Whirlpool

Hi,

I have currently an old linksys (non wireless) router. As whole house is cat5 wired, it served me for past 6 years. Soon I'll be going on adsl and getting a new modem/router. However there's no socket in the nerve centre (room where the router is currently located). None of the 3 pcs in 3 rooms have wifi cards. The location of new adsl router is in different room where a pc is already located.

Question is will I be able to use the old linksys wired router just as ethernet switch ? If so could someone please enlighten me !

regards

Current Setup:

_________modem______linksys=======­ ====>pc1 (room1)
                                           |
                                           |=====================>pc­ 2 (room2)
                                           |
                                           |===========================>­ pc3 (room3)

New Setup

                                     old linksys as switch ?==============>pc1 (room1)
                                         |
                                         |=====================>pc­ 2 (room2)
                                         |
                                         |========        ============>pc3 (room3)
                                                        |       |  
                                                        |       |  
                                                       new modem/router
                                                                |
                                                                |    
                                                      (phone socket)
                                                                 |

Yeah, so long as you plug a cable from one of the LAN ports on the new router to one of the LAN ports on the old router (not the WAN port) then you should be good to go.

You will have to make sure both routers have IPs in the same range and that only one of them is running a DHCP server.

Oh, and depending on how dumb the switch ports on the routers are you may need to use a crossover cable to connect the two.

Thanks beritknigh for the quick reply.

Yeah, so long as you plug a cable from one of the LAN ports on the new router to one of the LAN ports on the old router (not the WAN port) then you should be good to go.

Yes. I'll do that. In the diagram above the link from old router to pc3 is now broken and goes to new router.

You will have to make sure both routers have IPs in the same range and that only one of them is running a DHCP server.

OK.

Oh, and depending on how dumb the switch ports on the routers are you may need to use a crossover cable to connect the two.

That's something I'll have to find out. Oh by the way there is an "uplink" port (other than wan and 4 ethernet) on the old router. Is that what I'll use ? Also is there any other settings on the oldrouter I need to make ?

cheers

proud-2b-whirly writes...

That's something I'll have to find out. Oh by the way there is an "uplink" port (other than wan and 4 ethernet) on the old router. Is that what I'll use ?

Yeah, that should do it. What model is the old router?

Also is there any other settings on the oldrouter I need to make ?

No, you should be pretty much right. Maybe look at the port forward screen again to remind yourself what ports you need to forward on the new router when you set it up.

I am at wotk atm. I'll post when I go home.

If the old linksys only has a LAN and a WAN port, you cant use it as a switch. This is because the only way to get from the LAN port to the WAN port or vice versa is through the built in router.

However, if the linksys has a built in 4-5 port switch then youre on easy street.

beritknight and toms thanks for the reply.

Old router is Linksys BEFSR41. I think it's a router with 4 port switch. It also has a uplink port.

cheers

how much do you think it would cost to get a 2 story house fully cat wired?

it really depends... has the house being built yet? are there internal walls put in place already, how difficult the job is.. etc..

Why not bridge your modem and keep your router as a router?

jme,

Why not bridge your modem and keep your router as a router? ???

my apologies jme, can you pls explain ?

proud-2b-whirly writes...

Old router is Linksys BEFSR41. I think it's a router with 4 port switch. It also has a uplink port.

Make sure you disable the DHCP service on the BEFSR41 if you intend to use it as a switch only, with another router handling DHCP!

J.ME writes...

Why not bridge your modem and keep your router as a router?

Because then PC3 that's in the same room as the modem/router would need to be cabled back to the old router, rather than plugged into the new one.

The BEFSR41 isn't anything outstanding, the router features built into the new modem/router will be just as good, so he may as well use that.

proud-2b-whirly writes...

Old router is Linksys BEFSR41. I think it's a router with 4 port switch. It also has a uplink port.

No it doesn't. I've got one here. It's got (right to left) power, four LAN ports, a WAN (internet) port and the reset button. The WAN port isn't an uplink port and you should plug one of the four LAN ports into one of the LAN ports on your new modem/router.

BeritKnight thanks for the response.

I am confused however, I have the router in front of me and at the rear looks like
(from left to right). It is Linksys BEFSR41.

wan, 4 , 3 , 2 , 1 , uplink , power

That's why earlier in the post I mentioned the uplink port. As I found elsewhere on the web, the uplink port on the old router can be used to connect to a normal port on the new router using straight patch. However uplink to uplink will require a crossover.

regards,

No look close you will see the port 1 and uplink are "sharing" the same port you can use one or the other not both, all this does is use a standard cable vs a crossover cable.

you should a little line drawn under the ports 1 and uplink

otherwise you would have a 5 port router...

bubbapcguy thanks.

