Thread: Multiple Connections to Internet - A Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Guide

Note: This is a repost of SOHO Guide in forum text format, so that you need not download the zip.

A Guide for creating network for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO)

Introduction
A lot of people ask over the forum on how to connect to internet from multiple machines through the single broadband connection at their home/office. This is a classic case of the “Small Office/Home Office” (SOHO) situation.

The primary reason is probably because the way the internet connection is advertised. For example, all BSNL’s home connections are advised as ‘single user’. This is actually a misnomer. When BSNL means ‘single user’, they mean a single subscriber. There is nothing that disallows using multiple computers from connecting to the same connection. What is not legally permissible is more than one subscriber sharing a connection – although I suspect that this practice exists in some form, even if not rampant.

The other reason is many people do not understand networking but that is nothing to be ashamed of. Networking is not our “bread and butter” but as we have chosen to have a network at home we will have to make an effort to understand the basics. Alas, the so-called experts at the ISP’s customer support are no experts at all. And they will hide their incompetence by saying that helping to set up the network at our SOHO premises is not part of their job.

This guide is aimed at helping the community to understand the networking and setting up of the network.

PPPoE
PPPoE stands for Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet. This guide assumes that you know the basics of broadband. The Basic Broadband Guide should help you with this. You should also know how to configure your ADSL modem/router in the PPPoE mode.

It is important to note that true networking can only be achieved by setting the ADSL modem/router in PPPoE mode. The other method of “Internet Connection Sharing” is not a true network. This method requires one computer to be the primary computer and all other computers connecting to the internet through this primary computer. It also means that the primary computer must be ON while other computers are using the internet.

In PPPoE configuration, all computers connect to the internet independent of each other.

Multiple Connections Type
Simple Network
The following diagram shows the simplest of all networks. The picture on the left assumes that you have a Type I ADSL modem/router (one USB + one LAN ports). This type of modem in itself allows at most two computers to connect.



The picture on the right assumes that you have a Type II ADSL modem/router (which has 4 LAN ports). You can connect up to four wired networked devices with a Type II ADSL modem/router.

By enabling the DHCP in the router, all your networked devices will get an automatic internal IP address.

Multiple Connections via Switch
In this type of network, you can extend the basic (wired) network using a network switch. A network switch is just like a multiple plug/socket extender that we commonly use at homes. The following diagram shows a SOHO network using a network switch as shown below:



A network switch can have 4 or 8 or 16 or 32 or 48 or more LAN ports.

The beauty of a network switch is that it requires little or no configuration. It is literally a plug-and-play device, much unlike a router which is really a plug-and-pray device. The network switch will automatically assign unique IP addresses to all the networked devices. All you have to do is:

• Connect the LAN port of the ADSL modem/router to the IN port of the switch
• Connect the various devices (PCs, laptops, printers) to the LAN OUT ports
• Power up the switch

All the devices are now networked and ready to connect to internet (except the printer, of course).

Extend to Wireless
The above diagrams deal with a wired network. But if you wanted to get rid of those messy wires, going wireless is the method. All you need is a wireless router.

Add a Wireless Router
Most networks evolve from wired to wireless. We start with a wired ADSL modem/router (usually provided by the ISP) and we can add a wireless router in between the networked devices and the ADSL modem. The following diagram shows how:


A small complication arises in this type of network - there are two routers in the network. A small care must be taken so that both can work together:

• The ADSL modem/router must be configured in PPPoE mode since this is the main device that connects to the internet.
• The wireless router must be configured in bridged mode (aka Automatic DHCP mode)
• The internal IP address of both the router must be on a different subnet. For example, if the internal IP address of ADSL modem/router is 192.168.1.1, then change the internal IP address of the Wireless router to 10.17.100.1.
• Subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 on both.
• DHCP must be enabled on both routers so that each can be accessed independently. For example, if you use the above mentioned IP addresses, the ADSL modem/router’s configuration page can be accessed at http://192.168.1.1 whereas for the wireless router it will be http://10.17.100.1.

