Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Puma44 on May 13, 2010, 09:05:10 PM
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I have never had a router and am considering one so Momma can surf while I'm roaming the AH skies. I would appreciate any inputs, ideas, and pitfalls for the first time "router noob". Thanks in advance! :salute
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I have a cheap Linksys router from Walmart. I think it was like 60 bucks. I have 3 computers and 2 Xboxes with a wired connection and it works just fine.
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Welcome to the world of NAT Routers! You will probably get some real benefits from this decision, but it will change a few things.
First and most obviously, you'll be able to connect 2 computers to your single Internet Address thru your ISP. It's clear that you anticipated this.
Secondly, you'll get some additional "firewall" protection, because that NAT router will disregard any incoming activity that you haven't specifically requested from one of your connected computers.
Less obvious: if you are running any kind of internet services (Web site, ftp site, file sharing, or game hosting), your life will get more complicated due to the need for "Port Forwarding". As it turns out, the firewall protection advantage to which I referred above really means that the powerful Internet connection that your PC has heretofore enjoyed will be weakened a bit. This doesn't hurt most folks, and in 99% of cases even if it does set you back a bit you can compensate with Port Forwarding or VPN technology. Odds are you'll be fine.
You can learn all of the ins and outs and pros and cons and inner workings of NAT by following these links from my AskMisterWizard.com web site:
http://www.askmisterwizard.com/EZINE/NAT/Nat.htm
http://www.askmisterwizard.com/EZINE/GameServers.htm
Regards,
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I'd recommend Netgear for domestic routers, I'm running a few DG834s for my family. If you want something beefier for business, Draytek stuff is great too :aok
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I don't have enough knowledge to make any good recommendations other than the fact that I've been using this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127060 for years without issues. In the past I've considered replacing it with a Smoothwall but I decided that would be a waste of electricity.
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Netgear is no better than D-link, Kensington or Buffalo equipment...economy stuff for the uninformed consumer who sees it in Walmart or BestBuy ads.
Not knowing your level of expertise with simple networking you are going to want something that is user friendly, secure and economical. For ease of use and economy D-link products are good, but not as secure as they could be...high school script kiddy can hack one. Netgear is more secure but the admin interface can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Linksys has the most reliable and secure home networking routers if you buy the ones in the top tier of their line...but they are not easy to setup if you want security.
This Netgear is pretty decent
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122334 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122334)
This Linksys is very good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124386 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124386)
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as RTHolmes recommended, I would recommend either D-Link or NetGear.......
I used D-Link for many years....... ( left it with my X-wife ) so now am currently using NetGear ( was already in use where I live now )
just do some research of reviews ( tomshardware website, CNet website, newegg customer reviews <---be very careful reading newegg though )
I had issues with Linksys and Belkin..... they became paper weights :D ( they would drop in and out continously )
best of luck to ya.....
nice post bbosen.......( links to helpful info )
edit: as gyrene posted, the cheaper economy type routers, I would shy away from regardless of brand/make.........
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I've been using this the last couple of years with ZERO problems:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=DIR-615 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=DIR-615)
I got it on clearance at Office Depot back then so it might not be available anymore, but if you can find it I highly recommend it.
Before I was using a linksys el-cheapo I got from tigerdirect refurbished for like $20. It worked ok, but it seemed like once or twice a week I had to reboot it... and it was VERY touchy as far as interference. I had to keep moving it around to maintain decent wireless reception. Also, once in awhile if another computer logged in (even wired) it would boot the internet connection of other random computers. The ex- took it when she left LOL good riddance!
The dlink I use now has never had those problems... never had ANY problems actually!
EDIT: Here it is at newegg for $39.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127241&Tpk=dir-615 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127241&Tpk=dir-615)
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Thanks much for the input and ideas, guys! I've got exactly" NO" experience :O with routers or networking. Our setup will primarily consist of one desktop, Momma's laptop, my laptop, and availability for visitors. So, any more ideas or "how to do it" suggestions are very much appreciated. Please keep 'em coming. :salute
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Thanks much for the input and ideas, guys! I've got exactly" NO" experience :O with routers or networking. Our setup will primarily consist of one desktop, Momma's laptop, my laptop, and availability for visitors. So, any more ideas or "how to do it" suggestions are very much appreciated. Please keep 'em coming. :salute
Now that is the nice thing about the more expensive ~$100 Linksys N series routers...a couple of them have the ability to add secure "public access" that is separate from your home network. If you can find that on a less expensive and easier to use router with WPA and WPA2 security encryption...grab it.
