caboosemoose
Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2002
- Messages
- 584
Right I need help clearing up a few of my deep rooted networking misconceptions.
1. Routers, switches and hubs. What, precisely is the difference and what precise functions do each serve?
2. One of my home networks setups was essentially a few PCs (all XP) attached to a hub, one of which was an internet gateway. In that scenario I had to manually configure IP addresses to get the PCs to see each other and to share the internet connection. In contrast, I occasionally attach a laptop PC via ethernet to another PC which is part of a homePNA phoneline network. Now, the homePNA network itself does not require you to manually configure IPs when setting it up, and nor do I need to do so when attaching an additional notebook via ethernet to one of the PCs - often nothing is required to get an internet connection, XP usually just picks it up. At worst you have to run the network wizard. So......my question is...for what types of network setups and equipment is manual IP configuration required and why?
Thanks to anyone kind enough to enlighten me.
1. Routers, switches and hubs. What, precisely is the difference and what precise functions do each serve?
2. One of my home networks setups was essentially a few PCs (all XP) attached to a hub, one of which was an internet gateway. In that scenario I had to manually configure IP addresses to get the PCs to see each other and to share the internet connection. In contrast, I occasionally attach a laptop PC via ethernet to another PC which is part of a homePNA phoneline network. Now, the homePNA network itself does not require you to manually configure IPs when setting it up, and nor do I need to do so when attaching an additional notebook via ethernet to one of the PCs - often nothing is required to get an internet connection, XP usually just picks it up. At worst you have to run the network wizard. So......my question is...for what types of network setups and equipment is manual IP configuration required and why?
Thanks to anyone kind enough to enlighten me.