Internet Connection Questions

[catacon]

Ok, first off, let me say that I am not a big network guy, so a lot of these questions will be very basic and probably have easy answers, but bear with me please.

My family is replacing our computer and at the same time replacing our dial-up connection. I believe we are going with Charter, because we cannot get SBC DSL. Anyway, we have the house wired for internet (CAT 5 and such), so that is not a problem. However, we have never used internet anywhere else except the basement where our computer is now. Since it's dial-up, we just run a phone line from the ceiling to the computer to the phone (or something like that). Now with the high-speed connection, things will change.

I just want to make sure I understand how this works, so I can set it up on other computers throughout the house. The connection wire comes from the wall (or wherever, I don't care) into a modem (?), which then goes to a router (?), which goes into the computer. Did I mix those two up, or am I completely wrong?

1) How does the connection come from the router in the basement up to the second floor? Again, it is wired, but that part confuses me.

2) What do I need for the connection on a second computer? I will need a network card, right? Anything else?

3) The basement computer has Windows XP, the upstairs one has Linux (SuSE 9.1 Pro, but will be switching to Debian probably). I understand this is not a problem, right?

4) What software do you suggest for firewalls? I know the router acts as a firewall, but waht other software do I need? Again, one for Linux, one for Windows. What other security software do I need?

5) Parental controls. The computer upstairs will be in my room, but my parents are uneasy about that becuase it will be unmonitored. What software is there for Linux that would allow my parents to monitor activity either across the network or on my computer? Across the network would be better, because I know all the passwords on my computer (like the root), which would allow me to delete things.

Wow, that was one doozie of a post. Thank you very much.

[doctorgonzo]

1) It will use the CAT 5 Ethernet connection. The router will have a four-port Ethernet switch.

2) Yes, just an Ethernet NIC.

3) No problems. The computers on the network can be any OS.

4) The only point of running a software firewall behind a hardware firewall is to monitor outgoing connections, so use something like ZoneAlarm. Most Linux distros have a firewall included that you can install. You will also need antivirus and antispyware.

5) If you are the administrator on the Linux box, there really isn't anything they can do to monitor that computer, assuming that they knew anything about Linux in the first place. Some routers have built-in functions for blocking certain web sites and such, but again, if you know the password on the router, you could easily get past it. The most robust solution in this case would be to set up a proxy server, but that would require another computer.

[piasabird]

If you say you have ethernet wired in the house, how is the house wired?

I thought about this a minute and normally if a house is prewired all the ethernet connections would go to a wiring closet or something like that. This is where the INTERNET must connect to a Router so your house can be connected to the INTERNET. There may be just a hub or switch at that location. Or maybe just some connectors are sticking out of the wall or some wall jacks to plug into that go to each room.

How cable works is the signal comes in on the TV line. Normally one dedicated TV connection is wired to the cable modem. The modem may have a USB connector or an ethernet connector to go to one device. Normally you pay for one ethernet and one Address. However, you may have multiple computers. This is why most people have a Router in between the cable modem and the computers. The router acts as a DHCP Server.

Hmm. . . what is that?

The router connects multiple computers through a switch which is built into the router on one side, which is the LAN (Local Area Network) side. On the other side it connects to the internet;which is the WAN (Wide Area Network) side. The Router can masquerade as one device or computer and hide the other computers to those on the other side. All the setup on the router is usually done through a web browser. Your computers need no INTERNET setup. You just use a setting that says you connect to the INTERNET through an existing LAN or Network. Well they do have to be set up so they all have a different name and are all on the same workgroup or lan name if you want to share data or a printer.

Here are some networking links that might help a bit.

http://www.homepcnetwork.com/
http://www.homenethelp.com/

The Cable modem does not have to be in the central networking closet but the router should be there. It is easier if they are both there.

For security I recommend using new usernames than the ones supplied for default with XP. Every XP box has an Administrator and guest user name built in. Make a new admin name and/or guest name and get rid of the defaults. This makes security a bit better. With Linux it is best to always use a username and not to use the root password. If your username is administrator, then they will probably know the default password for every compuputer's OS.

[catacon]

The windows machine doesn't have any users yet, so I will jsut put my parents on the Admin user and my brother and I will be just plain users.

What do you reccomend for anitspyware and anitvirus? We now have AdAware and SpyBot and some stupid McAffe thing. I think we might be getting Panda, not sure though.

[doctorgonzo]

I use AVG antivirus, it works well. Along with AdAware and Spybot, SpySweeper also works well, but it's not free.

[Stryker]

I'm using AVG Free on a couple of my test/play systems and as soon as my Norton subscription runs out (already paid once I found AVG) I'll be using AVG on my primary system too. I've actually been quite impressed with Microsoft Anti Spyware. Their real-time monitoring is fantastic so far.

[catacon]

So all I have to do to get internet on my Linux machine is install the network card, get it working and then plug into the wall (after everything else is hooked up)?

[doctorgonzo]

Yes, as long as the router is configured to be a DHCP server, and the NIC is configured to use DHCP, you will be all set.

[catacon]

Cool. How do I set the router to be a DHCP server?

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by catacon Cool. How do I set the router to be a DHCP server?

It's usually set up to be a DHCP server by default, so it's almost always just plug and go. To change it, you go to the router's administrative web page and change it there; the exact procedure depends on the model. There are times when you want the router to assign the same IP address to a computer all the time; this is usually done when you need to unblock some ports to get a game or other app working.