It is very important to enable wireless security so that no one in the neighbourhood can “ride” your connection. You may wish to go though these topics:

• Wireless Security Primer
• Wireless Security Primer - II

Wireless Connection using Wireless ADSL modem/router
In this scenario, instead of having two devices (wired modem + wireless router), we have a combined Wireless ADSL modem/router.



File Sharing
Once the basic networking is achieved, the next issue is with file sharing. To allow file sharing it will be easier if you add all your machines to a workgroup. To do this, right click on “My Computer” and click on properties. Do the following:



Repeat this for each and every computer in the network.

Once done, you should enable ‘File and Print Sharing’ in your machines and then share the folders.

That will allow all the computers to be seen in your workgroup.

1. Right click on ‘My Network Places’.
2. Click on ‘Explore’

In the explorer window, you will see a picture as follows:


(The computer names are from a sample workgroup. The names that will appear in your workgroup will be whatever names that you have chosen to given to your computers).

Clicking on ‘+’ sign on each computer will allow you to see the shared folders on that machine.

Printer IP address issue
When setting up a wireless home network, using DHCP for assigning IP addresses to Computers simplifies setup and gets you online quickly. While DHCP is convenient, devices such as printers should be assigned a fixed IP addresses manually to avoid conflicts on your wireless network. Here's how you can setup a printer with a static address even if it has a wireless card, while still using DCHP on your wired/wireless router.

Scenario:

• Wired or wireless LAN at Home Office or Small Office (SOHO)
• Printer is attached to wired or wireless LAN
• Network is switched off from time to time
• Issue: IP address of printer is not constant because of DHCP

What's the big deal?
Unlike USB connected printers, networked printers are connected via LAN ports. This LAN port is bound to an IP address. If the IP address changes because of automatic DHCP, you will not be able to print.

Solutions:
Solution 1: Assign a static IP address to your printer
This is possible in most Inkjet, Photo Inkjet and Laser Printers which have a networking option.

1. First select the (static) IP address that you would like to assign.
2. Your router has an IP address (usually 192.168.1.1). The valid IP addresses that the router can address are from 192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.255.
   Note: Address 192.168.1.2 is sometimes reserved for USB port in the modem. Hence avoid/skip this address also.
3. The IP address 192.168.1.255 is reserved in most routers and this should not be chosen. So you have a choice of 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254.
   Note that router's DHCP has an IP address range, e.g. 192.168.1.3 ~ 192.168.1.50. This is used for automatic IP assignment. You can still use IP addresses from 192.168.1.51 onwards.
4. Choose the highest IP address in the range, e.g., in the above case, 192.168.1.254.
5. Assign this IP address to the printer.
6. When configuring an address for the printer, the IP configuration would look like:
   
   IP Address: 192.168.1.254
   Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
   
   Since the menus may be different I cannot cover entire step by step process for all printers.

Solution 2: Reserve IP addresses for certain devices based on MAC address in the router
This is possible in some routers only. Netgear WGR614v7 provides this facility. Here is how it can be done on this router:

1. First find the MAC address of the printer. This is easy - all you have to do is print a full network configuration from the printer or print a test page from windows.
   Note: Most network printers have a on printer menu button and a small display panel. Using this, it is possible to print the printer and network configuration.
2. On the Netgear router, login to the web interface and from the main page, select LAN IP Setup from the LHS panel.
3. On the LAN IP setup page, there is Address Reservation at the bottom. Click on the Add button.
4. In the IP Address box, type the IP address to assign to the computer or server.
   (choose an IP address from the router’s LAN subnet, as explained above in Solution 1)
5. Type the MAC Address of the printer.
6. Click Apply to enter the reserved address into the table.

Now if power goes out or you need to restart your wireless router, your printer will retain the fixed IP address instead of being assigned a different address than it previously had by DHCP . And you will always be able to print with out any conflicts.

Source: Linksys Tip: Assign Static IP Address To Printer While Using DHCP On Your Wireless Network

Thank you for your reply.

I have configured my Wireless Network Using Wireless ADSL modem/router. Only Two PC have Windows 7 and other PCs are Windows XP. All the PCs are in a same WORKGROUP. All the systems are having static IP.

I am using the Ping command to get the reply from Destination Host Unreachable.

But the Internet is working in all the systems.