Take the First Steps in Home Networking

[Rasputin]

Getting broadband Internet access to every nook and cranny of your house isn't so bad, with this little explanation to help you along.

Steps

Understand the basic pieces of a home network. We all know what a network is, right? A network is a set of hardware and software technologies that allow all the PC's in the home to connect to each other and to the Internet. The network is what the PC's in your house connect to, in order to gain access to each other and to the Internet.

How is the home network built? First, let's talk about the broadband modem. DSL modems and cable modems are the two popular types of broadband modem. Cable is easier to configure and use, requiring no setup from the user. The DSL modem is like your old analog modem, in that you need to log on in order to get Internet access working. More about that later, but for now let's get it out of the way that you need a broadband modem as the first brick in building your home network.

Now you're ready for the next important building block, the broadband router. The broadband router is usually a small box, from the likes of Linksys, Netgear, and DLink. The routers function is to share a single Internet account with all the PCs and other devices in the home wanting Internet access. How does this work? Usually your Internet Service Provider (ISP) gives you one IP address. This IP address is a unique address in the Internet universe. The router gives all the PC's in the home a fake IP address for use just in the home, and then the router translates those fake IP addresses into the real single IP address that the Internet can talk to. For those who want to know, this is called NAT, Network Address Translation. Typically your in home IP addresses will look like 10.1.100.x or 192.168.x.x, where x is some arbitrary number between 1 and 254.

Let's look at the typical router. You will see an Ethernet port designated WAN (Wide Area Network)... this port hooks up to the cable or DSL modem using a CAT5 cable. You should also see from one to four LAN (Local Area Network) ports, which are used to attach the home PC's to. So called wireless routers will also sport one or two antennae, for the purpose of providing a wireless connection to home notebooks that have built in wireless connectivty.

The router has another job, providing a physical Internet connection to each household PC. This physical connection takes two forms, usually Ethernet, or Wireless using WiFi. Ethernet is usually built into the modern PC or notebook, using a 'CAT5' cable to the router. WiFi (wireless Ethernet, or 802.11a/b/g) is normally found preinstalled as well on the modern notebook. Ethernet is pretty easy to get working... just hook up a CAT5 cable from PC to the router LAN port. WiFi can also be easy to get running, unless you want to configure security to stop others from snooping your Internet browsing activity. Configuring security however is a whole 'nother topic we'll get to later.

Now the router will be configured one way if you have cable modem service and a different way if you have DSL service.

Cable modem: this is a simple config, compared to DSL. You will plug the router into the cable modem ethernet jack, powerup the router, and everything should work right out of the box, without any further config. You will just attach PC's the router's 'LAN' ethernet ports, and you should be able to start browsing immediately.

DSL modem: this is a bit tougher. DSL modems sort of 'dial out' like the old analog modems used to. DSL modems don't ever disconnect like the old analog modems, they stay online 24x7. Just like analog modem, one has to provide account sign-on credentials, basically a username and password, supplied by your DSL provider, except here it's the router (not the PC software) that stores the username/password and does the 'dialing out'. The router logs on to the Internet using a protocol called PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet). You need to configure the PPPoE settings in the router to use the unique username/password given to you by your DSL service provider. The specific mechanism for router PPPoE config depends on your router brand. Consult with the user manual on how to access the DSL modems settings menu. Usually this will happen via a browser on a computer attached to your router.

OK, now you have your broadband modem (Cable or DSL) hooked up, your router configured for cable or DSL, and you're ready to go crazy on the Internet. Just hook up your PC's to the router LAN ports. Once your PC is hooked up and you have the 'Link' light show up on the router, you should also see a message pop up on your Windows XP tray saying a Local Area Connection was just made. Wait a few seconds for your PC to get one of those fake IP address from the router. Windows XP will automatically request and borrow an IP address from the router, once it detects the CAT5 cable is hooked up between PC and router.

To double check if you're talking to the router, go to Start->Settings->Network Connections->Local Area Connection x, where x is the ethernet port on your PC or laptop. If you have more than one, repeat the following for each of x. Open each Local Area Connection, and click on the Support tab. If you see an IP address that starts with 10 or 192, you are probably in good shape talking to the router. If you see an IP address start with 69, then that means your PC failed to communicate with the router and made up it's own IP address and you won't be able to make it to the Internet (or anywhere else on your home network).

Troubleshooting: if you have a good IP address per Step 10, but you still have no Internet, then most likely the router is not configured correctly, or your DSL or Cable modem isn't connected to the service provider. Usually the cable or DSL modem has its own diagnostic menu - check the owner's manual for help on how to verify that the DSL or cable modem is connected to the broadband providers network.

Tips

These instructions are for Windows XP users, however they should be adaptable to most other operating systems.


External Links

http://www.comtradcables.com/Home-Networking-C355.aspx

My Global IP.com - Useful site when troubleshooting or setting up a home network router/gateway/firewall.

[donny12]

Thanks!

[Rasputin]

The deal gives .com administrator Verisign control over the domain until 2012.

The US Department of Commerce retains some oversight of Verisign and has final approval of any price rises to renew .com net addresses.

Critics said the deal gave Verisign a monopoly hold on the iconic domain.

Controversial contract

The original deal over the .com domain was negotiated by Verisign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) which oversees the net's address infrastructure.

Details of that deal were handed over to the US Department of Commerce in March 2006. Although the internet is increasingly an international phenomenon, the US retains the right to rubber-stamp Icann decisions on how the infrastructure operates.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency of the US Department of Commerce, has spent the last nine months scrutinising the proposed agreement and reviewing comments made on it by net bodies and companies.

Verisign has run the .com domain since 1999 and has now won the right to keep on controlling it until 2012. The deal also gives it the right to raise prices to renew .com domains in four of the six years of the contract.

Price rises are limited to 7% in any year and six months notice must be given of any proposed increase.

However, the NTIA has kept final approval of any price rises and of subsequent renewal of the .com contract. The NTIA said the contract would only be renewed at the end of its term if "the approval will serve the public interest".

When Icann unveiled the deal it was criticised for giving Verisign control over .com for so long.

The .com domain is by far the most popular of the net's addresses and currently there are 59 million domains registered which use the suffix. Verisign maintains the address books of who owns which .com domain and runs the computers that direct web users' computers to the right place.

The deal also signals the end of legal action taken by Verisign against Icann and the dropping of a retaliatory suit by the net overseer.