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Mine:
Might not help connect to the internet, but you can use to to make a nice table to put the computer on.
(http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/oo82/bzavasnik/router.jpg)
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I've got a Linksys wirelsss router that's been running for years. I've got two computers and a network printer wired to it and my laptop connects wirelessly from the other end of the house. It wasn't hard to set up.
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I've been using a D0Link DGL-4300 Wireless 108G router for a few years now without any issues whatsoever. It replaced a Linksys router that kept dropping in and out.
ack-ack
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Using a D-Link DGL-4100 for a few years now without any issues.
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I've got a 10 yr old Linksys that has never given me any problems.
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Thanks for the great input, guys. I appreciate it. I especially like Dragon's Ryobi....very robust :O. It may be a bit large for my present computer desk, though :lol . How, if any, affect does a router have on frame rate? Any concerns there that I should take into account? I've got a 24 inch monitor, a Dell XPS, and run a rock solid 59 to 60 frame rate. Do any of you experience a decline in frame rate when others are connecting via your wireless router? Thanks again for helping with my router learning curve. :salute
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Wireless is on a different part of the router that doesn't affect the wired switch connections in the router...if you're desktop is going to be on a wired connection to the router it will be sharing the total capacity of your internet connection with the other computers connected to the router whether they are wired or wireless...just don't be doing any heavy torrent downloads while trying to play and you should be fine.
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Hey, thanks Gyrene. The desktop will be hard wired to the router and the laptops wireless, obviously. How long in the Corps? :salute
(http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac270/puma44/usaCa.gif) (http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac270/puma44/powmia.gif)
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OK Networking 101 lesson! First off, refer to the illustration below to see how the physical connections are to be made. Keep in mind nothing is to scale or anything like that, it's simply to get the idea across.
Now, you need a little lesson in IP-Addresses. I won't go into much detail here but you should at least know the basics. There are two main types of IP addresses.... public and private. An IP address is basically the virtual 'address' or 'phone number' of a networking device. Routers all have their own IP address, computers... modems.. even cell phones and gaming consoles. The list goes on and on. "IP" technically stands for "Internet Protocol".
An IP address looks like this: 192.168.000.157 (AKA 192.168.0.157) Each three digit number is between 000 and 255. Why this is gets a little more complicated so just accept the fact that this is how it is. Typically, on a home network the first three sets of numbers (192.168.0 in my example) is the network itself. The last set of numbers (.157 in my example) is that specific computer. Basically, if you networked a bunch of computers together and they all started with 192.168.0... and each of them had a different number for the last set... then they would all be able to talk to each other. If one of the computers were set to 192.168.001.231 (AKA 192.168.1.231) for example, it would not be able to communicate because it would be on a different network...even if it was physically connected.
OK.. not to get too confusing here, but you'll see something called a "subnet-mask" in your network settings. Typically this will be 255.255.255.0. It's best not to change this, as it tells your computer which part of the IP address is the network identifier, and which part is the client (computer) identifier. As long as this is 255.255.255.0, my above explanation holds true.
NEXT: Like I said about public vs. private IP addresses. Your internet service provider (ISP) will assign a public IP address to your modem. It will look something like this: 24.217.118.43. This is something you cannot change... only the ISP has control over this. NO TWO PUBLIC DEVICES CAN SHARE THE SAME ADDRESS WITHOUT CONFLICTING WITH EACH OTHER. Your modem will forward this address to your router. Your router will now have two IP addresses.. the public address assigned by your ISP, and the private address for your home network. You'll see the terms WAN and LAN. WAN is "Wide Area Network" and is essentially the public side of the internet, and LAN is "Local Area Network" which is the private side (your home network).
