[ILUG] Information on setting up a home network

[Gary Pigott]

Éibhear wrote:
> Michele Neylon:: Blacknight.ie said:
>   
>> Éibhear wrote:
>> Éibhear
>> I'd get a linksys wireless router jobbie with a few ports included.
>> There are a variety of models available, though I don't have prices to
>> hand. We've sold a few to people in the past and they seem to be very
>> happy with them
>>     
>
> Thanks Michele. I sent the following to Frank, but forgot to include ILUG:
> Unfortunately, wifi is not an option.
>
> The modem has only one access point. However, the "Expert Mode" web
> front-end on the modem has the following categories and options. I'm
> hoping that the NAT section is what I'm looking for, but I can't find any
> documentation on how to use it without buggering up the connection. Right
> now, I don't want to open any of the systems to the internet, so pin-holes
> and one-to-one mappings are not relevant at the moment.
>
>   
I've had one of those Netopia boxes and while there is only a single ethernet connection, it does do NAT, DHCP and everything else out of the box. You need to buy a cheap hub/switch (the EUR25 one will do nicely) and some CAT5 cable. You should be able to plug all the computers *and* the ADSL box into the switch (use the ethernet connection), configure the PCs to use DHCP rather than static IPs and it should just work. 

The only thing missing is a decent firewall, however some would argue that NAT on it's own is good enough because an outside computer cannot initiate a connection to a PC behind the NAT box. All connections must be initiated from the inside, so as long as you don't pick up a worm from some other means, everything should be OK. 

Homeplug is nice if running cable will be a problem, but Linux support for the hardware is questionable, and the hardware itself is a bit on the expensive side for my taste (EUR100 per note is a bit on the high side). I just use wireless. I had the wireless version for a while too. Eircom were selling it for EUR50 and it had 4 ethernet ports too, but I've switched over to a Netgear DG834GT (see http://www.netgear.com/products/details/DG834G.php), which does 54Mbs wireless, and has a SPI firewall built in, and a lot more options for port forwarding, DMZs and all the other funky stuff. It even runs Linux!

regards,

Gary

-- 
Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience...
http://www.garypigott.net