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Resolved Question

Connect two PCs directly to each other

by Aug 25, 2018 1:54PM PDT

Hi all,
I have a small office network with 10 Windows PCs and a 6-year-old server (PCIe 2.0 and SATA II), running Windows Server 2012. I have the PCs and server connected through a gigabit router.

I'm going to be replacing two of the PCs soon. These two PCs need to be fast. That part I can handle. But, they both need to access the same data. The other PCs in the network do not need access to this data. The files are up to 1GB in size. Currently, all data is all stored on the server. This is not fast enough.

Here's what I'm wondering. Rather than investing in a NAS and a 10GBE switch, can I put all the data on a 1TB SSD in one of the new PCs, then connect the other new PC directly to it, while still maintaining access to the server? I was thinking 10GBE network cards in each of the new PCs, connecting them together with a CAT6 crossover cable.

Is this even possible?

Thanks for any advice.
Babber

Post was last edited on August 25, 2018 1:55 PM PDT

Discussion is locked

Babber23 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
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In the shortest answer.
by Forum moderator Aug 25, 2018 2:03PM PDT

Yes. Any IT staffer should be able to set this up.

But I've yet to see this need IRL. That is, a server is usually fine and we scale up the network speed as needed. NASes tend to be slower than a PC server.

Finally, I came across a person that needed some GB file shared. Turned out that's not what they needed at all. We moved to a database system (SQL) and it's blazing fast now compared to opening GB files.

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GIS files
by Babber23 Aug 25, 2018 2:32PM PDT

Thanks R. for the quick response.
The files are GIS files. Some are geo-referenced orthoimages and others are ESRI geodatabases and some ESRI shapefiles.
I just don't want to put the money into the server at this point. It'll be replaced in a few years.

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You already have a server.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 25, 2018 2:40PM PDT

Since to bump the server up may only take a new network card and the usual switched hub that has been the usual fix.

But if you want to try the peer to peer cable, go right ahead.

Small world. Some of the SQL databases did involve GPS and data to make up a custom geodatabase.

The neat part about the system was the database was gigagbytes in size and even over a slow Internet connection a query would be a split second since there was no need to toss more than what the query's question one way and the result back the other way.

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