Routers ... What plugs into where?
My question is ... on the back of a Wireless Router for home (such as Netgear N600 WNDR3400), there is 1 unique jack to plug in an Ethernet cable, then there are 4 "Port" jacks numbered 1-4. How do you know when to plug into that 1 jack vs. one of the other 4 jacks? Is there a general rule? And when you connect a Router directly to a PC to modify it's settings, which jack do you use?
(The situation: My house has a lot of gear in it ... Internet from the ISP coming in, going into a large (20-port) Switch, which goes to outlets in the house. And at a couple of those outlets, there are small 4-Port switches that then go to printer, AV Receiver, PC, etc. And some of those go to Wireless Routers as mentioned above. and one has both ... Small 4-port switch in the room, going to a Router.)
(The situation: My house has a lot of gear in it ... Internet from the ISP coming in, going into a large (20-port) Switch, which goes to outlets in the house. And at a couple of those outlets, there are small 4-Port switches that then go to printer, AV Receiver, PC, etc. And some of those go to Wireless Routers as mentioned above. and one has both ... Small 4-port switch in the room, going to a Router.)
SOLUTION
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1 unique jack is for WAN access which you connect to your ISP provided modem or router and the other 4 ports are basically switch ports which you can plug in your LAN devices.
Dave, you beat me by 21 seconds....lol
The unique jack should be marked WAN and when you say you plug an Ethernet cable into it, the other end goes to your cable or DSL modem.
The other 4 jacks can be used interchangeably. Plug from one jack into your computer and it should have internet.
You can plug any switch into the router.
In your description above, do you have more than one router? This has to connected carefully if you do.
The other 4 jacks can be used interchangeably. Plug from one jack into your computer and it should have internet.
You can plug any switch into the router.
In your description above, do you have more than one router? This has to connected carefully if you do.
There is a lot of info on this page about the WNDR3400: http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/WNDR3400.aspx#tab-support
(just adding to the accurate information already given)
If you want all of your devices to be able to communicate with each other, then you would use the single (WAN/Modem/Internet) port only when it is connecting to your internet modem with an external (public) IP address. Otherwise, you would use one of the four switch ports.
More simply, because you said that your ISP device connects to your 20-port switch, the device is almost certainly a modem and router. You would not typically use the single port on any of the other devices. In fact, I'd recommend covering that port with a piece of tape to make it clear that it is not to be used.
The local IP address for each of these devices (typically wireless routers) should be on the same subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x) as the local side of your ISP router. The WAN (or Internet) side of these devices (to which nothing is connected) should be left to get an address automatically (DHCP) or, preferably, set to some private address that is NOT on your subnet. 192.168.99.x would be a good choice, where "x" is a number between 1 and 254 and is different on each device.
This all assumes that you don't want any of your devices isolated from the rest. If so, more information would be needed to appropriately answer.
If you want all of your devices to be able to communicate with each other, then you would use the single (WAN/Modem/Internet) port only when it is connecting to your internet modem with an external (public) IP address. Otherwise, you would use one of the four switch ports.
More simply, because you said that your ISP device connects to your 20-port switch, the device is almost certainly a modem and router. You would not typically use the single port on any of the other devices. In fact, I'd recommend covering that port with a piece of tape to make it clear that it is not to be used.
The local IP address for each of these devices (typically wireless routers) should be on the same subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x) as the local side of your ISP router. The WAN (or Internet) side of these devices (to which nothing is connected) should be left to get an address automatically (DHCP) or, preferably, set to some private address that is NOT on your subnet. 192.168.99.x would be a good choice, where "x" is a number between 1 and 254 and is different on each device.
This all assumes that you don't want any of your devices isolated from the rest. If so, more information would be needed to appropriately answer.
ASKER
Yes, I have 3 Routers downstream from the ISP Modem. So if my ISP Modem is on 192.168.0.xxx, then can teh remaining 3 be on 192.168.1.xxx ? Or do I need to use unique subnet<?> numbers like 192.168.2.xxx and 192.168.3.xxx?
ASKER
... and having all Routers talk to each other is fine ... I don't need any isolation.
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