Router vs switch...
- Thread starter noshali
- Start date
Steve
Senior Member
Here's One Explanation. Many more on Google.
ver0776
Active Member
A better question is the difference between a switch and a hub.
A router will take an Internet IP and share it among a local network, routing the traffic to the correct computer.
A Hub and a switch simply allow local computers to talk to each other. A hub broadcasts on all ports so is very inefficient. A switch sends packets to the correct port with broadcasting to them all, so less traffic. Just don't ever use a hub.
If you have 1 internet IP and more than 1 computer, you need a router.
If you had 2 internet IPs and 2 computers, you would only need a switch.
Vaughn
A router will take an Internet IP and share it among a local network, routing the traffic to the correct computer.
A Hub and a switch simply allow local computers to talk to each other. A hub broadcasts on all ports so is very inefficient. A switch sends packets to the correct port with broadcasting to them all, so less traffic. Just don't ever use a hub.
If you have 1 internet IP and more than 1 computer, you need a router.
If you had 2 internet IPs and 2 computers, you would only need a switch.
Vaughn
Thanks. Here is what I am trying to do. I have a wireless router but want to put it at the end of my setup.
Cable company->Modem->router/switch
From the router/switch I want to feed 2 pcs, a VOIP (packet8.net) and a wireless router. Want to do this setup due to location of cable company and pcs around the house are far apart. The other setup could be router/switch to another router/switch and then feed the wireless to that.
SO what do you suggest?
regards,
Cable company->Modem->router/switch
From the router/switch I want to feed 2 pcs, a VOIP (packet8.net) and a wireless router. Want to do this setup due to location of cable company and pcs around the house are far apart. The other setup could be router/switch to another router/switch and then feed the wireless to that.
SO what do you suggest?
regards,
stereo_freak
Member
keeping this as non-technical as possible...
A switch or a hub is something you would use on your LAN (local area network) to connect the comptuers in your home or office together to allow network printing, internet and file sharing, etc.
A SWITCH is more efficient as is it basically sends packets of data from one computer to another by sending the packet DIRECTLY to the port the other computer is located on.
A HUB sends data packets out to ALL of the ports and allows the computers to sort out the packets to determine which ones it needs, thus a hub can slow things down compared to a switch.
The term ROUTER is sometimes loosely used. Basically, it "routes" data from one location to another. In a corporate environment, you might use a router as the point of entry between multiple buildings. It acts as the gateway between multiple IP subnets on the WAN (wide area network)
In a home or small office, the term router usually means the firwall that connects your LAN to the internet. As opposed to allowing data to freely pass through it like in the corporate environment, it usually acts a one-way door, allowing traffic to flow OUT to the internet, but not IN to your network. This brings us to "firewalls"
FIREWALL and ROUTER are often times used incorrectly. When setting up an internet connection at your house, you want to purchase a router that has a NAT firewall (network address translation) and a DHCP (assigns LAN IP addresses) server built into it. These "built-ins" allow you to typically just plug everything together and almost instantly allow multiple computers to share one internet connection with a hightened level of secuirty and no need for an additional DHCP server, proxy servers, etc...
I hope this helped at least a little
A switch or a hub is something you would use on your LAN (local area network) to connect the comptuers in your home or office together to allow network printing, internet and file sharing, etc.
A SWITCH is more efficient as is it basically sends packets of data from one computer to another by sending the packet DIRECTLY to the port the other computer is located on.
A HUB sends data packets out to ALL of the ports and allows the computers to sort out the packets to determine which ones it needs, thus a hub can slow things down compared to a switch.
The term ROUTER is sometimes loosely used. Basically, it "routes" data from one location to another. In a corporate environment, you might use a router as the point of entry between multiple buildings. It acts as the gateway between multiple IP subnets on the WAN (wide area network)
In a home or small office, the term router usually means the firwall that connects your LAN to the internet. As opposed to allowing data to freely pass through it like in the corporate environment, it usually acts a one-way door, allowing traffic to flow OUT to the internet, but not IN to your network. This brings us to "firewalls"
FIREWALL and ROUTER are often times used incorrectly. When setting up an internet connection at your house, you want to purchase a router that has a NAT firewall (network address translation) and a DHCP (assigns LAN IP addresses) server built into it. These "built-ins" allow you to typically just plug everything together and almost instantly allow multiple computers to share one internet connection with a hightened level of secuirty and no need for an additional DHCP server, proxy servers, etc...
