how to setup a network switch and router

The simple wired home network diagram below shows a minimum setup with a switch and broadband router. 192.168.1.2]Subnet Mask: [same as the primary router, e.g. Click on the text link at the left side of the screen labeled as "Connect to a Network. It is best to use two 802.11n routers, but a Wireless-G as the second router may work fine as well. On those computers, repeat the setup process of connecting to the switch by going through the "Network and Sharing Center" menu.Set up a second switch if you are running out of ports on the original switch. Small Business Solutions - IT Products and Services To follow the basic portion of the tutorial, you’ll need the following:For the advanced tutorial, you’ll need all of those things, plus:We’re conducting the experiment with a Linksys WRT54GL Wi-Fi router. Do not connect the cable into the "WAN" port. The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek.How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Doesn’t work with devices that don’t have an Ethernet port e.g. The simplest way to deal with this is to assign an address close to the actual router address but outside the range of addresses that your router will assign via the DHCP client; a good pick then is 192.168.1.2.Once the router is reset (or re-flashed) and has been assigned a new IP address, it’s time to configure it as a switch.If you don’t want to (or need to) flash new firmware onto your device to open up that extra port, this is the section of the tutorial for you: we’ll cover how to take a stock router, our previously mentioned WRT54 series Linksys, and convert it to a switch.Hook the Wi-Fi router up to the network via one of the LAN ports (consider the WAN port as good as dead from this point forward; unless you start using the router in its traditional function again or later flash a more advanced firmware to the device, the port is officially retired at this point).

Doing so opens up the router to a greater degree of modification and allows you to assign the previously reserved WAN port to the switch, thus opening up LAN ports 1-4.Even if you don’t intend to use that extra port, DD-WRT offers you so many more options that it’s worth the extra few steps.Before we jump right in to shutting down the Wi-Fi functionality and repurposing your device as a network switch, there are a few important prep steps to attend to.First, you want to reset the router (if you just flashed a new firmware to your router, skip this step). In addition to one of its most normal type A router is a networking device that routes data packets between computer networks.

Plug the AC power adapter for the switch into a wall outlet, but do not yet connect it to the modem or any of your home computers. Normally, the connection order of the devices is modem -> router -> switch -> devices. Wired Network Dis-Advantages. A network switch, normally referred to as a multiport network bridge, is a computer networking device that connects other devices together on a computer network. Normally, a network switch uses hardware addresses to process and forward data at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Read on as we show you how to take an old and underpowered Wi-Fi router and turn it into a respectable network switch (saving your $20 in the process).Wi-Fi technology has changed significantly in the last ten years, but Ethernet-based networking has changed very little.

The typical default IP address for a home router is 192.168.1.1; if you ever need to get back into the administration panel of the router-turned-switch to check on things or make changes it will be a real hassle if the IP address of the device conflicts with the new home router. I have a D-link 24 port switch, a d-link gaming router connected to the switch and a d-link wireless router inside the house. In the Basic Setup tab, ensure the following settings are adjusted. Though they look similar, the two devices perform different functions within a network.Just as a switch connects multiple devices to create a network, a Ultimately, a router works as a dispatcher, directing traffic and choosing the most efficient route for information, in the form of data packets, to travel across a network. Just because your old Wi-Fi router has been replaced by a newer model doesn’t mean it needs to gather dust in the closet. Even if you don’t have one of the WRT54 series routers, however, the principles we’re outlining here apply to all Wi-Fi routers; as long as your router administration panel allows the necessary changes, you can follow right along with us.A quick note on the difference between the basic and advanced versions of this tutorial before we proceed. Scroll down through the list of networking devices that the computer has detected.

The Gaming router is connected directly to the switch and the cable modem is connected to the gaming router. Fast typically 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps; Secure and reliable. You can use the network switch to expend your wired network with more ports.There are various switches of different port counts such as 8-port, 16-port, 32-port switch available in the market.Step 1: Unplug all the power supplies of cable modem, network switch and wireless router.Step 2: Connect your modem to the telephone wire. After that, connect one end of an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet port on the back of the modem.Step 3: Plug the other end of the Ethernet cable connected with modem into your router’s WAN port.Step 4: Use another Ethernet cable to connect one of your LAN ports in router to a network switch port.After the setup, your network is expended and you can connect more than 4 devices using the internet.