small business and net access?

This question relates to a small business.

Their single desktop was online via a cable modem and has a virus.
They have purchased a second desktop for the interim while the first desktop
is cleaned.

The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.

What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
cable modems?

The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to be
capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross infection
of having
the two computers networked in the office.

someone2

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005, Jim Watt wrote:

> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:31:05 -0400, "someone2"
> <someone@somewhere.nowhere> wrote:
>
>> This question relates to a small business.
>>
>> Their single desktop was online via a cable modem and has a virus.
>> They have purchased a second desktop for the interim while the first desktop
>> is cleaned.
>>
>> The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
>> online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.
>>
>> What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
>> cable modems?
>>
>> The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to be
>> capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross infection
>> of having
>> the two computers networked in the office.
>>
>> someone2
>
> What you need is a small cheap router which will allow a number
> of PC's to use the internet connection concurrently. This has the
> advantage of providing some isolation from the Internet using a
> feature called Native Address Translation (NAT) where your

That would be NETWORK address translation


> side uses private network addresses eg 192.168.x.x which cannot
> be directly addressed from the internet or the cable network
> and only the router has a public address. Its widely uses and
> very good.

But this does not solve the other part of the OP's question -- having the
2 PC's independent of each other, which MAY be possible through the
configuration of many, many rules in the router -- and hence would depend
on the capabilites of the router.

Most routers are built on the assumption that you want to network the PCs
that are behind the router.

Perhaps it is better to make sure the PCs are secure, rather than attempt
to isolate them:
1. Bring the machines up to date
2. Run Microsoft's Baseline security analyser and take appropriate action
based on the results.
3. Install anti-virus and anti-spyware.
4. Install or (or use XP's built-in) firewall. Note that this last step
provides the means to effectively "isolate" the machines from each other.

someone2 wrote:
> This question relates to a small business.
>
> Their single desktop was online via a cable modem and has a virus.
> They have purchased a second desktop for the interim while the first desktop
> is cleaned.
>
> The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
> online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.
>
> What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
> cable modems?
>
> The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to be
> capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross infection
> of having
> the two computers networked in the office.
>
> someone2

mmmmm I've usually done this kind of thing when two companies want to
share an office and have a single internet connection, however....

Something like a Watchguard Firebox might do what you require, it's
multi-homed, so you can set each PC on seperate f/w subnets and use the
f/w routing rules to keep each PC from seeing each other, while allowing
each to access the Internet.

Better might be to make sure each PC is secure in the first place and
use a simple router to network them together to the Internet, and it'll
be a damn site cheaper (if cost is an issue).

someone2 wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
> online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.
>
> What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
> cable modems?
>
> The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to be
> capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross infection
> of having
> the two computers networked in the office.
>
> someone2
>
>

I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me if I'm wrong :)

Use a router to connect your machines to the cable modem. You can
ensure that the two computers can't talk to each each other by
having no shares and by installing a firewall on each machine to
block the other while still allowing internet access.

This article should cover will be informative:

http://www.homenethelp.com/sharing/cable-modem.asp


Charlie.



--
Broadcasting to the environs
www.radiowymsey.org

"someone2" <someone@somewhere.nowhere> wrote in message
news:NAGPe.793$nq.778@lakeread05...
> This question relates to a small business.
>
> Their single desktop was online via a cable modem and has a virus.
> They have purchased a second desktop for the interim while the first
> desktop is cleaned.
>
> The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
> online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.
>
> What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
> cable modems?
>
> The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to
> be capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross
> infection of having
> the two computers networked in the office.
>
> someone2
>

I appreciate the responses.

I called the cable isp and the CSR suggested connecting one desktop via cat
5 and the other via USB on the cable modem.

If both desktops are installed with WIN XP pro, patched to be current and
have the XP firewall setup will they be reasonably safe?

Naturally a current A/V, anti spyware, and backups will be setup as well.

someone2

Agree with, Jim, but I'm only using a DLink 504-T - works for me

Jim Watt wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 09:18:26 -0400, "someone2"
> <someone@somewhere.nowhere> wrote:
>
>
>>"someone2" <someone@somewhere.nowhere> wrote in message
>>news:NAGPe.793$nq.778@lakeread05...
>>
>>>This question relates to a small business.
>>>
>>>Their single desktop was online via a cable modem and has a virus.
>>>They have purchased a second desktop for the interim while the first
>>>desktop is cleaned.
>>>
>>>The goal is to have both desktops setup independently in their office
>>>online, but only pay one fee to the cable isp.
>>>
>>>What is required? Can we simply put in a cable splitter and install two
>>>cable modems?
>>>
>>>The best word to summarize maybe "redundancy". They want each computer to
>>>be capable of independent connection to the net without risk of cross
>>>infection of having
>>>the two computers networked in the office.
>>>
>>>someone2
>>>
>>
>>I appreciate the responses.
>>
>>I called the cable isp and the CSR suggested connecting one desktop via cat
>>5 and the other via USB on the cable modem.
>>
>>If both desktops are installed with WIN XP pro, patched to be current and
>>have the XP firewall setup will they be reasonably safe?
>>
>>Naturally a current A/V, anti spyware, and backups will be setup as well.
>>
>>someone2
>
>
> Although their suggestion is valid, you are better off buying a cheap
> router which will; provide NAT. I see the D link DI 604 is around
> $25 from Amazon. software firewalls running on your machines have a
> place but the unit I suggest does it all better.
>
> read the spec at:
>
> http://www.dlink.com/products/resour...&rid=299&sec=1
> --
> Jim Watt
> http://www.gibnet.com

> If both desktops are installed with WIN XP pro, patched to be current and
> have the XP firewall setup will they be reasonably safe?

Nope