network

nov0798 · Post by **nov0798** » Sat Mar 08, 2003 11:16 pm

Is there a website that explains the difference between:
switches
hubs
routers

and is there a website that gives you ideas on building a network, i.e.
you need 1 router
1 switch
1 hub
etc.etc.etc. for your setup to work?

I hope i made myself clear as to what i am looking for. any help would be awesome.

Gort9k · Post by **Gort9k** » Sun Mar 09, 2003 8:29 am

As long as I know THIS ONE is the best place to look for your answers.

Anyway you can try this site:
http://www.duxcw.com/index.html
It's not bad. TRay and search the web there are lots of sites covering your quest

zxc47 · Post by **zxc47** » Sun Mar 09, 2003 8:44 am

Gort9k I think this page will tell you what you want to know
http://www.howstuffworks.com/lan-switch2.htm

objohn · Post by **objohn** » Sun Mar 09, 2003 6:21 pm

I concurr.... the http://www.howstuffworks.com is a great site

OJ

nov0798 · Post by **nov0798** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:11 am

ok so this doesnt make sense to me. i bought a router and a switch so i can share internet throughout my house, but if i hook up all 3 of my computers to the switch i bought, they all still access the internet fine. so the question is why do i need a router? why not just use the switches?

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:37 am

Originally posted by nov0798
ok so this doesnt make sense to me. i bought a router and a switch so i can share internet throughout my house, but if i hook up all 3 of my computers to the switch i bought, they all still access the internet fine. so the question is why do i need a router? why not just use the switches?

not sure what you are asking

how do you have the switch hooked up?

to your router?
or to your DSL/Cable Modem?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 6:06 am

Originally posted by nov0798
ok so this doesnt make sense to me. i bought a router and a switch so i can share internet throughout my house, but if i hook up all 3 of my computers to the switch i bought, they all still access the internet fine. so the question is why do i need a router? why not just use the switches?

A router will take a single IP internet connection, and share it to a network of computers. You pay for a single connection....the router shares it. It also provides you with a hardware firewall...NAT....protecting your network.

With a switch, you have several approaches. You can plug in several computers, uplink your modem, and have each computer get an IP from the ISP and get access to the internet. But you need to have a multiple IP account...you pay for an IP for each machine.

Or, you may have software internet connection sharing...one computer has 2x NICs..one going to the modem, the other going to your switch. That one computer acts as a proxy server to the rest. But no good firewall that way, slower, and that computer has to be on at all times for the other to be able to surf the net.

If you have only 3x computers....I'd simply use just a router..most routers now have a built in 4 port switch on the back, you don't need another switch unless you wish to have more than 3 computers...or you have some wiring arrangement that needs a switch for some reason.

nov0798 · Post by **nov0798** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:56 am

ok i understand the thing with the ip address, but when i go to the properties, every computer has the same ip and accesses the internet fine. the computers share the internet with no problem and i dont see any speed difference. i can also hook 2 computers into the modem and see no difference. so back to my original question, why do i need a router. other than firewall, whats the purpose.

michont · Post by **michont** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:18 am

Not quite sure, maybe I missed something here. Did you purchase two pieces of hardware, the router and switch? I have broadband cable through Charter in Western Massachusetts. I use a Belkin combo router/switch/NAT firewall/wireless access point. The cable modem is connected to this through the WAN port on it. It then has 3 ports for network devices. I also have an 8 port ethernet hub connected to one of these ports. My server connects to the Belkin plus one more device. I have a couple more devices connected to the 8 port hub. All pc's connected have access to the internet. The Belkin device is the only one recognized (by its mac) by the cable company. If your cable company charges you extra for having more than one device, then this lets you get by that because only device is recognized. Charter, as far as I know, doesn't charge extra, I don't know about others. Maybe you have more than one device and the NAT firewall is part of the router which is also connected to the hub. My combination device does all this and I haven't had any problems. NAT works just fine because the IP addresses assigned by its DHCP function are hidden by the outside world. I have run some software to detect intrusions but nothing has made it through.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 1:03 pm

Originally posted by nov0798
ok i understand the thing with the ip address, but when i go to the properties, every computer has the same ip and accesses the internet fine. the computers share the internet with no problem and i dont see any speed difference. i can also hook 2 computers into the modem and see no difference. so back to my original question, why do i need a router. other than firewall, whats the purpose.

You're losing me there.........it's physically impossible for two or more computers to be on the same network at the same time with the same IP address (or the same Netbios name for that matter). The second one to boot up will display an error about an IP conflict, and the networking services will go on halt.

Wait a minute......are you only running one computer at a time?

Advantages of a router:
1) Allows a network of up to 253 computers to share a single internet connection at the same time
2) Provide a basic hardware firewall through it's NAT design...hiding the entire network from the public. <===Good enough reason right there even if only running a single machine.

nov0798 · Post by **nov0798** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 8:56 pm

ok i hook the switch to the ethernet output of my dsl modem and then hook in 3 computers to the switch. each computer accesses the internet fine and i can access the internet and surf with all 3 at the same time with no probs, so why do i need the router?

michont · Post by **michont** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 10:42 pm

"ok i hook the switch to the ethernet output of my dsl modem and then hook in 3 computers to the switch. each computer accesses the internet fine and i can access the internet and surf with all 3 at the same time with no probs, so why do i need the router?"

See the post before this one about NAT firewall protection. Without it, it's easy for a hacker to get into your machine.

zxc47 · Post by **zxc47** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 5:13 pm

nov0798. So what is your point? Nobody said you had to have a router ,They said that a router was better than just a switch.But if your happy with just a switch and you don't mind people hacking in your computers all the time . Good luck.But hey > I bet someone in your computer right now!!!!!!!getting your password,looking at all your pic. in fact most people that are on dsl or cable get hit 5 to 10 times a day but are block because of a NAT firewall. But if you don't need one . COOL

nov0798 · Post by **nov0798** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:38 pm

actually someone can hack my computer all they want, they wont find anything as i do not keep personal info on it. i only get hit like once a month, if that.