Home Network, the usual yada yada

[Guest]

I'm very familiar with Windows networking, and i'm a telecom tech, so i understand the network hardware pretty well (i'm still new to the field, so i don't consider myself an expert).

But i've never built a home network from the ground up. And i'm about to. I'm pretty sure i know how it's gonna shape up, but i figure i could present my thoughts here and get some brilliant critiques of my soon-to-be method.

Four PCs, all with NICs. One four port 10/100 hub. Cat 5 cable run through the walls to jacks in every room with a PC, effectively giving every PC a direct connection to the hub. I know how to share resources. Once they're all connected to the hub and all desired resources are shared, bada bing, we have a working home network, no? I know to name every PC something different, and i suppose put them all in the same workgroup.

The one thing i have zero experience with is setting up a shared internet connection. I suppose get the connection up and running on the "host" PC, then follow the Windows wizards on all the other PCs to get them to share it? Or can i just tell all the other PCs to access the internet through a LAN, and they'll just find the connection through the hub?

 

[jlanka]

The absolute easiest way to do this is to get yourself a Cable/DSL router, hands down. There are many offerings out there, including Linksys, Netgear, SMC, and others. <A HREF="http://www.egghead.com/ShowPage.dll?page=cat_type_ceos&Category=NERODR" target="_new">Here is a sampling</A>
BTW - I'm pretty sure they're offering a $50 rebate in the SMC Barricade 7004 right now, a personal fav of mine. This puts the price at $50 plus shipping after rebate. Not bad.
<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[upec]

You have enable the Intenet Connection and Sharing on the host PC. You do not have to do anything else on other computers. They will automatically get internet connection from the host computer.

 

[Flyboy]

I agree. I have Netgear RT314 and love it. VERY EASY to configure. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't support port range forwarding. It supports single-port forwarding only. YOu can get these for <$100 now too!

I've used Internet Connection sharing for 2 pc's before too. At the time I only had a 56K modem. If you want to go this route all you need to do (if I recall) is to install ICS on all PC's. I think you have to create a discuss on the host machine though. Then you have to install something on all of the clients. Sorry this is so vague, but I did this like 2 or 3 years ago.

Good luck.

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