Quick Networking Question
 

Morning all,

Quick question regarding networks. I've been roped into helping set up a small network to share an internet connection.

The PC's in question all have integrated NIC's and the ADSL router has 4 ports for it.

The only problem is there are 5 PC's.

Whats the easiest way to do this?

Pop an extra NIC into one of the systems and share its connection or get a cheap switch to put into the uplink port of the router (a Linksys 4 port ADSL one)

Any advise gratefully received.

Re: Quick Networking Question
 

You may have trouble re-sharing from the router if it issues 192.168.x.x addresses.

I'd go for adding a switch, but you needn't use the uplink port, you should be able to use any of the 4 'normal' ones.

Re: Quick Networking Question
 

a switch would allow for future expansion, and doesn't mean the pc with two NICs has to be permanently on.

it'll probably cost a tenner more than the other option, but it's probably the better one.

note that if you use the uplink port you connect the router to the switch with an ordinary cable, but you need a crossover cable if you use a standard port.