54 replies to this topic

[Cactuscobbler]

That's what I planned to do. Just make a homegroup (I don't have one) and have that be a backup (desktop I mentioned a couple times). It has Vista but it should still be good. For a little bit anyway. I don't know if they'll end support soon.. I know they're next

That isolation of networks gets confusing, but I understand. Somewhat haha. It's humbling that I learn stuff from you guys, so thank you.

I don't know what else to say.. my network is good. But like We said before; not having a solution kinda ruins it but at least it's fixed.. we can take solace on that fact.

[terry1966]

i'm definitely no networking expert but this is how things work from my understanding.

 

first you need a modem that connects to your isp which connects you to the world wide web, this modem will be issued an ip address from the isp, either static or random, from their issue of available ip addresses..

now most home modems have a router and switch built into them today so unlike in days gone past you can connect more than 1 device at a time to the internet. ie. a network of devices. (we're just going to call this device a router from now on.)

 

your router is your gateway to the internet and usually has a local network ip address of either 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x you can set the x.x to anything you like but i understand the first 2 sets of numbers need to stay the same depending on your router. (i'm going to assume from now on the main router address is 192.168.0.1)

 

now the router also uses a subnet mask address usually 255.255.255.0 to identify and communicate to any device connected to it.

this subnet address is used to create a sub network of devices on your 192.168.0.1 network, for most home networks we always use the same 255.255.255.0 so all devices can see and talk to each other if required, but for some work situations you need some devices to be hidden from others on the same network, to do this they use a different subnet mask number, eg 255.255.255.100

 

now all devices use the 192.168.0.1 as the gateway and all devices using 255.255.255.0 subnet can be seen and talk to each other and all 255.255.255.100 devices can be seen and talk to each other yet they can't see or talk to devices in the other subnet mask group even though they are all on the same main 192.168.0.1 network. ie. they are a sub network.

 

regardless of the subnet mask every device will be issued (or have manually set a static ip address) a unique address in the range of 192.168.0.x where x is anything from 2 to 255 every time it connects to the router using dchp . 

 

now when you add a second router, you are in effect creating a 2nd totally separate network but the same rules apply to this network and subnet as the original network router if you have it set as a dchp server, but because the first router is using 192.168.0.1 the second router will always need use a different gateway/network address, eg. 192.168.1.1

 

networks can be very complicated setups, and not being an expert in the area this is just my basic understanding (and may not be 100% correct.) of how they work.

 

hope that explanation helps a little anyway.

 

Edited by terry1966, 07 August 2016 - 02:55 PM.

[Digerati]

This is true for ISP provided devices, but don't believe it is for folks who buy their own network devices. Most of those (including me) still use separate modems, and then a "wireless router".

now most home modems have a router and switch built into them today so unlike in days gone past you can connect more than 1 device at a time to the internet. ie. a network of devices. (were just going to call this device a router from now on.)

 

 

I would discourage simply calling this single device a "router" as that can be very misleading and confusing because that is just one of the devices integrated into these boxes, along with the modem and 4-port Ethernet switch. They are all totally discrete devices that just happen to share a case, circuit board and power supply. Most include a WAP (wireless access point) too that typically connects via a 5th internal Ethernet port on the integrated switch. Some even include support for Internet phone service or VOIP.

 

The common "marketing" term for these all-in-one network integrated devices is "residential gateway".

[terry1966]

true, but it is really the only part of the all in one device we're actually concerned with, how it routes all connected devices.

 

a couple of much better, more accurate though much more complicated links explaining how things work here :-

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/8426

http://www.cisco.com...ip/13788-3.html

 

[Cactuscobbler]

Yeah. All a router does from my understanding is... route haha. Route traffic to all the devices that have an NIC and connected to the 3in1 or Residential Gateway. It depends on what you want to configure.. I don't even have a "network" per se. I just have all my devices connect to the gateway. It gets confusing with that subnet masking and subnetworks haha but I understand that much that you regardless of anything have to have a connection to an ISP to have internet and a router (usually sharing a case with the others like Digerati said) to route that traffic onto the connected devices. Using NAT, the world only sees requests coming from.. say x.x.x.x (your router's IP) even though all of your hosts can have xx.x.xxxx.x or x.x.xx.xx (all octets xan be a maximum of 3 numbers long.. and octet being the space between dots (or before the first and after the last) and I think they represent 1 byte or 8 bits, hence the OCtet. meaning 8. The range of the address depends on what kind of network you have, and can support a number of hosts and nerworks decided by the subnet mask

Also, the modem.. before you get onto me yes the modem modulates and demodulates (Mo/Dem) the signal you receive into binary data that the computer can understand. A lot of specifications for modems have gone through the years but most recent is DOCSIS or Data over Cable something Internet. You get internet from cable.

Ps Thanks for the links Terry

Edited by Cactuscobbler, 07 August 2016 - 03:45 PM.

[Digerati]

how it routes all connected devices.

 

Yeah, and assigns IP addresses.

 

 

I don't even have a "network" per se. I just have all my devices connect to the gateway.

 

Ah, but you do have a network. Everything on your side of that gateway device is your network.

[terry1966]

 

Ah, but you do have a network. Everything on your side of that gateway device is your network.

exactly what i was thinking,

 

just because you don't use the network at the moment to communicate pc to pc it is still a network of pc's.

 

[Cactuscobbler]

if you guys want to be really technical I do but my devices aren't interrelated

[Cactuscobbler]

If you want to be technical buty hosts aren't related.

[Digerati]

if you guys want to be really technical I do but my devices aren't interrelated  

If you want to be technical buty hosts aren't related.                  

 

It does not matter.

 

If you have a modem serving as a gateway device connected to the Internet, and you have just one computer connected to that modem, you have a network of one computer.