You will never see a public IP address that starts with 192.168 because this is reserved for private networks. Because of this, by default almost all routers use this for the private IP address: "192.168.0.1". You've heard of NAT? This stands for "Network Address Translation" and allows information from your private network to travel to the public network and vice-verse. Because it has to do this translation at the router, your 'private' network is hidden from the public side of things and the router can block certain things from getting through.. especially to a specific computer, which is why NAT routers are very good firewalls.
If you are not running a server from one of your computers (not likely given your lack of expertise... no offense), then you really don't need to worry about the 'advanced' features of the router. You will simply plug it in, set up encryption, turn on the wireless side, and you'll be good to go. Fortunately, consumer-grade routers available today make that pretty easy through setup 'wizards' or menus. While this varies from router to router, it's all usually the same process.
Next is DNS. This stands for "Dynamic Name Service" and basically translates a name into an IP address. So when you type in www.google.com, your computer asks your router where that is. Your router says "I dunno let me look." Then your router connects to your ISP and asks them. If they know they tell your router which tells your computer. If they don't know then they connect to another DNS server on the internet to find out. A DNS Server is basically a public virtual "yellow pages". It says... "oh yeah.. google.com is 47.62.178.251 (example)" then the ISP server says "GREAT!" and tells this to your router, which then tells your computer and so forth.
Lastly, you need to know about DHCP, or "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol". The router will use DHCP to automatically configure your computers' network settings. Here's how it works. If a computer has DHCP turned on, when connected physically to a network it shouts out "HEY! MY NAME IS COMPUTER BOB! I NEED AN IP ADDRESS! CAN ANYONE HELP!". Any listening DHCP Servers (your router for example) will shout back "HI BOB! I AM YOUR DHCP SERVER! MY IP ADDRESS IS 192.168.0.1 AND YOUR IP ADDRESS IS 192.168.0.2". Your computer will then set its own IP address to 192.168.0.2 and then this time connecting directly to the router instead of shouting everywhere will say "Hi Mr. Router! This is Bob again at 192.168.0.2. Radio Check! How do I get out to the internet?" and the router will say "Hi again Bob! Five by Five! You sound great! I am your gateway to the internet so just connect to me at 192.168.0.1 and I will forward your packets and DNS requests to the appropriate places. If I can't resolve a DNS name for you then you can try connecting to 24.203.167.72 yourself maybe you'll have better luck than me! Good luck!" This process is known as a "handshake".
First, you'll hook up everything physically. Second, using a computer that is hard-wired to the router, you'll need to setup the wireless and security. You'll start by opening a web browser (internet explorer, firefox, opera, etc..) and instead of a website address, you'll type in the private IP address of the router. Refer to the owner's manual, but this is usually 192.168.0.1. From there you'll see a bunch of menus and on screen instructions to do whatever you need.
You'll want to turn DHCP on (probably on by default), and you'll want to verify that your router has been given the appropriate IP and DNS addresses from your ISP. Basically, if it isn't 0.0.0.0 then it has been configured already. If you have to set up PPPOE (basically a name and password to connect to your ISP) you'll put this information into your router as well, however these things are usually handled at the modem itself these days.
If you were running servers, you'd have to set up exceptions in the DHCP settings of your router, as servers use manual settings and you don't want your router handing out an IP address that is already being used, but in your configuration I don't think you need to worry about this.
You'll also set up a name for your network so you can find it on a wireless list. This name is known as a "SSID". Secure something Identifier.. it doesn't matter LOL. You'll also want to set up wireless encryption. There are three main types: WEP, WPA, and WPA2. WEP being the least secure and WPA2 being the most you want to use the strongest security you can that all of your computers support. If you have an older device that can only connect through WEP, you're kind of stuck using that (but it's better than nothing). You could technically turn security off altogether, but then someone could connect from down the street and use your internet to conduct illegal business... or even hack into your computers and that's just not worth taking a chance on in my mind.
Basically when you set up the security, you'll setup a 'catchphrase' or 'password' and like all passwords, you want a combination of lowercase and capital letters, and numbers. I would advise against the use of spaces and other symbols as some network devices don't jive well with that sort of thing. With WEP I think you're stuck with 5 characters, but with WPA2 I think it's 256 (I could be wrong). Then you'll use the network settings of each computer on your wireless network and put in this password to make it work.
