Wired Home Networking Questions

[sartinsauce]

Okay, so I am setting up my first wired network. I know next to nothing about networking. I picked up a Netgear FS605 to network the printer, iMac and XP PC. I have a few questions...


1) Should I even be using this switch? I was lead to believe it might be best bang for my buck, that a switch would be faster than a hub.

2) If a switch is connected to the two PCs and my cable modem, will it share (and allocate bandwidth) to the PCs simultaneously? We're having a problem where only one computer at a time can connect to the internet. Is this what a switch "does" or can it be configured to share the connection?

3) Can I use this switch to connect a network drive for storage and file sharing?

 

[aristobrat]

1) In a home environment, I don't think you'll see any difference between the performance of a switch and a hub.

2) Cable modems typically only give out one IP address per modem. If you want all of your devices to get on the Internet, you should plug your modem into a router. The router will then share the one IP address your modem gets. Switches and hubs are basically dumb devices.

3) Any device plugged into the switch should be able to access any other device plugged into the switch, so a NAS shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sartinsauce]

1) In a home environment, I don't think you'll see any difference between the performance of a switch and a hub.

2) Cable modems typically only give out one IP address per modem. If you want all of your devices to get on the Internet, you should plug your modem into a router. The router will then share the one IP address your modem gets. Switches and hubs are basically dumb devices.

3) Any device plugged into the switch should be able to access any other device plugged into the switch, so a NAS shouldn't be a problem.

Great advice, thank you. This is the most direct and least condescending guidance I've been offered.

Can I ask you another question? Can I set up NAS on a router?

 

[Jack Flash]

Okay, so I am setting up my first wired network. I know next to nothing about networking. I picked up a Netgear FS605 to network the printer, iMac and XP PC. I have a few questions...


1) Should I even be using this switch? I was lead to believe it might be best bang for my buck, that a switch would be faster than a hub.

2) If a switch is connected to the two PCs and my cable modem, will it share (and allocate bandwidth) to the PCs simultaneously? We're having a problem where only one computer at a time can connect to the Internet. Is this what a switch "does" or can it be configured to share the connection?

3) Can I use this switch to connect a network drive for storage and file sharing?

1) You should be using a router. Most have a switch built in, for instance, the AirPort Extreme 802.11n BaseStation has a 3 port Gigabit switch built in.

2) Only one computer can connect to the Internet because your router is handing out only one IP address.

3) If it is a NAS. You can plug in a USB storage device to the AirPort Extreme and it will mount it as a network drive.

It sounds like you would be a good candidate for the AirPort Extreme.

 

[sartinsauce]

1) You should be using a router. Most have a switch built in, for instance, the AirPort Extreme 802.11n BaseStation has a 3 port Gigabit switch built in.

2) Only one computer can connect to the Internet because your router is handing out only one IP address.

3) If it is a NAS. You can plug in a USB storage device to the AirPort Extreme and it will mount it as a network drive.

It sounds like you would be a good candidate for the AirPort Extreme.

Yeah, I've had those in the past and they've worked great. We're doing this on a budget and trying to do it wired instead of wireless. I know, that sounds like a 20th century solution...

 

[aristobrat]

Most routers contain built-in switches.

On the back of most routers, you'll see a "WAN" port (where you plug in your cable modem, and several "LAN" ports. The LAN ports are the switch, so that's where you'd plug in your iMac, XP PC, printer, etc.

If you plug a NAS into one of the LAN ports, your iMac and XP PC should be able to reach it. You'll still have to follow the instructions that come with the NAS and set it up properly to allow access from the iMac and XP PC, but they shouldn't have any network issues preventing them from reaching the NAS.

If you run out of LAN ports on your router, you can connect a switch or a hub to a LAN port on your router, and then all of the ports on the switch/hub will work as if they were directly on the router.

Not to throw too much more info into the equation here, but check the maximum speeds of your devices. If your iMac can do 10/100/1000 and your NAS can do 10/100/1000, you might want to make sure you don't get a router that can only do 10/100 on its LAN ports. Everything would work fine, but a router that does 10/100/1000 on its LAN ports should allow your iMac to access the NAS quicker than just 10/100.