Router Woes

LordFortius

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
358
0
0
Well, my current network setup consists of a cable modem, a desktop, a laptop, and possibly an XBOX and networked PVR in the future. The desktop and laptop are connected via a 3com Home Connect Wireless Gateway, with the cable modem connected to the WAN port on the gateway, the desktop connecting via ethernet to the switch, and the laptop using a wireless pc card. I've been fairly happy with this setup except for the fact that the router built into the gateway has no options for port forwarding, and the built in firewall has no options for letting through specific types of traffic on specific ports. This makes it impossible for me to host games on the MSN Gaming Zone, or set up an FTP server. I am constantly thinking up new ways to remedy these problems, and the issue seems to be becoming more of a problem for me as more and more products get network interfaces, such as the XBox and the new ReplayTV pvr's coming out soon.

This is my most recent idea to alleviate the problem:
1. Disable NAT, Firewall, and DHCP server on 3com Wireless Gateway
2. Hook linksys 1 port cable modem/dsl router to the gateway and use the linksys for DHCP and NAT.

Hopefully this would allow me to continue using the gateway as an ethernet switch and a wireless ap.

Would this set up work? Are there any settings I would have to change on the wireless gateway, besides disabling the firewall, NAT, and DHCP? What about the settings on the new router? Also, the gateway has a WAN port and 3 switched 10/100 ethernet ports. What port would I hook the new router up to and would I need to use a switched cable?

I would also appreciate suggestions on what router to use if the Linksys will not be sufficient. In the future when I need more ethernet ports, can I simply connect an ethernet switch to the gateway? Or when I buy the new router, should I buy a multiport model and connect a new switch to that?
 

Garion

Platinum Member
Apr 23, 2001
2,329
6
81
That _should_ work fine, but it depends on the capabilities of the 3Com. You probably won't be able to disable the router and the NAT part of it, but that's OK. Since they have to use a 192.168.x.x network, just assign it an IP of 192.168.1.254 and your new Linksys box 192.168.1.1 and make everything use .1.1 as your default gateway. That way it will still be active and on the wire, but it won't be your default gateway. It'll pretty much just sit there.

I don't know if the Linksys box comes with a crossover or a regular port - You might need to buy a crossover cable if it won't connect to the switch built into your 3Com box. Not a big deal, $5. You'll be able to plug this into any port on the 3Com (with the exception of the WAN port, of course!)

The only catch would be if the wireless access point is so embedded into the 3Com that it won't communicate through another gateway. Probably not the case. You might have to set a static IP on the wireless box, but that's no biggie.

If I were you, I'd buy something with more than one port. If your 3Com only has three ports you're going to take one with the uplink to the Linksys, leaving you only two. Linksys makes a good box (as does SMC), with as many as eight ports. Simple formula - Take the number of computers you'll have and add one - That's the minimum size of the switch you need. Most switches are either one, four or eight ports.

It doesn't make sense to buy too many 4-port switches and uplink them together. If you do that with two, you've taken up two of eight ports, 25%! Not very cost effective.

- G
 

LordFortius

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
358
0
0
Luckily I dont think any of that stuff will be a problem. I just checked the setup options on the gateway options on the gateway and there is clearly a way to disable NAT, DHCP server and firewall. I suppose the one thing that might be a problem is whether the built in wireless AP will be able to get DHCP from the new router. I will call 3com and ask about this.

I just thought of one other problem - the setup options for the 3com are all found at 192.168.2.1. As far as I know, there is no way to change this. What if the new router uses this same IP address? Does anyone know if this can be changed on the linksys, because that is the router I will probably get. I suppose that if worse comes to worse I could always connect the desktop specifically to the router to set it up, and then connect it to the gateway.

I am still planning on getting a 1 port router, since I can't see a need for more than 8-10 ethernet connections in my house, even with all the new stuff that is coming out. When I decide I need to expand and get a new switch, I will just go with an 8 port model and connect that to the gateway.

Thanks for your advice Garion.