point is: because you can! ;-)
    – username
    May 24, 2009 at 17:37
  • 1
    Well, true, somewhat... nngg... must... resist... having... fun, so hey... where's the business sense?! ^^ damaged by my line of work in IT
    – Oskar Duveborn
    May 24, 2009 at 18:06
  • In all seriousness, if Firewire3200 isn't axed, it might be useful - especially if the drives could double as NAS without any configuration (which we agree is doubtful). 3.2Gbps is pretty respectable.
    – username
    May 24, 2009 at 20:09
1

I don't think that is a viable solution.

  • Length limitations, as Oskar mentioned above, so you can rule out connecting people in separate rooms
  • Cable break issues. Firewire is a bus, all it takes is one person to unplug a cable, or a device to go offline to cause a netsplit.
  • Non routable. While you can network a bunch of macs together over firewire, how can you connect them to your router. You'd probably have to setup one of the machines with Internet Sharing turned on to bridge between your firewire lan and a small ethernet lan for connectivity.

Sounds like a lot of single points of failure and WTFs. Just use ethernet, and you think you're hitting the limits there is always FCAL.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .