IBB & 2 PCs: Switch or Router?

Steffano2002 · 06-01-2006 3:48pm #1

Hi there,

Firstly, I hope this is the correct forum for this particular query. If not, I apologise.

Now, I have an IBB connection (nobody's perfect) and 2 PCs at home. I am getting a little tired of switching the Ethernet cable from one PC to the other and I would like to be able to share files between these 2 PCs also.

A friend told me "just buy an 8-port switch and both PCs will then be connected to the web and be able to communicate to eachother!". Is this true? I'm sh!t when it comes to networking and I haven't a clue... And I would like to keep away from routers as I find them complicated...
All I'm looking to do is have both PCs connected to the IBB radio (so I can browse the web on both PCs at the same time) and communicating with eachother (file transfer, etc...).

What would you suggest?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Nevyn · 06-01-2006 3:55pm

IF you use a switch then the ibb connection goes into one of the pcs and your internet connection is shared from that pc to the other and the gateway pc ( the one that has the ibb cable pluged into) has to be on for the other pc to have net acess.

If you use the router then you plug the 3 cables in the ibb cable and the network cables into it and your done.
But you have to make sure you set up the router has having your Ibb IP and being on the IBB network.

Steffano2002 · 06-01-2006 6:42pm

Thaedydal wrote:

IF you use a switch then the ibb connection goes into one of the pcs and your internet connection is shared from that pc to the other and the gateway pc ( the one that has the ibb cable pluged into) has to be on for the other pc to have net acess.

Well considering my PCs only have 1 Ethernet port, I won't be able to do that then... Right?

Thaedydal wrote:

If you use the router then you plug the 3 cables in the ibb cable and the network cables into it and your done.
But you have to make sure you set up the router has having your Ibb IP and being on the IBB network.

So a router will have 1 "incoming" Ethernet port for the IBB cable and 2+ "outgoing" ports for my PCs? Is that right?
Then I'll have to set up the router with IP, Gateway, DNS, etc to connect to the IBB network and set-up my PCs to connect to the router? Is that correct? Or can I just leave the IBB connection settings on the PCs?

Sorry if these questions sound stupid...

Steffano2002 · 09-01-2006 11:14am

Steffano2002 wrote:

Well considering my PCs only have 1 Ethernet port, I won't be able to do that then... Right?

So a router will have 1 "incoming" Ethernet port for the IBB cable and 2+ "outgoing" ports for my PCs? Is that right?
Then I'll have to set up the router with IP, Gateway, DNS, etc to connect to the IBB network and set-up my PCs to connect to the router? Is that correct? Or can I just leave the IBB connection settings on the PCs?

Sorry if these questions sound stupid...

Help please?

Zab · 09-01-2006 9:42pm

Hi Steffano,

Yes, something will have to do the routing. A typical SOHO BB router will have one WAN port for the IBB cable, and an internal switch with a few LAN ports. You'd set up the router with the information IBB gave you, and use DHCP on the PCs.

Zab.

Steffano2002 · 09-01-2006 11:33pm

Thank you for your reply Zab! It sounds pretty straight forward enough!

Can you (or anybody else) tell me if the "Linksys BEFSR41 EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch" would do the job for me (IBB & 2 PCs)?

Furthermore, will a router such as the above, creat problems for me in regards with blocking ports? Or will I have to go messing with the settings manually?
I really want my 2 PCs to access the web "hassle-free" (i.e. as if there wasn't anything between the PC and the IBB network).

Thanks again for all your help!

irlrobins · 10-01-2006 11:43am

yea that will work. personally I use a wireless linksys router. Does the exact same as the router u linked to but with the added bonus of wireless.

I plug the IBB cable into the back of router. I configure router with the info that IBB provided (ip address, subnet, gateway, dns, etc). I connect 1 PC using network cable and another 2-3 wirelessly. I set the PC's to get their ip address dynamically from the router.

I have no probs as regards ports. I enabled uPnP on router so any app that requires access, bittorrent, games etc, can configure the router themselves without me having to manually open ports.

So there's not much to worry about to be honest.

Steffano2002 · 10-01-2006 12:00pm

Thank you for your reply irlrobins!

I'm not going to go with wireless cos my flat is tiny and I don't want to buy wifi cards...
I'm delighted to hear about that uPnP enabling! I was worried about configurating a router...

Now all I have to do is find myself a cheap one somewhere...

irlrobins · 10-01-2006 12:04pm

no probs. I'd def recommend linksys. Good quality and easy to setup and use.

Steffano2002 · 10-01-2006 12:56pm

I'm bidding on a new one at the moment on eBay. Auction ends tomorrow... Hope I get it!

bishopLEN · 13-01-2006 12:53pm

Just a thought, I don't think you necessarily need a router.

Connect the IBB box to the switch using a crossover then the DHCP server on the IBB box will assign ip's to the PCs connected to the switch.

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 1:49pm

bishopLEN wrote:

the DHCP server on the IBB box

what dhcp server? There is none afaik

bushy... · 13-01-2006 2:18pm

I just did a setup like that lately, it was one of the newer IBB client units on the roof,it just had one fixed ip on the ethernet side,I think the ripwave units do dhcp etc though

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 2:23pm

yea breeze (roof unit) is def fixed ip. Which is what Steffano has.

Steffano2002 · 13-01-2006 3:34pm

bishopLEN wrote:

Connect the IBB box to the switch using a crossover then the DHCP server on the IBB box will assign ip's to the PCs connected to the switch.

You see?! I told you I was a n00b at this! What does that mean exactly?
I've already payed for the router but anyway... :rolleyes:

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 3:38pm

Connect the IBB box to the switch using a crossover then the DHCP server on the IBB box will assign ip's to the PCs connected to the switch.

ignore this. It won't work imho.

humaxf1 · 13-01-2006 3:39pm

The breeze antenna radio DOES NOT do DHCP.

2 options to share the Internet is either

a.
ICS (internet connection sharing). 1st PC has 2 ethernet cards. 1st NIC is for IBB with static IP settings as given by the installers. Share the IBB connection and 2nd NIC set to auto which will receive a 192.168.0.1 address.

Then connect a crossover cable between 2nd NIC and the NIC in the 2nd PC. 2nd PC will get a 192.168.0.* address by DHCP. Bobs your uncle.

b.
Buy a BROADBAND router with a 4P switch. Connect your IBB into the WAN Ethernet socket. Then a straight through cable from one of your PCs to the router. You will have to set a static address on that NIC to get to the routers web interface for configuration, prob 192.168.1.*. Once in the config, set your static IBB settings and the DHCP server IP range. Reset the PC ethernet connection setting back toauto so it can get a DHCP address from the router. Very easy to do...the instructions from linksys are easy to follow, so would recommend buying linkys. I did.

Cheers.

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 3:45pm

humaxf1 wrote:

snip...

What he said. All true.

Stef, easiest way is to get a linksys router. Easy to use and setup. Plus give u some security of a NAT, etc.

Steffano2002 · 13-01-2006 3:46pm

Thanks for your replies irlrobins & humaxf1!

humaxf1 wrote:

a. ICS (internet connection sharing). 1st PC has 2 ethernet cards. 1st NIC is for IBB with static IP settings as given by the installers. Share the IBB connection and 2nd NIC set to auto which will receive a 192.168.0.1 address.

Then connect a crossover cable between 2nd NIC and the NIC in the 2nd PC. 2nd PC will get a 192.168.0.* address by DHCP. Bobs your uncle.

Didn't want to have a "Gateway PC" and buy an Ethernet card...

humaxf1 wrote:

b. Buy a BROADBAND router with a 4P switch. Connect your IBB into the WAN Ethernet socket. Then a straight through cable from one of your PCs to the router. You will have to set a static address on that NIC to get to the routers web interface for configuration, prob 192.168.1.*. Once in the config, set your static IBB settings and the DHCP server IP range. Reset the PC ethernet connection setting back to auto so it can get a DHCP address from the router. Very easy to do...the instructions from linksys are easy to follow, so would recommend buying linkys. I did.

I actually understood your post (so proud of myself

)! Bought the Linksys BEFSR41 so I'm happy to read the Linksys instructions are easy to follow!

I'll let you know how I get on/if I have problems setting it up.

Thanks again lads!

subway · 13-01-2006 3:48pm

shoulld be no problem to set up.
make sure to set up forwarding for any ports you may be using that require it.

Steffano2002 · 13-01-2006 3:54pm

subway wrote:

shoulld be no problem to set up.
make sure to set up forwarding for any ports you may be using that require it.

Is that what enabling uPnP does? (Sorry if this sounds completely stupid...)

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 3:56pm

yep. If u enable uPnp then any uPnp capable prog or app will be able to open ports automatically.

For example Battlefield 2, BitTorrent, etc will work straight away with my linksys router without any manual intervention.

subway · 13-01-2006 3:58pm

didnt no that

is opening the ports in the hardware not more reliable anyway?

Steffano2002 · 13-01-2006 4:02pm

irlrobins wrote:

yep. If u enable uPnp then any uPnp capable prog or app will be able to open ports automatically.

For example Battlefield 2, BitTorrent, etc will work straight away with my linksys router without any manual intervention.

Hurray! I guessed right and it wasn't a stupid question!

subway wrote:

is opening the ports in the hardware not more reliable anyway?

And what does that mean?

bushy... · 13-01-2006 4:04pm

uPnP allows your pc to discover the router when you plug it in.
Go to http://www.portforward.com to see about port forwarding

bushy... · 13-01-2006 4:05pm

uPnP allows your pc to discover the router when you plug it in.
Go to http://www.portforward.com to see about port forwarding

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 4:08pm

uPnp also allows automatic port mapping.

subway · 13-01-2006 4:09pm

Steffano2002 wrote:

Hurray! I guessed right and it wasn't a stupid question!

And what does that mean?

i meant that physically setting the ports to be forwarded to the computer would be more reliable that allowing the program to request the data itself.

im not sure if it is more reliable though.
just that if there was any lag in the router answering the upnp request it would be better to have the router constantly forwarding to that port

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 4:12pm

subway wrote:

just that if there was any lag in the router answering the upnp request it would be better to have the router constantly forwarding to that port

nope, if u use uPnP then the ports mapped will be released when the application is finished. If you manually open the ports then they are open 24/7.

Yes if you set up port forwards manually then u will know exactly what ports are open. But generally UPnP apps will not open any more ports that is necessary for operation. So the same number of ports will be opened in either case.

Steffano2002 · 13-01-2006 4:30pm

hehehehe I think me and uPnP are going to become good friends!

irlrobins · 13-01-2006 4:31pm

Steffano2002 wrote:

hehehehe I think me and uPnP are going to become good friends!

loser!

IBB & 2 PCs: Switch or Router?

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