Five computers & a 4-port router: How to do it?

[madonion]

here is my problem:
i will have a single internet connection into my home. the connection is a straight lan / ethernet cable in. i will connect that to a router. the problem is: i gotta hook up five pcs, and the router has only four ports! :sick:
obviously, i'm gonna need something extra.
if this was you, how would u go about solving this?
i thought of adding a second networking device to one of the pcs. then connect that to a hub and connect that to the last pc. but i'm not sure how complicated this is going to be as far as configuring the ip address on that final pc. (i'm not exactlty a networking genius :pinch:). is there any easier (cheaper?) way!? :frusty:
HELP

madonion :cool:

[madonion]

whoopz: i just realized now that this should have gone in the hardware forum! :wacko:
D'OH!

madonion :cool:

[peat moss]

Just guessing but use a usb port for the 5 th one ?

[suprafreak6]

or just buy a router with 5 or more ports! :lol: its like 20 bucks

[Chewie]

Either:

a: get another router and connect its WAN port to one of the LAN ports on your original router, then connect two PCs to it, or

b: connect four PCs to the router and the fifth to a second NIC installed in one of the connected PCs, then use ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) on the PC with two NICs to allow the fifth PC to connect to the internet through it, or

c: get a WiFi router with four LAN sockets, and a wireless NIC. Connect four PCs through cabling and the fifth wirelessly.

BTW: moved to Discussions/Hardware

[tesco]

Either buy a 5port router or get a switch/hub, connect that to one port on the router, then connect 2 PCs to it.

[fkdup74]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124005

You already have a router, so a simple switch would suffice.

A router will run more than 20 bucks. Try 80-90-ish.

-edit-
And adding one of these Linksys switches will save you the trouble of configuring another router.
Or ICS, or any configuration for that matter. They're plug n play redefined.

[Borgs8472]

^ ^
agreed. Or even a hub.

[peat moss]

Had my head spinning just trying to connect three , Oops were's my Xp pro disk again . The network wizard was great tho . ;)

[GepperRankins]

if there's an uplink plug, use that. it's exactly the same as any other plug

[Virtualbody1234]

I have already encountered this exact situation.

I connected a hub to the uplink port of my router.

http://www.recol.net/adsl/images/DSLSwitch.jpg

[suprafreak6]

ill sell ya a switch 4 port for like 10 bucks

[lynx]

dumb ass greedy f***er.

Edit: Oops, wrong thread. :whistling

[GepperRankins]

I have already encountered this exact situation.

I connected a hub to the uplink port of my router.

http://www.recol.net/adsl/images/DSLSwitch.jpg
waste of money if you have an uplink port. we've got 5 things connected to a 4 port hub and there's no problems :snooty:

[Livy]

the uplink port is usually just one of the router ports rewired a different way so that you can plug a switch or another device is with a patch cord. its not a seperate port.

[madonion]

guys: thanks for all the help. u guys are great. :D
so if i understood correctly, i should be able to just add a simple hub off one of the four router ports. i do hope it will be as simple as plug and play....(my router doesn't have an uplink port :()

here another question:
if i have a static ip address from my internet provider, in the above configuration (5 pcs: three connected directly to the router, and two via the hub to the router) will the ip addresses at each of the pcs always be static? even after power cycles on the pcs, hub and router?

sorry if that sounds like totally n00b question! i'm still learning networking :cry:

thanks!

madonion :cool:

[madonion]

hey suprafreak,

thanks for the offer! :P
if i was in the usa, i'd take ya up on it. but i'm in europe (and not western europe, no less :huh:) so who knows how long it would take 2 show up.....? :(

madonion :cool:


ill sell ya a switch 4 port for like 10 bucks

[ilw]

here another question:
if i have a static ip address from my internet provider, in the above configuration (5 pcs: three connected directly to the router, and two via the hub to the router) will the ip addresses at each of the pcs always be static? even after power cycles on the pcs, hub and router?

Do you want the network ip address to be static or the internet ip address?
Your Internet ip will be static as its set by the ISP, so adding a hub won't change anything.
Network ip can be set to be static or dynamic on each pc...

If the above makes no sense to you it might be easier to just say why you want the ip address to be static.

[muchspl3]

Either:

a: get another router and connect its WAN port to one of the LAN ports on your original router, then connect two PCs to it, or

b: connect four PCs to the router and the fifth to a second NIC installed in one of the connected PCs, then use ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) on the PC with two NICs to allow the fifth PC to connect to the internet through it, or

c: get a WiFi router with four LAN sockets, and a wireless NIC. Connect four PCs through cabling and the fifth wirelessly.

BTW: moved to Discussions/Hardware
easier to just buy a switch imo

[madonion]

understood. (i think! :P)
so when u refer to 'network ip', you're talking about the ip address at each pc that the "outside world" (aka internet) would use to access that pc, correct?
in that case, yes they should all be static. how do i go about making that setting?
thanks!

madonion :cool:



Do you want the network ip address to be static or the internet ip address?
Your Internet ip will be static as its set by the ISP, so adding a hub won't change anything.
Network ip can be set to be static or dynamic on each pc...

If the above makes no sense to you it might be easier to just say why you want the ip address to be static.

[lynx]

understood. (i think! :P)
so when u refer to 'network ip', you're talking about the ip address at each pc that the "outside world" (aka internet) would use to access that pc, correct?
in that case, yes they should all be static. how do i go about making that setting?
thanks!

madonion :cool:



Do you want the network ip address to be static or the internet ip address?
Your Internet ip will be static as its set by the ISP, so adding a hub won't change anything.
Network ip can be set to be static or dynamic on each pc...

If the above makes no sense to you it might be easier to just say why you want the ip address to be static.No, wrong way round, assuming you've got the usual NAT (Network Address Translation) router.

In that case you only have a single internet address, which is assigned by your ISP to your router. For the purposes we are discussing here it doesn't really matter whether this is static or dynamic, since it will be provided automatically by your ISP.

The network IP address is the address on your side of the router. Dynamic addresses are assigned by your router, static addresses are assigned by you. The only time there's a real difference between static and dynamic is if you've got the lease period set very short (which by default it shouldn't be) and you want to set certain services (such as bittorrent) to be routed to a certain pc. Since the standard on most routers these days seems to be that a lease lasts for ever (or a very long time) you should probably leave the network ip addresses set at dynamic, since your router won't get it wrong but you might.