HELP confused with Sharing Cable Modem hardware!!!

[Debosteebo]

after going through alot of pages on the net, it seems as though some cards (either lan/network/ethernet/nic) will work to share cable modem access and others wont. Also, im beginning to seem that routers and hubs arent the same thing...? Can someone please clarify what will work and what will not, and the difference between routers and hubs? What should i specifically look for when buying (hub or router) or (lan or ehternet or nic or network) card so i can be sure it will work to share a cable modem connection?

 

[BCYL]

First of all, ethernet/NIC/network cards are basically the same thing... so any of them will work for sharing a cable modem...

Yes, hub and router is NOT the same thing... a router is something that will let you share 1 IP address with many computers (hardware NAT), it has a switch built-in (switch is basically a smart hub) and also a hardware firewall... so in other words, a router contains a hub and other extra things... Using a router will be very easy for you to share a cable modem... all you need will be a router, some network cables (CAT5) and a NIC in each of your PCs...

You can also share cable modem with only a hub/switch... but this way you will need one of your PC to run NAT (whereas with the router the router runs NAT, so none of your PC does not have to). With this method, you need 2 NICs in the PC running NAT, and 1 in each of your other PCs...

 

[Debosteebo]

so if i just get a hub, i have to have 1 computer on at all time (in order for the 2nd computer to get cable modem access), but with a router, it wont matter if one is on and the other is off...?

 

[bigbootydaddy]

right

 

[BCYL]

Yes... however hubs do go quite a bit cheaper than a router... so you gotta decide what's more important, the extra conviencent and features offered by a router, or your budget...

 

[Hittman2]

First time post after being gone for a long time...man this site has changed alot. Anyway, I don't want to start an arguement, just thought I would throw in my two cents. A SWITCH is a smart hub. When a packet comes into a hub, it is passed arount to each computer until it finds the ip address that it is looking for. A switch basically knows which ip is plugged into which port so the packet goes directly to the computer it is looking for. A router on the other hand, keeps up with routing tables (which route is the quickest)and other more complex things that I will not delve into now. I just want to say that you DO NOT NEED A ROUTER. However, a switch is more than well worth the money. (they are not that much more expensive) As far as the connection sharing is concerned, I work with a networking firm that handles only businesses. Cable is primarily not going into businesses. However, I have setup 3 cable systems for friends and a satellite (which I am using right now) They have all been on Windows 98 ICS. Heres how it goes. Have your home lan already setup. I am assuming that you have 2 nics like I have seen previously. One is for the lan and the other for the cable modem. Install ICS through Add/remove as suggested in earlier post. Skip the client disk, you don't need it. Open the internet explorer connection setting, either right click on the blue E and hit properties or through control panel and internet setting. Under the connection tab, you will now see sharing tab. It will ask which nic connects to the internet and which connects to your lan. Make sure that is setup correct. By default and demand of ICS, your IP address is now 192.168.0.1. DO NOT CHANGE THIS. On the clients, open network properties, open tcp/ip properties, and number each one following same scheme 192.168.0.2, 0.3 0.4 0.5. Then on each one, make the default gateway 192.168.0.1 and click dns and put 192.168.0.1. The domain name can be whatever your workgroup name is and the host is your computer name. there also. This is the changes that the client disk will make that I said to skip previously. Final step, on each client, go into the internet setting as described previously, and on connection, click lan. DO NOT CHECK ANY OF THE BOXES. Including detect proxy client. Now connect to the internet. It really is just that simple. Like I said, I have set this up on 3 cable modems and a satellite. It does work great.

 

[Hittman2]

First time post after being gone for a long time...man this site has changed alot. Anyway, I don't want to start an arguement, just thought I would throw in my two cents. A SWITCH is a smart hub. When a packet comes into a hub, it is passed arount to each computer until it finds the ip address that it is looking for. A switch basically knows which ip is plugged into which port so the packet goes directly to the computer it is looking for. A router on the other hand, keeps up with routing tables (which route is the quickest)and other more complex things that I will not delve into now. I just want to say that you DO NOT NEED A ROUTER. However, a switch is more than well worth the money. (they are not that much more expensive) As far as the connection sharing is concerned, I work with a networking firm that handles only businesses. Cable is primarily not going into businesses. However, I have setup 3 cable systems for friends and a satellite (which I am using right now) They have all been on Windows 98 ICS. Heres how it goes. Have your home lan already setup. I am assuming that you have 2 nics like I have seen previously. One is for the lan and the other for the cable modem. Install ICS through Add/remove as suggested in earlier post. Skip the client disk, you don't need it. Open the internet explorer connection setting, either right click on the blue E and hit properties or through control panel and internet setting. Under the connection tab, you will now see sharing tab. It will ask which nic connects to the internet and which connects to your lan. Make sure that is setup correct. By default and demand of ICS, your IP address is now 192.168.0.1. DO NOT CHANGE THIS. On the clients, open network properties, open tcp/ip properties, and number each one following same scheme 192.168.0.2, 0.3 0.4 0.5. Then on each one, make the default gateway 192.168.0.1 and click dns and put 192.168.0.1. The domain name can be whatever your workgroup name is and the host is your computer name. there also. This is the changes that the client disk will make that I said to skip previously. Final step, on each client, go into the internet setting as described previously, and on connection, click lan. DO NOT CHECK ANY OF THE BOXES. Including detect proxy client. Now connect to the internet. It really is just that simple. Like I said, I have set this up on 3 cable modems and a satellite. It does work great.
Glen Pittman, MCSE,CNE