Internet sharing confusion

[Countryman]

I?m planning a network that has three PCs (1xVista64, 1xXP & 1xWin98SE) and four ?dumb? Squeezeboxes. All seven devices require internet access. I am currently using an SMC Barricade to service two PCs and two Squeezeboxes.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody produces a 7/8 port Broadband Router so I was going to buy a new Broadband Router (for the Firewall facility) and feed one port to a new 8 port switch. I was then going to connect two PCs, and four Squeezeboxes to the switch. In addition, one switch port would be connected to the ?old? Barricade to service one connected PC and the Barricade?s Printer Port (so I can still have a networked printer). However, having read up on documents on the Ezlan site I am totally confused! Ezlan state that because of the NAT requirements, all devices requiring internet access must be directly connected to the Broadband router. This isn?t possible because of the number of devices. An alternative is to enable ISC. This is possibly ok on the PCs but cannot be used on the ?dumb? Squeezeboxes.

Am I screwed? :shocked:

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Countryman
...Ezlan state that because of the NAT requirements, all devices requiring internet access must be directly connected to the Broadband router...

You are mis-reading something. For your purpose, a connection to a router-connected SWITCH is the same thing as a direct connection your new router. Besides your plain "switch", both routers also have switches embedded on all their LAN ports.

1) Connect the new router to the Internet.
2) Connect the switch and the SMC router to the new router's LAN ports. Do NOT connect ANYTHING to the "WAN" port on the SMC router.
3) Turn off the DHCP Service on the SMC router, leaving DHCP on the new router. You only want a single DHCP Server on your network.
4) Connect the client devices to the switch OR to any open LAN ports on the new router OR to any open LAN ports on the SMC router. All of those ports are equivalent for your purpose. That should give you enough ports for your needs.