Need Help Sharing DSL!!! HELP!!

[GeoffC]

I want to share my DSL connection between two computers. I have a 2 NICS, and 1 10/100 hub. Can I plug the modem directly the uplink port like stated in the hub's manual? What do you recommend??

Thanks in advance.

[quickfoot]

Solution 1:

If you have a machine with 2 NICS you can setup something like wingate or if you have 2000 or ME you can configure Microsoft's ICS which is NAT.

You do NOT need a hub if you use this configuration, what you do need is 2 NICS in the pc with the cable modem and one nic in the other pc.

Then connect the cable modem to one NIC in the server machine and then connect the two computers with a cross over cable which you can get from almost any computer store.

The disadvantages of doing it this way is if the server computer crashes, is powered off, or is removed your other computer doesn't have Internet access.

The advantage is you have very little equipment to buy.

There are 2 other ways to do it.

Solution 2:

You will need 2 IP addresses for this method

Get a hub or switch and connect the cable/dsl modem to the uplink port of the hub.

Now connect both computers to the hub (be careful not to use the port right next to the uplink port because you can't use both at once).

Now simply configure each computer as if it had a direct connection to the Internet (giving each one one of your assigned ip addresses)

If you have @home they make it easy to get a second ip and it is $5 per month.

Solution 3:

Use a DSL/Cable firewall/router.

This solution allows you to use one IP address, have a form of firewall, and not be dependant on your other computer being on to use the Internet.

D-link and Linksys have good models, the way it works if you plug your cable/dsl modem into the router then the router into your hub or switch.

If you don't already have a hub you can save some money by getting the model of router that has a built in switch. With this model just plugin the cable/dsl modem to your router and then plug your computers into the onboard switch.

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I would probably go with plugging the modem into the hub and renting another IP address.

You can get a router later if you want but if you use @home it takes about 5 minutes to get a second ip and it costs $5 a month.

If you are going to add any additional computers I would convert to a router.


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Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

FreeBSD - The Power To Serve (http://www.freebsd.org)

[GeoffC]

I think I'm going to go with the router. I'm not quite sure whether I should go with the D-Link or Linksys model. I read the review and it mentioned that the Linksys router created problems sending files in ICQ and creating multiplayer games. Have these problems been fixed in upgrades? Any guidance or suggestions as to which router I should get would be much appreciated.

[C.M. Weaver]

The ICQ problem is an easy one to fix. You configure ICQ to use only a specific port range for direct connections and set up the Linksys routers Port Forwarding page to the selected ports from ICQ.

Hosting multiplayer games happens to be a little more tricky and is on a case by case basis because of the port ranges that are used.