Question : Network topology - Hub or switch?

I have the following situation:
Two rooms - in an office - one is administrative and has 4 Win98 workstations and 1 NT4 server, the other romm is a salesroom and has 8 win98 workstations. All the workstations have an MSAccess application, which works with a central database on the server (~100 MB for now). We are upgrading to 100 MBits network and changing the cables. We have the following proposals:
*Just put 2 hubs (8 and 12) in the two rooms and stack/wire them. Network experts say that no structural cabling is necessary in this case since WS to hub cables will be 2-5 meters and there will be only 1 cable between the switches. Cheap solution (price doesn't matter very much)
* Structural cabling (what exactly is that?) and one 16 port 100Mbit hub - will need cables from the whole office to a middle point, and price will be high.
* Structural cabling  and one 16 port 100Mbit switch - will need cables from the whole office to a middle point, and price will be higher.
What's the difference between switch and hub and is it better to link maybe 2 hubs to the server instead of stacking them, given that all the WS will work almost only with the DB on the file server ?

Answer : Network topology - Hub or switch?

I think the point of contention is going to be hard drive access.  With eight workstations working against the same Access database, I don't think that the hub/switch question is the one to be asking.  Instead, I would put my money into RAM (256 MB would let you cache the entire database), or to a speedy SCSI controller/drive pair (10K rpm?).

Also, get the best NIC for your server you can.  And if you have doubts about the ability of your NOS to handle the load, switch from NT to NetWare.

However, for this small a setup, I would place equipment like this:
(2) 8-port hub in Sales Room, in close proximity
(1) 8-port switch in Admin Room

Run a cable from each Sales machine to the hubs.  Separate the cables, four to each hub.  Maybe, use the room layout to guide how you separate? Clearly label each cable.

Run an uplink cable from each Sales Room hub to the switch in the Admin Room.  This will reduce your cable costs.  Using two hubs to the switch should reduce contention on the network, and provide room for future growth.

Run a cable from each machine (including the server) in the Admin Room to the switch. (This leaves one switch port free).  In the future, you could buy another hub for the Admin Room, and run the workstations to that rather than the switch.

Always keep the server connected to the switch.

The cost of the switch should be low enough that you could purchase a spare if you choose to.  (You won't need a spare hub, since if one fails, you could consolidate into the other [if you keep them close] until you can get a replacement.  Your network may run slower, but it will still run.)

Make sure the hubs and switch are 100Base-TX and use Cat5 cabling (make sure you keep your twists all the way into the connector). If you contract the cable work, make sure the contract states that they will test and verify for Cat5 compliance, fixing where needed.