On Sun, Jun 08, 2003 at 12:54:37AM -0700, RK Rossi wrote:
> And what about switches? Can I place a switch with a router? Should they be
> the same make/manufacturer?
A switch is analagous to a hub; you can use it generally whereever you
could use a hub. Switches are faster, and more expensive. Draw your
own conclusions about what you want--a switch and a router is like an
apple and an orange.
Ethernet is compatible between vendors, except for very rare cases
(which I haven't seen).
This thread really is about basic networking, and is no means
Mac-specific. Some hints, for everyone (with my speculation level as
a general indicator of how much I trust each of my statements):
Hubs and switches extend Ethernet, but they don't extend IP.
That means they won't let you directly share an Internet
provider. (Speculation level: 5%)
Consumer "routers" almost always operate in NAT (Network
Address Translation) mode. NAT acts like a proxy, letting
several computers on arbitrarily-decided, non-routable, local
addresses share one routable global address. This breaks some
things, but NAT is so common that most applications work
around this breakage. NAT is essentially your only choice for
"sharing" Internet access, unless you'd like to pay for
additional static IP addresses from your Internet service
provider. (Speculation level: 10%)
As far as I've seen, multi-port consumer "routers" are really
routers with one Ethernet interface and a built-in switch/hub
that spans each external jack and the internal Ethernet logic.
That means such routers can be extended by connecting another
switch/hub. That also means a single-port router is good
enough if you already have a switch or hub. (Speculation
level: 70%)
Such consumer "routers" often also function as an interface to
the DSL line. In fact, the piece of equipment your ISP gives
you (or has you buy) may do everything you need. (Speculation
level: 90%)
My knowledge of how DSL and Cable are deployed to customer sites and
the technologies used for this application does not extend beyond
that.
Please consult with your ISP about what technologies will be or can be
used (random buzzword off the top of my head: PPPoE) and do some
homework on your own. The initial message to this thread was way too
vague.
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