Router Connection

When you signup for a broadband internet connection at home, the Internet Service Provider will provide you a Cable modem or DSL modem and connected direct to a single computer via USB port. Broadband Internet connection is not cheap and it’s a good idea if you can share the Internet connection with other computers in the household. One of the reasonable options is to purchase a wireless router such as WRT-610N Linksys or WNDR370 Netgear. How can you configure the Router Connection and the Computer Network Diagram?

For home wireless router, configuring Router Connection is not that complicated as the business class firewall or business router. There are some points you need to consider in planning the computer network diagram particularly to make better network performance and security.

Connection Diagram

Router diagram for home users

First thing in creating the network is figuring the connection diagram between the modem, the router, the switch, and the computers. A computer network diagram should be planned first, the wiring of the router connection and the modem must be correct. Unless you will find that the network is not functioning.

In this diagram, the modem used is ADSL type which will connect the RJ-11 port to the phone line at home. The modem operates as the digital to analog converter from the home (private) network to the local loop line (typically phone line) to the Central Office (CO) of the Telco. You can install a splitter adapter to split the phone line cable into two lines. One line is connected to the modem, and the other one is used by the phone handset. This way you can still use the phone while you are surfing the internet. Both ADSL line and the phone line can work at the same time together, without interference each other.

This is a typical computer network diagram you can use at home or at the office. Mostly all the wireless router or the gateway/firewall include the DHCP services. This means that you don’t need to worry about configuring the computers on the network manually with the fix IP addresses, because the router will provide automatic IP address configuration to the computers on the network. The DHCP feature of mostly the router is enabled by default. So if you know nothing about the DHCP server, just leave the factory default.

What about the router connection with the modem? The modem has one RJ-45 LAN port (typically marked with the yellow color port) that must be connected to the RJ-45 WAN port of the router (the same yellow color as the modem LAN port). And the computers – both with wired connection (using UTP LAN Cable to the Switch port of the router) and wireless connection will receive the IP address from the router automatically.

With this router connection on the above computer network diagram, you can have a network environment at home or at the office.

Business class router connection

The above router connection is typically used at home router; the business-class router has different method in connecting to the modem.

WAN connections types are normally dictated by the WAN service provider, and relate to the physical interface used by the connecting router. Numerous connection types exist, but when possible connections should be made using technologies that support higher data rates and support flexible configurations. Many carriers offer connection choices when provisioning WAN services. See also IP routing guide

The minimum requirement with regards to WAN Connections is:

• For WAN services using serial connections, V.35 serial cables are preferred over X.21 cables.
• RS-232 serial cables should only be used for low speed connections (<64 Kbps) commonly associated with analogue PSTN.
• For ISDN BRI connections, the corresponding UTP (CAT5) cable shall use a different color cable (yellow or white) to that of regular LAN cables (blue) to indicate it is a WAN connection. Equipment damage may result if an ISDN circuit is connected to a non-ISDN device.
• For ISDN connections, Terminal Adapters (TAs) shall be avoided; rather native ISDN routers should be used.
• All cabling shall be secure, documented and clearly labeled.

V.35 serial cables are preferred over X.21 cables

A suitable cable and connection type must be used to match the router and WAN carriers CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit). The CSU/DSU (also referred to as a NT or modem) provides the physical interface connection between the customer premises equipment (router) and the carrier’s line to the local loop (central office or exchange). Consult carrier documentation and router vendor documentation for cabling types and specifications.


Related post:

• Router IP address – discussing the IP address deployment on the network
• External firewall configuration standard –guideline in defending the network
• Wireless firewall – introducing NETGEAR’s SRXN3205 ProSafe® Wireless-N VPN Firewall
• Firewall ports – knowing most common firewall / router ports
• And router problems – discussing common router problems.

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