I hope this helped at least a little
Guy Lavoie
Active Member
Well normally, you would replace the router/switch with the new wireless router. If it only has one output port (ie: no switch), then you would add an external switch, or possibly use your old router/switch for this, although having two routers in a system might require a lot more configuration work to get it right. Alternatively, you might be able to disable your old unit's routing capability and use it just as a straight switch. But small switches are so inexpensive now that it might not be worth the trouble.
stereo_freak
Member
it sounds as though you have 2 routers on your network?
You definitely want a router connected directly to your modem, from there you are pretty much free to do whatever you want.
If you have two routers, I would put the hard-wired router near the modem and then you can put the wireless one at the other end of the house. If you need all of the computers to talk to each other on the same IP subnet, you might want to disable DHCP on the wireless router and just use the switch on the back of it (assuming there is a swtich built in) and disregard the "WAN" port on the back of it.
You definitely want a router connected directly to your modem, from there you are pretty much free to do whatever you want.
If you have two routers, I would put the hard-wired router near the modem and then you can put the wireless one at the other end of the house. If you need all of the computers to talk to each other on the same IP subnet, you might want to disable DHCP on the wireless router and just use the switch on the back of it (assuming there is a swtich built in) and disregard the "WAN" port on the back of it.
Ok so this is what I am going to do:
Cable Modem->NETGEAR 4-port Router RP614 (connect a pc and my VOIP connection) 3rd port to a netgear FS608 8 port lan switch (connect a couple of pcs to it and use 1 port to connect a wireless netgear router.
I think this should work unless I hear otherwise.
regards,
Cable Modem->NETGEAR 4-port Router RP614 (connect a pc and my VOIP connection) 3rd port to a netgear FS608 8 port lan switch (connect a couple of pcs to it and use 1 port to connect a wireless netgear router.
I think this should work unless I hear otherwise.
regards,
That should work. You want to turn off services like DHCP on the wireless router like people have mentioned above.
Some wireless routers can be configured to work as access points only (no router capabilities, just connecting wireless machines to the wireless network). If yours has that setting, you should be all set. It should take care of turning off everything else (like DHCP).
You can also buy a dedicated access point, but they are usually more expensive than the wireless routers that can also server as APs (usually much more).
Some wireless routers can be configured to work as access points only (no router capabilities, just connecting wireless machines to the wireless network). If yours has that setting, you should be all set. It should take care of turning off everything else (like DHCP).
You can also buy a dedicated access point, but they are usually more expensive than the wireless routers that can also server as APs (usually much more).
Thanks a lot. what if I want to use the ports of the wireless router to connect more pcs. Will that be a problem?
Also, has anyone used the netgear XE102 (powerline adapter). I am interested in using one as one of my rooms is far away from everything. I have read good review even thoug the speed is low. I was wondering if anyone had experience using the powerline adapter along with x10 insteon and other stuff that use powerlines.
regards,
Also, has anyone used the netgear XE102 (powerline adapter). I am interested in using one as one of my rooms is far away from everything. I have read good review even thoug the speed is low. I was wondering if anyone had experience using the powerline adapter along with x10 insteon and other stuff that use powerlines.
regards,
Guys need some help with the network. I have gone wired and still need wireless.
So I have the following config.
Cable modem->wired 4 port router->couple of switches to spread the internet connectivity across the house. All work well and now want to add wireless capability for my wifes laptop and pocket pc.
I connected the wireless router to one of the switches (could not connect it to the cable modem as it is in the basement and the signal on the top floor does not work). I disabled the DHCP server on the wireless router and now in the wireless connection I see 169.254.45.123 and there is no wireless connection. I could use a wireless bridge but then the wireless router goes to waste.
Everything connected (wired) has the router issued ip 192.168.0.xxx
I just want the wireless router to be one of the connected devices.
So what can I do to make this work.
regards,
So I have the following config.
Cable modem->wired 4 port router->couple of switches to spread the internet connectivity across the house. All work well and now want to add wireless capability for my wifes laptop and pocket pc.
