NTL LAN

[mikeh501]

mikeh501, can you clarify something for me so i know what i'm on about next time?

personally, i have an adsl router connected directly to one pc, then a cable from the router to a switch which presently connects to another 2 pcs both of which connect to the internet fine.

what is the difference between connecting dick's NTL box to a switch & me connecting my router to a switch?

Its all about TCP/IP......

Your ISP provides you as a residential subscriber with a single IP address. This public address is entirely unique on the entire internet so that when you communicate with a web server for instance it can route the information back to you over the internet. So, as you have only a single address you cant share it with any other machine either.

You see routers are far more sophisticated than hubs and switches. Routers work at the TCP/IP level of networking, whilst hubs and routers work at the more physical level, having no interest in TCP/IP at all.

What your router does in this scenario is to take the single address given to you by your ISP and use it itself. This is what the WAN port is doing on your router.

The router then gives out as many addresses as you want on the LAN side of its function. These addresses are what are called private addresses and cannot be used on the internet.

So once your LAN machines have addresses and your router has the WAN address from the ISP, you router is clever enough that it can act on behalf of your machines on your LAN through a single IP address. So when you goto browse the web your internet packets leave your machine, goto your router which replaces the source IP of the packets with its own WAN IP address and forwards onto the destination. The web server which receives those packets then responds by sending the web page to the source of the request which is your routers WAN address. Your router is clever enough that it knows which machine to forward it back to on your local LAN. This is known as Network Address Translation (NAT).

So to answer your question specifically...

personally, i have an adsl router connected directly to one pc, then a cable from the router to a switch which presently connects to another 2 pcs both of which connect to the internet fine.

In this scenario you have only have one IP address on the WAN side of your router which is exactly how it should be. You can have as many as you want on the LAN side, and daisy chain hubs and switches from your router.

what is the difference between connecting dick's NTL box to a switch & me connecting my router to a switch? [/B]

Again this would work so long as you didnt have any computer connected to the switch and just the router WAN port. All your PC's then connected to the LAN side of the router.

 

[cookie]

ah yes, of course. thanks for the explanation.

it's a NAT thing, isn't it?

 

[mikeh501]

ah yes, of course. thanks for the explanation.

it's a NAT thing, isn't it?

lol

And that was my best attempt at a plain english description of routers, hubs, switches, ISO 7 layer protcol, NAT, subnets, CIDR and TCP/IP......

 

[guitarman]

ps. you need a special crimper to terminate cat 5 into RJ45 plugs. i have one you can borrow if you go down that route, or i may just be visiting wessons soon to pick parts up & could do it for you.

i spoke to steve last week just after you'd called.

Thanks for the offer. New puter is not due til end of month so it may not fit in with your schedule. BTW if you are using the A27 it's only 5 minutes from there to my place so you're welcome to call in for a tea/coffee/beer/wine......

Let me know.

Cheers

Dick

 

[guitarman]

Right then let's see if I've got this right.

NTL box is connected via ethernet cable to a cable router (preferably with built in firewall)

From the cable router there'll be 3 network cables to PC1, PC2 and the laptop

Anything else I need?

From what I understood of the earlier replies doing it this way the router takes the main IP address and deals with the connected PCs automatically. What about declaring the router as an IP address? Does that happen automatically when I connect it to the set top box or do I have to "register" it and each PC on the network?

Cheers

Dick

 

[mikeh501]

Right then let's see if I've got this right.

NTL box is connected via ethernet cable to a cable router (preferably with built in firewall)

From the cable router there'll be 3 network cables to PC1, PC2 and the laptop

Anything else I need?

From what I understood of the earlier replies doing it this way the router takes the main IP address and deals with the connected PCs automatically. What about declaring the router as an IP address? Does that happen automatically when I connect it to the set top box or do I have to "register" it and each PC on the network?

Cheers

Dick

You got it

And you only need to register the routers address (actually the MAC address).

 

[guitarman]

You got it

And you only need to register the routers address (actually the MAC address).

And is that registration automatic or will I need to do something?

Many thanks btw to everyone who passed on their excellent advice.



Cheers

Dick

 

[mikeh501]

And is that registration automatic or will I need to do something?

Many thanks btw to everyone who passed on their excellent advice.



Cheers

Dick

You have to goto a NTL web site and click the register button. The URL escapes me at the mo.

A good trick is to register your normal PC then when you setup your router change its MAC address to the same one as registered with NTL You dont have to register it then as NTL detects it as the same PC.

 

[guitarman]

Thanks Mike.

Expect a posting early April saying HELP!

Cheers

Dick

 

[bandit]

Dick

I have NTL also.

Infact I have just taken the free upgrade to 2 meg.

Yes it's free, I don't believe they are publishing it yet, but if you phone up they will give it to you.

They will have to install a cable modem (also free), as your set top box can't handle 2 meg.

They do this by splitting the coax feed coming in to the house. They fitted it within 30 minutes.

I would recommend you invest in a broadband router.

I have a Belkin wireless with 3 ethernet ports as well.

Upstairs I have a wireless ethernet bridge connected to an ethernet switch, giving my son 4 ehernet ports to play with.

 

[guitarman]

Thanks Bandit, sounds good I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Cheers

Dick