Basic home networking question

[WCES Ryan]

Hopefully someone here can answer this for me:

I am in the process of building a new HTPC. This setup will likely include another box running WHS or some other Windows OS to hold my drives and function as a media server.

The box that will acting as the server has dual gigabit NICs. The HTPC will also have a gigabit NIC.

With my idea, one ethernet cable would run between the HTPC and server to take advantage of the gig ethernet, and another cable would run from the other NIC on the server to my router.

Is it possible to bridge the connections so that I can still access the HTPC from my network, as well as give it internet access?

My reasoning for wanting to do this is to have a high speed, dedicated connection between the HTPC and the server. I also want to try and take some of the load off the router, so I can browse the internet and copy files on my network without causing problems with the video playback (which will be up to 1080p over the network).

How I manage the content on my HTPC is that I download it on my laptop, clean it up and rename it, and then copy it over to my current HTPC. My fear is that if I am watching video and trying to copy large files over at the same time, that it will require more bandwidth than my 100mb router can handle and that playback or file copy performance will suffer.

I realize that I could simply buy a gigabit router and be done with it, but if I have the hardware available and I can accomplish what I am trying to, then I'd like to go that route and save some money.

 

[Yakyb]

just buy a gigbit switch and be done with it


your methid would require a crossover cable some jiggery pokery with the ICS settings

so i would say just get a gigabit switchand place it between your router and you rcomputers

 

[priteshvarsani]

Geta gigabit switch its not very expensive anymore. You dont load the router by using high amounts of throughput within the LAN! (Unless your using wireless)

Put all you pcs onto the gigE switch and then evrythings is on the same network! Pretty good investment. Last time i went to pc world , i saw some netgear 8 port gig switches for just £20 (UK)!

 

[FibreChanMan]

Like Yakyb said, it would require ICS being configured so the HTPC could communicate through the server. If I recall though, if both nics are gigabit, you can use a Cat5e or Cat6 ethernet patch cable instead of a crossover cable since gigabit should do the MDI/MDIX (correct me if I have the acronym spelled wrong...) conversion, or Auto-MDX if I recall.

But, a gigabit switch would probably be better for the long run as most motherboards, laptops, etc have gigabit ethernet now. You can just connect the switch to an unused router switch port (by this, I mean a free port on your router's built in switch) with a patch cable, and connect all your gig equipment/nics on the gig switch.