And.. that's it! You should be set up at this point! Without knowing the specific brand and model of router you plan on using, it's hard to get more exact than this, but I hope it was helpful at least!
(http://www.lca.ympsa.com/networkphysical.jpg)
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Wow Tigger! You da "Computer Nerd" (and I mean that with the utmost respect) :aok. Thanks very much! As I've researched on line, there have been quite a few terms and that were unfamiliar.....and you've explained them all. Your description will be very helpful when the time comes to hook it up and turn it on. :salute
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The funny thing is I'm actually an Automotive Technician.. but I dabble in computers on the side LOL.
I've been told that I would make a good teacher, as I often get a good feeling as to how individual people learn. I guess I was just in an educating mood! LOL
Sorry about the novel, but I'm glad it helped!
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One thing I noticed that tigger missed is that if you want your computers to share resources (and why wouldn't you once they are networked) they will have to be part of the same workgroup. This is just a name you assign like workgroup1 for instance in the network settings in each computer.
So you'll end up with a hierarchy like this:
Network name (you assign)
Workgroup name (you assign)
Individual computer names (you assign)
I keep different things on all of my computers and it's nice to have access to the folders of one while I'm on a different one. To do so you'll have to enable network sharing and assign shared resources (folders or drives) and set permissions (read only or full access).
Since I keep all of my documents, downloads, etc. on seperate drives from my OS and applications on all of my computers I simply share my entire storage drive(s) across the network with full access, leaving my OS/application drives unshared.
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While setting up the same workgroup isn't necessary it can make things a bit simpler... it's kind of like a 'local' DNS in a way. Microsoft used to actually call it "WINS". Basically, if one computer is named BOB and the other is named STEVE and they are both in the same workgroup, then from STEVE you can double click on the icon for BOB and access its files. Without it you'd have to know BOB's IP address. When Vista came out, IIRC Microsoft went away from WINS and enacted more of a local DNS type of thing for the workgroups. Basically, if your computer name is BOB and your network name is MARLEY, then your local DNS name would be bob.marley (kind of like hitechcreations.com). This allows for more integration with other workgroups, so if another computer on the same network was in another workgroup (example indiana.jones) you could still access it by name. Before that WINS would only know your computer as 'bob' and would not even know 'indiana' existed... at least by name. You could still access it by IP address, as long as it was in the same network.
Keep in mind none of this has anything to do with the actual internet.. it only applies to accessing resources (files, printers, etc) on other computers on your local, private network.
Personally, I've never really bothered messing with workgroups as I don't see much point for the little bit of file sharing that I do. I have my router set up for my computer to be 192.168.118.101, my G/F's computer to be 192.168.118.102, my Blueray player to be 192.168.118.103 and my Wii as 192.168.118.104. These are static addresses, but still assigned through DHCP. I have the 192.168.118.201-205 addresses reserved for dynamic IP addresses for our laptops and her work laptop.
If I'm on my laptop and I want to print something from my printer (named BROTHER) which is connected to my desktop computer, I print the document to a network printer which is pointed to 192.168.118.101/BROTHER. If I had workgroups set up I could instead send it to MYCOMPUTERNAME/BROTHER and get the same results. To me it's not worth the extra hassle to set it up... but also keep in mind the computer that HAS the resources you want to share across the network has to be setup as well. For example, I had to go to my control panel and right click on my printer, go to 'properties', go to 'share' and click on 'share this printer' and gave it a name of 'BROTHER'. Then I was able to access that printer from a different computer on my network.
I also didn't mention things like MAC address cloning and reservations, QOS, DMZ, Port forwarding, and other topics. I omitted these because for a noob (again, no offense) this is starting to get complicated enough as it is. These things you don't need to know to get your network up and running, and these are things you can easily play with after the fact should you feel the need.
Confused yet? hehehe just feel free to ask about anything else you want to know...
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I just got in from a four day work trip and the D-link router that I ordered was waiting patiently. I'll do the set up and turn on in the next couple of days and let you all know how it goes. With all the expert help you guys have provided, it should be a snap. Thanks again for the suggestions and advance setup help. :salute
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Would anyone be able to comment about methods to configure a router to give preference to specific IP addresses and even their priority?