[catacon]

OK, thanks. If I were to add another computer that I wanted internet on in the same room as my Linux one, do I have to use a router to split off the connection?

[piasabird]

I dont have a recommendation for Antivirus. Some people like Norton, but I use macaffee from work because its free. We have a program at work where Our license covers one computer at home so I installed that and also MS Office Professionsal Suite at home.

I have been using Microsoft Spyware but have used Adware as well. I have heard of some horror stories with adware that it sometimes can mess up windows, but I have not seen that. I think people just do not upgrade it and it goes haywire when it gets out of date. MS Spyware blocker sometimes tries to block scripts as well.

I use a Router and that has a firewall built in and it blocks most things. Some stuff still tries to get through the e-mail. In windows you might try placing all the email with attachments in a separate folder so you never see them. I do this for a kind of quaranteen. If someone sends me an attachment I can still go and look for it, but I will not ever have one pop up inside windows. I have been using Netscape for email. It seems to work better. It is even better if they use hotmail or yahoo email. That means one thing less to configure.

I use charter here at home, but I think it is different everywhere. They had a self install kit. They have some dufus software, but I did not install it. I also used my own cable modem. It cost me $80.00 but they deduct $5.00 a month off my bill for using my own. They do something to make their server recognize the NIC inside the cable modem. It has an internal hardware address. So I set up all my own computers and my router. Cable modem was a Motorola Surfboard cablemodem.

They make some routers now that have the telephony interface in them but they cost more. That is if you want to use INTERNET IP Phones at home. At work we have an IP Phone system and it works pretty well. You cant even tell the difference. AT&T even offers IP Phone Service. It runs a little less than normal telephone service. I thought I might try it someday. They have some kind of little device that can go between the phones and the ethernet.

Most places like Best Buy have different brands of routers. I have been using a Linksys Router/switch for about 2 years but there are other brands like Dlink, etc. Mine only has 4 or ports and an uplink port. I could uplink to a switch but that makes the networking harder. You have to use more protocols if you go switch to switch. One-Hop networking is a lot easier.

If you like Linux you could build a server and use a Linux style firewall and implement better security. This takes a little more work than I care to try but I have heard it is not that hard. It is like setting up a proxy server. It takes a motheboard with 2 nic cards or just an old motherboard with 2 nic cards.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by catacon OK, thanks. If I were to add another computer that I wanted internet on in the same room as my Linux one, do I have to use a router to split off the connection?

What you could do is either run another Ethernet cable from the router in the basement up to your room, or buy a powered hub or switch to put in your room and divide the connection there.

[piasabird]

One way to network is to get a wireless router. However, if you want to hide the wiring you might try going up into the first floor through a bedroom closet and run the cable along the trim on the wallboard. Ethernet is always better as far as I am concerned unless the other person already has a Centrino laptop and likes the freedom of movement.

[catacon]

Yeah, but wireless networking is more of a hassel and we already have the house wired, so there's no point really.

How much do powered hubs or switches cost and what do they do exactly?

[doctorgonzo]

Now you're getting into the different OSI levels of networking.

A hub basically connects two network devices electrically. It doesn't do anything more than connect the wires together.

A switch is a little smarter: it learns where addresses are, and decides how to route data based on that.

For example, say you've got eight computers on a hub, and computer 3 wants to talk to computer 6. Since a hub only connects all the wires together, all eight computers on the hub are going to hear the conversation between computer 3 and 6, and they won't be able to send out any data of their own. However, if you have those 8 computers on a switch, the switch will keep the conversation between 3 and 6 to themselves, allowing the other computers to talk if needed.

A router connects two different networks together, and routes data between them correctly. In your home, your router connects one network (the Internet) to another network (your home network). It figures out where to send the data based on its IP address, either to another computer on your network or the Internet. It also has advanced features like address translation (NAT) to allow all of the computers on your home network to connect to the Internet using only the one IP address you get from the cable company.

More info here.

[catacon]

Wow, that's cool. Thanks. If any other questions arise, I know who to ask.

[glc]

A cheap 4 port switch for your room costs about 20 bucks.

[catacon]

Do I have to use an NIC or will an Ethernet card work, or are they the same thing? (Again, Im not a big network guy.)

Thanks!

[gmw]

A nic (network interface card) and an ethernet card are the same thing. The proper name is nic, with ethernet card being more descriptive. A lot of newer (12-18 mo.) systems have them on board though, so don't buy anything you don't need.

[piasabird]

Most newer motherboards have the Ethernet card or NIC (Network Interface Card) built into (Integrated) the motherboard. Sometimes they have two. This is a pretty standard thing in the last few years.

NIC is a generic term for any kind of network card. They use to have several different kinds that were popular in the old days for stuff like Coax Cable and Token Ring. Now adays most people use Ethernet for home networking. Some big office system may use a bit of fiber optic cable for high-speed netwrok connections or ATM. We have ATM which uses fiber optic cable between the buildings.

For ethernet the cable is called Cat-5. Some Ethernet cable is braided and some is solid and there is some Cat-6 that is a little faster. These use the RJ45 connectors that look similar to a phone jack. Just dont plug a phone into an Ethernet port. It could ruin the ethernet. Phonelines sometimes are powered just enough to short it out.

[catacon]

Cool, I jut saved 15 bucks. Thanks!