The Technology behind hubs and switches:
I'll simplify as much as possible. A normal hub
utilizes a system where all things connected to it share signal. Therefore,
information that was meant for one node (one of your computers or even a networked
printer) is sent to all things connected to that hub. What quickly happens
in this situation is that a lot of unnecessary data is transmitted across
all these nodes and the network becomes congested. This problem is compounded
with the introduction of more nodes. This is why a 10 port hub at first may
look appealing, especially when you consider its price. In actual use, depending
on the speed of the hub and the amount of packets it will regulate, it may
become a very frustrating situation in a short amount of time. What you are
experiencing besides the noticeable slow down is what that blinking collision
light is telling you. Your packets are being fragmented when they collide
with other packets on the network. Whenever this happens the data has to be
retransmitted which can result in noticeable slowdown (as if a large hub network
already wasn't) or corrupted data. Pretty scary right?
There is one more problem with hub based networking
I have to point out. The average hub can only operate at one speed. Therefore,
even when you own a 10/100 hub, it can only work as well as it's slowest port.
Having three 10/100 connections will result in a 100 Mbps capability. As soon
as you plug in a 10 Mbps device the entire network is brought down to 10 Mbps.
What makes the EtherFast Cable/DSL Router so
much better, and worth its price in my opinion, is that all nodes use a switch
to regulate their traffic. Again, without making my explanation overly technical,
packets are naturally created with a MAC address (Media Access Control). Within
the MAC is information that will allow the packet to be sent to the correct
node without ever being transmitted to all the other nodes on your network.
Voila! No collisions! The benefits of this system easily outweigh the normal
signal splitting of a hub. While collisions are prevented, and therefore the
creation of corrupt data or lost data is prevented, another immediate benefit
is increased speed across the entire network. The elimination of all the unnecessary
traffic that is found on a normal hub network can create a noticeable speed
improvement if there are several nodes involved. Have only two computers on
your network? You're probably ok with a normal hub. As soon as you start adding
computers and networked devices such as printers the need for a switched router
becomes apparent when that collision light on your hub starts blinking like
a strobe light.
Testing:
So at this point we've learned that big hub networks
are a bad idea and that a switch does a lot to improve the speed and reliability
of your network. Added to this is the fact that the EtherFast Cable/DSL Router
utilizes a firewall and allows all the computers hooked up to it to share
one IP address and the appeal of the unit begins to stand out further. The
unit can support up to 253 users behind it. How is this possible? Since the
router possesses the IP addresses it will send out data to all components
hooked up to it through a port address that it assigns to the component. The
optimal way to hook up more components would be to purchase another Cable/DSL
Router or switch and attach it to the Uplink port. If you choose to use a
more conventional hub to upgrade the amount of ports you are using you will
reintroduce the problem of collisions to all components hooked up to that
hub.
The unit came equipped with a great manual. I
feel confident that anyone who is new to networking will have no problems
getting the unit to work. Linksys also included a couple of updates that can
be used as a quick guide. In the original manual there are instructions to
use a setup wizard that is included on a floppy. Linksys no longer provides
this floppy, as it is both unnecessary, and apparently was causing problems
with some configurations. To setup the unit simply:
- Connect your broadband connection to the
WAN port
- Connect the power to the POWER port
- Connect your computers to Ports 1-4
- Power on the unit
The unit has a Diagnostic LED that will turn
red. This signifies that the unit is configuring itself. Once you reboot your
systems you need to make sure that your network settings allow them to auto
detect their network connection. Without a setup utility it would appear that
it would be difficult to configure this unit. That assumption couldn't be
further from the truth. Simply launch your web browser and type the address
http://192.168.1.1 in. This will take you to the configuration area of the
Router. My ISP supports DHCP, so I simply chose to let the unit auto-detect
its settings. I also chose to dictate to the router to have four port addresses
enabled. This worked perfectly. I rebooted and found myself on the network.
A quick reboot with my other machines and each was working on the network.
If your ISP does not allow you to use DHCP to auto-detect settings then you
should run Winipcfg from the run dialogue in Windows prior to hooking the
unit up. Make sure you write down your IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway,
and DNS. In the router setup you should choose to specify your IP rather than
auto-detection and insert those values in their respective areas. I also setup
the unit by manually inserting all my values and had no difficulties getting
it to work.