I connected the wireless router to one of the switches (could not connect it to the cable modem as it is in the basement and the signal on the top floor does not work). I disabled the DHCP server on the wireless router and now in the wireless connection I see 169.254.45.123 and there is no wireless connection. I could use a wireless bridge but then the wireless router goes to waste.
Everything connected (wired) has the router issued ip 192.168.0.xxx
I just want the wireless router to be one of the connected devices.
So what can I do to make this work.
regards,
Guy Lavoie
Active Member
First of all, make sure that the wireless router's WAN port is the one connected to your switch.
You would need to re-enable DHCP on the wireless router so that it can assign addresses to devices that connect to it wirelessly (that's why your wireless device is showing you a 169.254... address). You also need to define its DHCP address range to be different from the one that's on your other router. For example, if your main (wired) router is defined as 198.168.0.x and it assigns addresses from 1 to 254, then set up your wireless router for a DHCP range of 198.168.1.x with addresses again running from 1 to 254.
You would need to re-enable DHCP on the wireless router so that it can assign addresses to devices that connect to it wirelessly (that's why your wireless device is showing you a 169.254... address). You also need to define its DHCP address range to be different from the one that's on your other router. For example, if your main (wired) router is defined as 198.168.0.x and it assigns addresses from 1 to 254, then set up your wireless router for a DHCP range of 198.168.1.x with addresses again running from 1 to 254.
Ok so I added the wireless router to the setup and I can access the internet using the wireless as well as the wired network.
Here are the only concerns.
Harwired router attached to the cable moden has ip addresses from 192.168.0.1-49
Wireless router will assign ip addresses from 192.168.0.50-100
Wireless router setup can be accessed using 192.168.0.50 and the hardwired one can be accessed using 192.168.0.1
now if i am only using the hardwired pc then I cannot access the 192.168.0.50 and the same is the case with if I am using my laptop using the wireless connection then I cannot access the setup of the hardwired router by using the 192.168.0.1
The othe rproblem is that I have elk connected to 192.168.0.5 which i cannot access using the wireless connection but no problems using the the hardwired pcs.
Can someone please provide a better understanding of how to make the above work. The main purpose of setting up aoreless is to be able to access elk and other pc along with the internet.
regards,
Here are the only concerns.
Harwired router attached to the cable moden has ip addresses from 192.168.0.1-49
Wireless router will assign ip addresses from 192.168.0.50-100
Wireless router setup can be accessed using 192.168.0.50 and the hardwired one can be accessed using 192.168.0.1
now if i am only using the hardwired pc then I cannot access the 192.168.0.50 and the same is the case with if I am using my laptop using the wireless connection then I cannot access the setup of the hardwired router by using the 192.168.0.1
The othe rproblem is that I have elk connected to 192.168.0.5 which i cannot access using the wireless connection but no problems using the the hardwired pcs.
Can someone please provide a better understanding of how to make the above work. The main purpose of setting up aoreless is to be able to access elk and other pc along with the internet.
regards,
Guy Lavoie
Active Member
Your addressing scheme is different then the one I suggested in my previous post and will not work because your netmasks are not set on an even bit boundry. I don't know how your routers can exactly be configured but at the very least, you would need to to set the wireless router to use a range such as 192.168.0.128 to 255, and set its netmask to 255.255.255.128. It would then know that addresses below 128 need to be routed to its WAN port. this would allow the wireless devices to see the wired devices and the internet.
Similarly, the wired router would need to use addresses 192.168.0.1 to 127 and with a netmask of 255.255.255.128, but it would also need to "know" that the addresses ranging from 192.168.0.128 to 255 need to be routed to the address where the wireless router is located, so that would need to be set to a static address as well (such as 192.168.0.63) so that it also sends any data meant for the wireless router to the proper port. Setting up this routing to a local address may or may not be supported in the router's firmware.
I don't know if anyone else has another trick to get this done.
Similarly, the wired router would need to use addresses 192.168.0.1 to 127 and with a netmask of 255.255.255.128, but it would also need to "know" that the addresses ranging from 192.168.0.128 to 255 need to be routed to the address where the wireless router is located, so that would need to be set to a static address as well (such as 192.168.0.63) so that it also sends any data meant for the wireless router to the proper port. Setting up this routing to a local address may or may not be supported in the router's firmware.
I don't know if anyone else has another trick to get this done.
