On Sep 6, 10:30 am, DeanB <deanbrow...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Sep 6, 6:08 am, John Jones <jjetroit...@ameritech.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:53:59 -0000, DeanB <deanbrow...@yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > >Question 1: What would be an appropriate switch here? I like Linksys,
> > >and the basement setup is a rack mount system. Not sure which model to
> > >buy.
>
> > Doesn't really matter much. I needed to do something like this a few
> > months ago, and the only rack mount "consumer level" gear I could find
> > in local stores was Netgear. I thought it was overpriced, and ended up
> > getting a SynOptics switch from a company which I used to do business
> > with, that was surplus to their needs.
>
> > >Question 2: Can I simply run an ethernet cable up from on of the ports
> > >on this new switch to my WRT54G upstairs?
>
> > A better description would be running an Ethernet cable DOWN from a
> > LAN port on the router to the switch <grin>. There should be at least
> > one port on the switch that can either be Normal or Uplink. You want
> > to use it in Uplink mode. The "mode switch" may be manual or
> > automatic, depending on the sophistication of the particular switch
> > you get.
> > John Jones, Detroit
>
> Thanks John, Alan.
>
> Are you saying that only a router can connect directly to a modem's
> ethernet port, and a switch cannot do this?

Methinks you need to refresh on IP. :')

That'd make it crystal clear wrt IP what the differences are between
switching and routing. A modem per-se has no IP address; rather, a
network interface does.

OTOH interfaces connected to a switch can communicate at "layer 2"
with other such interfaces, with it implicit that their IPs are on
the
"same subnet".

Lots of other considerations, e.g. how local host interfaces get their
IP,
how the cable-connected interface gets its IP. Hint: totally
independent,
and thus totally non-interoperable on the LAN that is a set of switch
ports.

HTH,
J