I was not aware of that. Any way that fixes my prob, as I can use either a straight or crossover cable to connect old and new routers.

Thanks everybody for enlightening me :)

proud-2b-whirly writes...

Any way that fixes my prob, as I can use either a straight or crossover cable to connect old and new routers.


Yeah, that's it exactly. Use a normal cable on the uplink port or a crossover cable on any of the other ports.

I must have a different revision of that router, because I definitely didn't get an uplink port =)

Could always daisy chain the routers for extra security. Would add a bit of latency too though I imagine.
grc.com/nat/nats.htm
and
www.grc.com/nat/nat.htm

Aalex writes...

Could always daisy chain the routers for extra security. Would add a bit of latency too though I imagine.

Double-NAT doesn't add any security benefits over a single layer of NAT, it just adds complexity, and complexity breeds insecurity.

Steve Gibson is an idiot, but a commonly quoted one.

Beritknight writes...

Steve Gibson is an idiot, but a commonly quoted one.

Have heard that mentioned before but I thought the links I posted there represented a valid idea and made sense to me.

Wouldn't essentially two hardware firewalls in a row be more secure than one (especially if you have a DMZ on the first one)?

Aalex writes...

Wouldn't essentially two hardware firewalls in a row be more secure than one

To spin the question around, why would they be? Most of these little boxes run zero world facing services themselves, so the most common way a network behind them gets hacked is when ports are forwarded to insecure services and the internal machines are compromised directly. Double NAT doesn't change that, you're still going to port forward on both your routers if you want your mates to be able to join your Age of Empires game or whatever, it's just more of a pain because you have to configure it in two places.

(especially if you have a DMZ on the first one)?

What do you mean have a DMZ on the first one? If you're talking about having your compromisable servers in between the first and second firewalls, then that's actually a bad thing. It means that if your web server gets hacked it can sit and sniff the traffic your LAN is sending out to the internet, and spoof replies the the inner router will think came from the outer router. Very scary.

If you're talking about the outer router having 3 interfaces, LAN, WAN and DMZ, then that's good. But putting the LAN behind yet another NAT router doesn't help anything. If the DMZ boxes get compromised then the rules on the outer router should stop them getting to the LAN. If they don't then chances are it's because someone's punched a pinhole from the DMZ to the LAN to allow backups or some such, and that same hole will have been punched in the inner router.

If you want a DMZ then one three-way firewall/router will do a much better job than two two-way ones in series.

Cheers and thanks for the explanation Beritknight.

Aalex writes...

Cheers and thanks for the explanation Beritknight.

No probs. If you can't tell by my 3 day post history, I'm bored at work right now =)

Waiting on funding for a project, should be released "any day now".

Beritknight writes...

Steve Gibson is an idiot, but a commonly quoted one.

No, just an American, they are all like that aren't they?

Aalex writes...

but I thought the links I posted there represented a valid idea and made sense to me.

They are valid ideas to achieve specific outcomes that he describes on that page.

Wouldn't essentially two hardware firewalls in a row be more secure than one

No, and Steve isn't trying to claim that they are. He is using those constructs in different ways to allow for some less secure activities while still maintaining original security for others.

Really it is like if you can out to the web and view web pages then you can be hacked ...no, if, and's or buts about it..

bubbapcguy writes...

you can be hacked...no, if, and's or buts about it..

Wrong!

Newbie who followed to this point has the same question .. sorta ..

On broadband,with cable modem, linksys befsr41, pc in the house, AND pc in workshop, AND 2 separate pc in another workshop. The 4 port router went bad & only 2 ports work. The bright idea is a new router to replace the old.
Will this work if I cable each of the 2 separate pc to the old router and cable it to a port of the new router, then cable pc in house and pc on one wokshop each separatelty as before? I understand their may be address issues to ironout instead of automatic address for cable modem/router.
SO, can this router be used as a switch ,orlike a hub , to get the 2 side-by-side pc on net instead of running to old router to unplug pc in house & plug in one pc in a workshop. None of these are networked. There is no internet connection sharing. Each machine stands alone. Use each machine for specific purpose.
I can't get router to re-set or work on but 2 ports anymore.

Any ideas!
Susan