Routers..

[Spud1200]

I was thinking about Routers and Various connectivity and thought I'd Post some questions I was curious to know.


How Important is a Good router for a Wired Ethernet Setup? What should you be looking for when buying a Wired router for a Home Network? Why would you have expansion slots on a Router. I have Broadband and not Fiber Optic, so if I was to upgrade my Router what is it I should be look to Buy. What are the different standards in the wireless category and most Important what about security. Hans anyone any Idea, if you connect a router to a Ethernet Switch what it is you should be looking at in the way of Security and how you could look or analyze mabie various Logs.

Thanks a lot.

 

[carnageX]

Biggest thing to look for is Gigabit ethernet. Though, you should make sure all the wired devices on your network have gigabit ports.

As for expansion slots....what do you mean exactly? Most consumer routers don't really have expansion slots, other than some having USB. I have 2 USB ports on my router, and it allows me to either hook up a printer to have a networked printer or hook up an external HDD and use it as a network drive.

As for wireless standards... Most devices now are G or N - slightly older devices being G and newer devices all switching over to N. There's also AC - but there aren't really any devices specifically coming out with wireless adapters that will take advantage of AC routers. The biggest difference between the different wireless standards is the bandwidth available.

You should hook the router up first and then the switch to the router - unless you have a managed switch that will properly assign DHCP.

 

[Spud1200]

As for expansion slots....what do you mean exactly? Most consumer routers don't really have expansion slots, other than some having USB. I have 2 USB ports on my router, and it allows me to either hook up a printer to have a networked printer or hook up an external HDD and use it as a network drive.

I didn't know that as in the printer and hard drive on a Network.

Do you know what I could use a extra Router for. I had it given by a friend to expand my network and hence I'm unsure how to connect it up. and how to configure it. What would I use that for an extra router on a network that all ready has a router and a switch.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Can't really use multiple routers on the same network, they are meant for splitting networks into two but allow them to communicate still... Very rarely will you see a network where you need to have two routers on it, usually those situations only exist when you have multiple network feeds coming into your home like I do and have a DHCP server that lets you assign different gateway assignments to different computers.

 

[Spud1200]

Can't really use multiple routers on the same network, they are meant for splitting networks into two but allow them to communicate still... Very rarely will you see a network where you need to have two routers on it, usually those situations only exist when you have multiple network feeds coming into your home like I do and have a DHCP server that lets you assign different gateway assignments to different computers.

Is that because you have a Server? Is that what you would use that Hardware for in those circumstances! I was looking on Play.com and found they had a ton available for thousands and as little as £25 + . Is their at the minute a better brand to go fo, as opposed to others. Is their much difference between the routers available on the Market?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

No, it's not because I have servers on my network, it's because I literally have 3 satellite feeds coming into my home, so three separate internet connections, and I want all computers to be on the same network.