anyone know the difference between a router and a switch?
thx,
gildan2020
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anyone know the difference between a router and a switch?
thx,
gildan2020
Switches work at hardware level, routers work at internet protocol level. Multiport routers effectively have a built-in switch.
Generally, routers provide address translation and aggregating services, and often some sort of firewall. If you have several computers but only one internet address you would need to use a router to provide aggregation. If you have several internet addresses but wish to use a private network you would need a router to provide network address translation (NAT).
If you used a switch to connect your pc's to the internet you would need an internet address for each pc. Also, since a switch can't do address translation or firewalling your own network traffic could be exposed to the internet, which is not a good idea.
okay, after reading through ur post, correct me if i'm wrong:
LAN connected by router = 1 WAN IP
LAN connected by switch = many WAN IP
since i have only one internet connection at home, can i still use a switch and expect different WAN IPs for each of my comps? all mutually exclusive on the internet?
thx,
gildan2020
Only if your ISP provides more than 1 WAN IP per connection. Some do, but usually you have to say how many you need and most charge for each additional IP. There's really not much advantage to having a direct IP for each PC, except that a switch is marginally cheaper in the short term. They are still sharing the same line so there's no speed advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by gildan2020
I assume you know you need a direct ethernet connection from your ISP or a cable modem which converts directly to ethernet.