best way to network...

MNuTz

MNuTz

MNuTz

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Lo all,

Right, im setting up a network at home. Ive got my gaming PC, i want to run as little as possible on here and use it purely for games. Ive also got a Linux PC that im learning Linux with and and PC running XP for all the usual stuff.

Ideally i want to connect all 3 PCs to the net at the same time or individually. Currently its setup that one PC downstairs always has to be on as its the Gateway. Pain in the backside if noones using it.

Currently i am using an old round cable/connector setup that runs at 10MB. Also its using a speedtouch USB ADSL modem.

All 3 PCs are going to be in one room. My gaming PC has firewire (that i still havent setup or installed into the PC :) )

I really dont want to have a firewall running on my gaming PC and i want a cable system for reliability.

So im looking at 3 networks cards, cables and a what?? Router/firewall??

Any suggestions gratefully received. :D
 
You need a network interface on each PC (most new pcs have it onboard, if not a 10/100 card costs less than a fiver) and some Cate5e patch 'straight' (not crossover) cables for each PC. Connet your router to your modem. If your current modem doesn't have a ethernet port, you'll either need a new modem that does or a router that supports an USB WAN connection.

once you have that sorted, then if your router has a built in switch plug all pcs into that, else buy a switch (less than a tenner) and plug the router into the switch and then the rest of the pcs into the switch:, so:

INTERNET ---> Modem ---> Router --> Switch --> seperate cable to each PC.

the modem/router/switch can be 1,2 or 3 boxes depending on your choice.
 
with a router do you still need firewalls?

Im sure i read somewhere that you dont, but i could be wrong :D
 
A router just routes data to differnet machines and networks. It has no bearing on whether you choose to use a firewall or not.

If you are supplied only 1 IP address by your ISP then you will need to use NAT on the router and this will mean that none of your machines will be visible to machines on the outside network, as each machien will have a 'private' ip address. If the router detected an incoming packet address to an internal address, it would deny it automatically.

The only way to connect directly to an internal PC would be to port-forward any ports you want to use (webserver/ftp/gameserver etc) from the router to the internal PC. If you close all ports off I'd say you were pretty safe.

I never bother with software firewalls like zonealarm etc - they just cause more problems than they solve IMO.

Of course even with a firewall you can still be trojaned, so don't run any software you don't trust as per usual.

This method has served me for over 6 years with no problems. Of course you need to make sure your router has no externel 'holes' (Such as remote web admin, telnet port open, default passwords, etc. ) I had a zoom modem once and that was well bad. There was actually no way to turn off the telnet and you had to forward all telnets to 127.0.0.1 to prevent anyone connecting.....(or something like that, it's been a while)
 
NAT gives some element of protection, since unsolicited incoming connections will be dropped. Gives zero protection against outgoing traffic though (but common sense should mostly handle that), or ports you've forwarded.

With ADSL, you'd be easier (and cheaper) with combined modem and router. Netgear DG834 (DG834G is the 54MBps wireless version) being one example.
 
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