Need some ideas for a simple network with DSL.

[DragonFire]

With any luck I might be able to get DSL soon. I was going to hook it up to what I'm using as a fileserver and wanted some ideas on what I can do/use to keep hackers out. I was also wondering if I could just plug the dsl modem into the uplink port of my hub instead of having two nics in one system? If anyone suggest a proxy, which one? I would like one that is easy to setup and use and has no problems with icq or internet gaming.

 

[Scarpozzi]

You could plug your DSL modem directly into your hub if you wanted to do that, but you'd only be able to plug one computer into it. If you put anymore on there, they'd fight for the IP Address. What you need to get is a router. There are several DSL/Cable Modem class personal routers that serve as firewalls/gateways and not only add security, but versatility to your home network. If you already have a hub, you'll just need to get a router and some network cable and you'll be set as long as you have NICs in all your systems. Just do a little reasearch on the models discussed on this forum and you'll learn a lot. It seems to be a daily topic....over and over and over.

 

[Resh]

I have a cable connection and share it with 3 and soon to be 5 computers. I laboured over how to do it for a long time so I'll give you the options I considered and why I chose what I did.

What I did:

Put 2 NICs in the file-server and just use Win98SE ICS. No probs with games or ICQ and quite stable. To max your security, go to www.grc.com and follow the directions there (unbind all TCP/IP lines from Client from Microsoft Windows). You could also place a firewall on the clients. I have not found a firewall that will work on a computer running ICS.

Options considered:

1) Use your file-server as the gateway computer with win98SE ICS or some other NAT software and have 2 NICs in that PC.

Pros: Stupid simple to get working, no big costs, client computers are shielded from the net.
Cons: Connection can be no more reliable than your fileserver's stability.

2) Use something like Freesco (www.freesco) to share the connection.

Pros: Highly configurable and secure, can run on anything from a 386 up with a min of 8MB of RAM and some swap space.
Cons: Configuration is not intuitive and hardware recognition is not guaranteed. Requires a dedicated system.

If you have a whole system to commit that is able to do so, put a whole linux distro on it and use it as your file server/firewall.

3) Hardware Router (Linksys/D-Link) to act as Server.

Pros: Connection should be problem free with no OS to crash, secure.
Cons: Not overly configurable; complicates gaming, ICQ, etc.

Just my 2cents.

Resh

 

[FUBAR]

Be sure about what you are getting from your DSL provider. They will tell you it's a 'modem' whatever it is. If you get a box like the cisco 675 (or any similar products if anyone knows of any) those are really routers. If that is the case, you can do the hub thing. This is also 'stupid simple' to set up assuming that the equipment comes configured properly to you. Most can be/are firewalls too.

Another route you may want to go would be the Linksys route but I'll leave that to someone else.

 

[LongTimePCUser]

I have been using Winproxy to share my ADSL connection. It works with most but not all ADSL providers.

Don't connect the ADSL cable directly to the hub. That exposes your entire network to the internet. Get a second NIC in one of your PCs and connect the ADSL cable there. Then get something like WinProxy (www.winproxy.com) to share the connection. It costs around $50 but it is much smarter and more secure than Microsoft's ICS. It puts up a reasonably strong firewall. Test it at www.grc.com and you will get a report that all your ports are in "stealth" mode. It also can run anti-virus software at the firewall. That gives you a second layer of protection. It can also, optionally, run content filtering. That is usefull if you have young children at home on one of the other PCs and would prefer that they don't visit certain sites.

 

[FUBAR]

With any of these solutions, it really depends on what hardware you are going to need to just get hooked up. Continue this discussion once you know exactly what the ISP gives you so that you can get EXACTly the best idea for your setup.

In some router situations, they are firewalls and are safe to go right to the hub. Some others are internal to one PC and need other methods of protection.

 

[Mday]

if you want the least hassle, get a router. since you have a hub already, you can just get the singple port linksys router.

if you want more hassle, ICS or NAT software is the way to go.