Use a hub like a router? (So to speak)

[DesignDawg]

Hey all,

Right now, I have an internal DSL modem, but it's been very problematic for me. No good drivers for Win2K. It's been good having internal, though, because I NEED to share a printer, share files, AND share the internet connection. That worked great with the internal, because I have a hub connecting my computers, through which I can share all of these. The NICs in the computer are for connecting to the hub only.
Well, since the internal is giving me problems, I have an external on the way. Now, you're supposed to connect to the external via NIC, right? There goes my printer/file/connection sharing. UNLESS....
My hub has a port for uplink. My understanding of this port has always been that I can hook up my DSL modem to the UPLINK and then connect my other computers into the hub, and each computer would then get its own connection. Am I wrong about that? Now, I'm fairly certain that that's how it works with a router, thus the subject line. Of course, I may be wrong, as networking is one area I know VERY little about. What I'm trying to avoid is having to have two NICs in this computer. --Mainly because I don't have another right now.
So, who can help?

Thanks,

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[Jinny]

well, what I was doing before was plug in the dsl modem to the hub, then all your computers to the hub. you can then use one computer to share the dsl(ICS) and printer and whatever you want, kinda like a server. This elminates having 2 nics in teh "server" computer.

 

[drewski]

doing what you suggested may or may not work depending on your ISP.

i believe that without the router capabilities, just using a hub in this manner will attempt to get a new IP address for each computer. with the router, all of your computers will "share" the external IP and have different internal IPs (is that NAT?!?)

some ISPs aren't sophisticated enough to enfore the 1-IP address and you can do this.

another option is to use a USB DSL Modem. Connect to the same machine you have the Internal DSL modem in now and your other sharing stuff should work exactly as before.

of course, i've heard that the USB DSL modems aren't as speedy as the connection through NIC.

 

[IBuySouls]

Drewski, yes that is NAT. DSL/Cable routers do this as well as programs like WinRoute and the standard ICS. All they do is take any packets passing through the router/computer and change the source ip address in the packet to the IP of the router/computer connected to the external modem. That way, you can have a ton of computers on one network sharing one internet connection and all the ISP will see is the one IP address. I think that's the way it goes (anyone correct me if I'm wrong). Been a while since I've done any CCNA studying!