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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject: Networking question

At home, my network is set up as such:

DSL "modem" -> Belkin wireless router -> (wired) -> 8 port switch -> both my main computer and my server

All other computers in the house connect via wireless.

Now today it's strange... I've been having intermittant network issues. After some experimenting, it seems to be my 8 port switch. So for shits and giggles, I decided to try hooking both computers directly to the wireless router (since it does have 4 wired ports, one of which was just a connection to the switch anyways, so plenty). Lo and behold, my network issues went away.

Long story short: it sounds to me like the switch is failing.

However, asking for a diagnosis isn't why I'm posting.

What I'm wondering is this: what's the difference with hooking it up the way I have (bypassing the switch altogether) as compared to my prior setup having a switch in the mix?

Will it affect throughput between computers on the wired portion of the network?

More importantly, will it affect security, since I basically use the wireless router as a hardware firewall?

Thanks all!

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject: Re: Networking question

Alphi wrote:
At home, my network is set up as such:

DSL "modem" -> Belkin wireless router -> (wired) -> 8 port switch -> both my main computer and my server

What I'm wondering is this: what's the difference with hooking it up the way I have (bypassing the switch altogether) as compared to my prior setup having a switch in the mix?

Will it affect throughput between computers on the wired portion of the network?

More importantly, will it affect security, since I basically use the wireless router as a hardware firewall?

Thanks all!

The answer to your first Q, extra capacity. You can hook up 10 devices instead of 4 (Assuming 1 port each used to connect the switch 8+4-2 = 10)

2nd Q - No, assuming both your 8 port switch is 100Mb

3rd Q - No. You extra switch provides does not have any extra security layer.

The only downside, and it is very minor is your router will have to work a little harder now...but its very minor =D

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:03 am Post subject: Re: Networking question

Extreme wrote:
The answer to your first Q, extra capacity. You can hook up 10 devices instead of 4 (Assuming 1 port each used to connect the switch 8+4-2 = 10)

2nd Q - No, assuming both your 8 port switch is 100Mb

3rd Q - No. You extra switch provides does not have any extra security layer.

The only downside, and it is very minor is your router will have to work a little harder now...but its very minor =D

Okay, capacity is a non-issue (only two computers hooked into it via wired anyways - the rest in the house are wireless), as at the moment I just have two computers wired into it (three connetions to the switch if you include the one from the router), and even at most, I'd just have the current three connections, plus another TiVo (in the future) plus one extra for connecting up a buddy's computer for gaming. So at very most I'd have 4 computers wired, and the router alone is enough to handle that.

And yes, the switch is 100Mb.

I tell you - it was the strangest thing... I was working on my main computer (on the wired network), and I lost connection to the internet. Upon further investigation, I lost connection to even my network shares (on my server machine, also wired).

Heck, I couldn't even ping 192.168.1.1 (my router).

So just for fun I switched both network cables to different ports on the switch, while watching ping continue to work (or more appropriately, fail).

Once I switched to different ports, ping worked - it started reporting a connection. And it took just about as long as the walk back to my main computer desk (the router/switch/modem are across the room) ping stopped - it froze. When I tried ping again, again failure.

So after trying several combinations and having zero luck, I finally just hooked straight to the router, and haven't had any problems since.

Very strange.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject:

Security issue comes in wireless usage if you think about it you can freely get wireless info over a baby talker and with the right key or cryptography decode the session....

Best method is never send important info over wireless without knowing risks and how to protect your self

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEn-Lycvjho
Overall everyone is a 100% right on with the specific question u asked...

later...