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Posted by Jen on April 4, 2005, 3:58 pm
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Okay, I don't quite understand all of the technical, but I get the
overall idea that I should just plan on buying an external modem and an
external router w/built in firewall. Thanks for the help! I considered
going with the Motorola wireless, which seemed to combine all, but am
concerned that wireless may contradict the security of a firewall that
I am trying to achieve.
Unrelated networking/modem question - (I'm getting bounced back and
forth between Comcast and the person who built my computer as to where
the problem is on this issue.) I can connect to the internet via my
USB port, but not my LAN/ethernet port. When checking ipconfig, the
USB connection returns a valid ISP address, but the ethernet connection
returns an invalid 169... address. Comcast says it's either the
ethernet card or the ethernet cable. My friend who built the box (in
another state and VERY BUSY) says that the ethernet card is fine, since
he used it to set things up, and we downloaded all of the most
up-to-date system drivers from the Shuttle website, so it must be a
problem with Comcast. I bought a new cable to replace the rental one,
but no change. My next attempt might be to borrow a friend's modem, or
go ahead and buy the one I want to keep, and replace the rental modem to
see if there's a problem with the connection there. Any
thoughts/ideas?
Warren Wrote:
> Jen wrote:-
> I'm new to cable internet access and am researching Modems. From
> these
> discussions, the Motorola SURFboard 5100 modem seems pretty hot, and
> Linksys seems to be good for its routers. I'm trying to keep my
> total
> footprint very small (cute little Shuttle XPC), and wondered if there
> even was such a thing as an internal cable modem, just as there is
> for
> dial-up access.
>
> Also, I need firewall hardware, not just the firewall software. Do I
> need to buy a modem and router (only one PC needs access at a time)
> and
> a firewall all separately, or are any of these manufactured in a
> combined product?-
>
> There are some internal cablemodems, but they aren't on most cable
> companies' lists of acceptable modems. They may be DOCSIS compliant,
> but
> that's only the first level of compatibility. The cable company has to
> be
> willing to support the modem with config files, and firmware updates.
> An
> internal cablemodem also has the disadvantages that it cannot be
> separately
> reset, and would also require OS-specific drivers. So even if the
> stars
> align, and your cable company allows any of the internal modems
> available,
> you'd be paying a high price just for cosmetic purposes.
>
> Most OS's can also act as routers. Windows has Internet Connection
> Sharing,
> for example. With multiple NIC's, and the right software, it can be
> done --
> just not well. The computer's primary purpose is to run applications,
> and
> while pre-emptive multitasking is a wonderful thing, it's not a great
> environment to be running network routing services at the same time.
> And if
> you have an undersized case, there probably isn't room for multiple
> NIC's.
>
> The simple, consumer-level "broadband" router combines basic router
> capabilities, and provides a basic firewall as a side effect of using
> NAT.
> NAT means that each computer on your LAN has an internal IP address,
> and the
> only IP address that faces the rest of the world is the single, shared
> address of the router. Thus incoming packets need to be expected so
> they can
> be translated to the right internal node. A true firewall goes far
> beyond
> NAT, and would be a separate box. However, based on the questions
> you're
> asking, you are highly unlikely to be in a category that requires more
> firewall protection than a NAT router can provide.
>
> There are cablemodem / router combinations, however they also have
> deficiencies that far outweigh any cosmetic reasons for wanting them in
> a
> single device.
>
> If aesthetics are so important that you just can't have these boxes
> near
> your desk, Cat5 Ethernet cable can be up to 100 meters long, so you
> can
> always place your cablemodem and router in another room, and have
> nothing
> but the cable coming out of the wall.
>
> --
> Warren H.
>
> ==========
> Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
> employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
> Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
> coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
> response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
> to go outside now.
> Care for your landscape with Black and Decker cordless tools
> http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker/index.html
--
Jen
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