[Powaqqatsi]

Hi, I'm about to set up a new home network. We are replacing our 2 ADSL-lines with a single one that can be shared. I made to images that represent the possible infrastructure. The first is a fully wired one and the second is a wire/wireless combination. I need to be able to connect the computers within the network with each other. And I need to be able to print to the networked printer with any of the 3 computers. Is a router the correct piece of hardware or would I use a switch ? I know this has been asked a thousand times but I find the whole swith/router/hub thing very confusing. thanks in advance.

[Scarpa]

Both of your diagrams look fine. I would personally get a third party wireless access point and not an Airport Base Station but that's your choice.

Any cheapo consumer router will work for you. They are usually branded as "Broadband Routers" and incorporate a switch into them. For instance I use the Linksys Broadband Router w/ 4-port switch and an Orinoco WAP. I have two PCs and the WAP plugged into the router, and my Powerbook uses the WAP to access the network. It works flawlessly and requires 5 min of setup.

FWIW here's the difference between a hub, switch and router.

Hub- basically a "repeater". Whatever network traffic is generated on one port will be replicated across all ports. This means everything on the hub is listening to everyone else. Due to the nature of Ethernet you can hit performance problems with many hosts on a single hub.

Switch - kind of a "smart" hub. It only sends traffic to the port that is supposed to get the traffic. This means two ports can be chatting full speed with each other while a third port downloads from the internet (a fourth port) with no adverse effects. A switch is much better than a hub, and they are cheap enough now that you hardly see hubs anymore.

Router - A router is a device that can send traffic from one network to another. Hosts on a hub or switch can only talk to each other if they share the same subnet. If you need two networks, which in your case would be LAN (your home) and WAN (the internet), a router can send traffic from one network to the other. Routers can also perform Network Address Translation (NAT) which allows a single address on the WAN side to be used by multiple hosts on the LAN side.

[John Strung]

In diagram 2, you don't need both a router and an ABS. The ABS is also a router. Unfortunately it has only two ports. You can get four port wireless router which have wireless capabilities, from several manufactures and that is probably more cost effective than having two boxes unless for some reason you need your wireless base station in a different location than your router.

There are all sorts of third party wireless routers available and if you shop around you should be able to find one for well under $100US. (I have seen them advertised in Toronto for $99CDN, which is about $75US.)

[fergnetserv]

Both are correct. I would make a suggestion to Dig 2 though. If you are going to use the AEBS connect your DSL to the WAN port and then you can get a switch to connected to the LAN port for your other equipment.

The AEBS can act as the router and a switch is much cheaper then adding another router to the mix.

[Powaqqatsi]

Thanks people, I'll probably go for the first diagram now. I can always upgrade to wireless later on.

I'm buying the linksys router for 62 euros, that's the cheapest I could find.

[sanity assassin]

HI,

I just did something similar here too, and John helped out a lot, but I've run into one problem so far and can't seem to get it right. I've got a d-link ethernet adsl modem plugged into a 4-port router and 2 computers plugged into the router. I'm now having problems with my webserver working, and ftp, I've set up port-forwarding on the router, but still no-one can see it, it works fine when I plug the modem directly into just one computer without the router. When I've plugged all the computers into the router, they can all see the net, and work fine.

I'm wondering if it's to do with me having to put in my connection details into the router too, I initially set up the modem and inputed my connection details into the modem itself (PPPoA details, username, password), but the router also wants me to do the same thing too, but it gives me a choice of static IP, Dynamic IP, PPPoE, and PPtP. Is there maybe a conflict going on, or something else?

[Boondoggle]

Is the above all true for a cable connection as well?

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by Boondoggle:
Is the above all true for a cable connection as well?

Sure, as long as you modem has an Ethernet connection (which it probably has).

And I'm still waiting for my Linksys to arrive