Multiple switches connecting together

[samlacz]

Can you please leave any advice and opinions pertaining to multiple switches connecting together.

In every office in our building has 3 to 5 switches connecting together and we have total of 17 offices.  then my IT manger complaining the slow performance of our network. so he ask me to give any ideas whats going on, he insist that the network connection is the caused and not on the server. so i checked the network connection in every office then i noticed 1, 2 or 3 switches connecting together. also 1 unit of wireless router every office. network cables are old.
 

Thank you in advance for the reply 

 

[Geek-9pm]

This topic should be in Networking.

In commercial use, a hub or switch should feed 16 users. In good practice there should not have to ever be more that two switches from any users to thew main server. But each office can has its own layout.

If the system is really several years old, like maybe over 15 years and has grown, it may be time to review the entire topology.  You may need the help of outside consultants.

Something that complex can not be resolved with a few changes if it  is a large system. How many workstations are there? Over 100?

You said 3 to 5 switches. That sounds very huge. 

[DaveLembke]

Can you share with us the exact model numbers of the switches or hubs you have so we dont have to guess on your hardware. Hopefully there are no hubs as for hubs are old and should be replaced due to the poor performance they have with no traffic management. Hopefully DHCP is centralized vs at the far end of a series of switches. Wire being old shouldnt matter as long as its Cat 5 or Cat 5e. Also a layout of how your network is connected to what servers etc can also help us point out ways to improve network performance.