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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
 Posted - 24 January 2003 : 09:42:30
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Simple question: what do switches and routers exactly do? I read about them and how they're necessary for sharing internet connections, but it's never explained what they're for and what they do.
Google only told me about the concept of a (light) switch when I tried doing a search  |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
Posted - 24 January 2003 : 10:06:19
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If you are using Windows 2000 or XP you really don't need a router or a switch. You can just use Windows Internet Connection Sharing for that. Works very well, I have such a setup, using ICS on XP to share my cable connection, and then I have another desktop and two portables accessing the internet through ICS.
I really don't know about switches, but routers 'route' traffic between different networks. In a situation like yours tipically a router would get an Internet IP address from an ISP, and then it would function as a DHCP server, assigning internal IP adresses for your computers. It would then provide routing for traffic from your internal network and the internet. I guess it basically would do something like this. |
Snitz 3.4 Readme | Like the support? Support Snitz too |
Edited by - ruirib on 24 January 2003 10:11:46 |
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Doug G
Support Moderator
USA
6493 Posts |
Posted - 24 January 2003 : 10:16:24
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You need a hub or switch to interconnect ethernet devices. The difference between a hub and a switch is that all ethernet traffic on a network segment is present on all ports using a hub. Switches keep track of the devices on the network segment and isolates network traffic to just the necessary ports.
Routers pass network traffic between different network segments. TCP/IP is pretty complicated, and a good understanding of TCP/IP is necessary to completely understand routers.
Here's a typical cable/dsl router scenario. You have two or three computers on your home network, each has an ethernet board and is connected to a switch to interconnect them. The switch may be built in your cable/dsl router. You also have a DSL line. The router has one plug labeled WAN (wide area connection) where you plug in the DSL using the network address given you by the provider. My four-port DSL router has 4 more plugs for the "local" network devices built in.
The local network is typically addressed on a "private" IP range, a set of IP addresses that routers do not send out to the Internet. 192.168.x.x are typical private IP addresses, Linksys routers come preset to use 1982.168.1.x for your local network addresses.
Also in your router is a NAT (network address translation) server and a DHCP server. The DHCP server passes out local IP addresses automatically to your local network computers.
NAT is what translates your request to visit forum.snitz.com and other sites outside your local network. When you open forum.snitz.com, your browser first visits your DNS server to get the IP address of forum.snitz.com, and finds out it's 81.3.74.3. This IP address isn't known to your local network, so the data is passed to your "default gateway", in this case your router is the default gateway on 192.168.1.1
The router then "translates" from your computer's local address of 192.168.1.x to the snitz IP address, adds a bit of identifying information so the return traffic ends up at your specific local computer, and sends your data on it's way through the Internet. There are more routers along the way, and each one does a similar translation, so ultimately your traffic ends up at HuwR's computer.
To summarize, the switch/hub provides the physical interconnection between ethernet devices, and routers provide the logical connection between networks.
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Doug G
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Computer history and help at www.dougscode.com |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 24 January 2003 : 10:40:59
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Thanks for the explanations and links guys. I'll print it and read it all again later so I'll really understand it 
One more question: does there always have to be at least one PC turned on when you use a router and switch?
If not, getting a router and switch (or one with a built in switch) would be a solution to the one "problem" I'm about to face: my brother wants his computer connected to the internet too, as soon as I get everything hooked up. But my computer won't be turned on all the time, and neither will his. |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
Posted - 24 January 2003 : 10:48:23
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The answer to your question is no. The router will provide a DHCP address and will route traffic as long as it is on, and that will be enough. You don't need to have a computer always on, since neither computer will have any networking function, besides being a network node, and perhaps sharing files or something similar.
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Snitz 3.4 Readme | Like the support? Support Snitz too |
Edited by - ruirib on 24 January 2003 10:49:24 |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 24 January 2003 : 11:06:02
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That's the kind of answer I was hoping for Rui 
Thanks again. |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
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Doug G
Support Moderator
USA
6493 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2003 : 18:00:22
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I use Linksys and I'm quite happy with them for the price. I got a D-Link router recently however I'm not so impressed with it. I don't know about Belkin. Belkin is a long-established cable company, but pretty new in electronic devices I think.
I got a Linksys cable/dsl w/ 4port switch for $49.00 US recently.
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Doug G
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Computer history and help at www.dougscode.com |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2003 : 18:12:11
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| Unfortunately, regardless of the value of the dollar vs. that of the euro, hardware (and software) is usually quite a bit more expencive here than it is in the US. All prices I have found for routers w/ 4-port switch start at around €85. |
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2003 : 18:51:51
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| I got a D-Link on ebay for very little. Its not an extrodinary piece of hardware, but it does the job. |
 Nathan Bales
CoreBoard | Active Users Download |
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2003 : 18:59:32
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There another option which is using an old 486/Pentium computer as a router. Personally I use a PII that I picked up for $50 NZ with an 800Mb or so HDD in it. Put 2 brand new Network cards in it (another $25 NZ) and then installed a GPL firewall/router/NAT package called Smoothwall (linux based) www.smoothwall.org. Smoothwall can support Modems, USB ADSL Modems, Direct Cable Connection etc to the net.
I then just have the "Smoothwall" box plugged into my cable modem, and the other NIC in it plugs into a 10/100 Switch I picked up for another $50 NZ Second hand.
Total cost, around $60 US :) |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 03 February 2003 : 04:23:37
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| Sounds like I might just as well buy a router (I'll probably get the Sitecom one) and save a lot of space and time |
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sr_erick
Senior Member
USA
1318 Posts |
Posted - 04 February 2003 : 23:17:19
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| I have a linksys 5 port router and just recently bought a D-link Wireless Router with 4 rj-45 ports so you can mix and match your network. I really like the wireless features of the router, it works really well and it was a little over half the price of the linksys that does the same thing. I aksed why the D-Link was so much chieper, if it had chiep parts, etc... and i got the reply that D-Link makes a lot of thier own parts. |
Erick
Snowmobile Fanatics
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 05 February 2003 : 03:47:34
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I got the Sitecom router on Monday and will hook it up Friday evening (I don't have time before that, and it'll be the first evening this week that my brother won't be home, and I've been told to keep it a surprise for him ). Because there are some firmware upgrades available for download at sitecom.com, I sent a support email to them Monday evening, asking whether or not I should install one of those upgrades, and which one (they number them, but don't show release dates, nor do they say whether or not the latest one contains the fixes/changes of the older upgrades). I got a friendly and very clear reply yesterday saying that installing a firmware upgrade isn't necessary unless the router doesn't function properly but can be done immediately anyway, and which upgrade I should install. Friday I'll find out if the router is as good as their support  |
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