Network with 2 routers?/???/?

[shawner8690]

So i have a setup of only 2 computers. Mine and my wifes. we both listen to lots of music and watch lots of movies. Thing is, is my computer is used for storing everything, (3tb of space) . I have them networked together through a dsl modem/router. (westell 7500 from century link)..... both wired connections.... everything works ok.. i guess...

well..... she has been complaining lately that her internet runs slow.... and i know....dsl kinda sux!!!! but its all thats available here at this time...

So it got me thinking, i've got a couple other 10/100 cards and a spare router laying around... is it possible to set up one network for our internet.... and a separate network for the file sharing?

I am basically wondering if moving the traffic of the file sharing off of the dsl/router to another router would help her internet speeds out. or would it really make a differnce since they are both 100mb connnections and they never reach peak.?

any thoughts?

 

[The_Prophecy]

This network for file sharing you want to set up... is this intended to share files between the two computers only? Or are you sharing it out across the internet?

If you're only sharing between the two computers, get yourself a newer router (something that has Gigabit ports, and if you need it... Wireless N) so that you can share the media quicker. That way the router is spending less time moving those files across your LAN, and has more time available for downloading stuff from the internet.

On the other hand, if you're sharing those files out to the internet, the only way I know of to get around your problem is by buying a separate dsl line from your ISP. The issue with going this route is that in order to share data between your and your wife's computer, your network (on both the hardware, and software side of things) gets needlessly complicated if you want to do so without having to send it back out to your ISP, then pull it back in through the other dsl line (sending it out to your ISP and pulling back down via the other connection of course means that doing so will be MUCH slower... basically limited to however fast your upload speed is on either connection. For that reason, I suggest that you not even bother considering this option). Basically what you would need is a second NIC (preferably Gigabit) installed in each system connected via a crossover cable. That becomes even more complicated if the two computers are not in the same room.

 

[shawner8690]

i only need to share with the other computer... and i do have extra nic's, but they are only 10/100.... the pc's are in separate rooms, separated by just a wall...with a hole in it..lol, thats how the cat5's are routed now...but my question, tho, is say i do make a crossover cable and such, how do i go about forcing it to only be used for filesharing, and keep THAT traffic OUT of my modem (modem is also a router) ......

windows xp btw....

 

[The_Prophecy]

Ok... get yourself a newer router (like a D-Link DIR-655, or something similar with Gigabit LAN ports. The processor in the router will have a much easier time handling the traffic you're sending through it. Since the file sharing traffic is all intended to be internal, you don't need a crossover cable, nor will you need to force Windows to send the traffic out a certain way. If you're browsing a network share on a computer connected to the LAN, none of that traffic will go out to the internet (since it doesn't need to do so).

Once you have the router with Gigabit LAN ports, get yourself a Gigabit NIC card for each computer. These can be had for pretty cheap. Stick to cards that are either D-Link, Linsys, or Intel branded when buying for the two PC's.

Basically your issue comes down to the fact that you're saturating the router with traffic by sharing files between your 2 computers. Using a router and PC NIC cards with Gigabit ports will widen the pipes and allow more traffic to get through, and thus will stop slowing down your connection out to the internet.

 

[shawner8690]

ok... thats sounds like its gonn be the best route to go then...but, how is that gonna work with this modem, as its a router/modem combo? would i just configure the new router to not host dhcp, and let the modem /router do that.

and second ? .... wifes pc only has STANDARD pci slots (not pci-x) will they allow for enough bandwith to not bottleneck a gigabit nic?

 

[shawner8690]

Best answer selected by shawner8690.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Crap.... sorry. Forgot to ask if it was a modem/router combo. So your diagram above is exactly right, the only thing that needs to change is the gigabit router should be replaced with a gigabit switch. The switch will allow the traffic to flow across the network at the needed speeds, but does not have the same logic as a router. switches purely serve to split a network connection so that more ports are available for more computers. They are also considerably cheaper than most good routers.

Regarding your wife's system, as long as there is nothing else connected to any of the PCI slots, the Gigabit LAN card will operate at it's full potential. PCI slots provide a maximum shared bus bandwidth of 133MBps. The maximum theoretical transfer rate of a Gigabit LAN connection is 125MBps. If there is anything else connected, the LAN connection will be affected, but should only be affected while moving files internally across your LAN. Downloading anything from the internet should continue running at full speed, though it may be slowed slightly during any internal media transfer. It will only cut into the internal transfer speed by potentially as fast as your internet connection allows you to download files. For example, if you're moving a bunch of data over the LAN, and also trying to download a game or movie (via a legal method of course) and your DSL connection is rated at 10Mbps, your internal transfer will be slowed by roughly 1.25MBps (given 1 Megabyte per second (MBps) = 8 Megabits per second (Mbps)).

With this setup, you should also be able to continue downloading at the full speed of your internet connection (or at least very close to it), even while moving large media files from one PC to another. The traffic doesn't even make it to the router if it's going between your computers. It only flows through the gigabit switch, as it does not need to go back to the actual access point (your router/modem unit).

 

[shawner8690]

cool... exaclty what i needed to know man.. thanks