Here's what I understand so far: In the setup I've seen, where two PCs are connected over a switch to a modem, it isn't really a "network" - the PCs can only talk to the modem one at a time, and it works as if the PC was connected directly. Not good for my purpose. However, if you stick a router between the switch and the modem (or get a router that has a builtin switch), you basically have a simple network, in which the computers can communicate with each other directly, and can talk to the modem (indirectly) at the same time. That still leaves me with some interal/external IP questions:
I have an FTP server running on this box, and I'd still like people outside to be able to reach it. Will outside computers still be able to communicate directly with mine? How will they distinguish between them?
On your router, you will be able to point certain ports to certain machines on the LAN.
Unless your router has some clever programs installed on it, people will need to use active FTP to connect to your server, (ie. not passive ftp). All you need to do is forward port 21 on the router, to port 21 on your PC.
Note: you will need to get a router that can do NAT.
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