network and cable modem question

[mdetz]

We just had Road Runner installed at my work. The stupid installation guy installed it near our switch, thinking it was a router. Our switch, which is in a different room than our server, is 18 ports, with about 15 actually used. I tried plugging the modem in to the switch; it didn't work.
We want all of the computers to have internet access. Is there any easy way to do this with the setup I described? If the cable modem/jack was in the same room as the server, I was thinking I could just add another nic, plug the cable modem into that, and use the server as the firewall; but its not.
Am I better off buying a router with a built-in firewall, plugging the modem into the wan connector, and then just plugging the router into the switch? would that work?
Any help would be appreciated. It somehow became my job to get this fixed, and I know nothing of networks.

thnx

 

[Jorrit]

without an ip address for every computer you want internet access on, you'll have to set one computer up to share it's internet connection with all the others; this computer has to have 2 nics. however there are some hardware solutions available to connect multiple computers with 1 ip address; however i don't know how easy and affordable they are.

 

[mdetz]

forgot to mention. The server is running NT, and the others 98. Don't make me call those damn IT people!

 

[mdetz]

Well, the only reason I think it's doable is because I have a 4 computer network at home, running off of a router. But their network is a little bigger, and I know nothing of DHCP and all that.

 

[frizzlefry]

Since it is an office environment, I would suggest getting a decent router. We used a Flowpoint router with built in firewall for office. What's the budget like? But its worth the extra expense. You get the firewall and plus every computer will have an IP address. Makes it alot easier doing it this way rather than to set up a server/client using ICS or what not for the office.

 

[mdetz]

Heh. The budget has already been exceeded Supposedly, all the server/client stuff was set up. I just dread taking down the server and opening it up. Its one thing when its your home computer.

Ok, another question. I'm at home now, and I unplugged a cable from the computer that was coming from the router, and plugged it into the uplink port of a 4 port hub. I then hooked up that computer into the hub, and the internet still works fine. Can I not do this same thing with the switch at work?

Guess what I'm trying to say is, can I get away with keeping the existing switch, and just plugging a cheapy hardware router w/ firewall to interface with the cable modem?

 

[Quad]

ok. the reason that it worked (plugging it in to the hub) is because there is only one computer accessing the internet.

if connected another computer to that hub, both computers wouldnt' be able to have access.
since its an office, your best bet it get a router of sorts.

but i see where you're coming from. so you could set up a proxy server on a server machine. plug that machine into the switch, then config all other comps to access the proxy. should be ok. may be a little slow, but should work.

the above proxy solution is a bad one.

how many computers are there on your network?

 

[mdetz]

about 10 to 15.

 

[mdetz]

Hmm, now I'm confused. I took a second computer and hooked it up to the hub. Loaded new pages with both, and they both worked fine. So why shouldn't they work?

Wouldn't this be the same as having 2 hubs hooked up, and saying that 2 computers can't access a separate computer at the same time? I dunno. I'm gonna try it at work, and see how it goes. Thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[frizzlefry]

Have someone browse that second computer while you are browsing as well. Eventually you'll get an IP conflict. But if you're only using the computers seperately, then it would never conlfict.

Your'e sure it's a switch and not a router? Jsut wanted to make sure.

I would strongly suggest jsut getting the router (4 port). Since it's company expense, it doesn't cost that much. Just pay retail for it.

 

[Quad]

well, since there's 10-15 nodes, wouldnt' u need a 16 port router?
u could pick one up for a few hundred dollars