Wireless Networking or Hardwired???

[Michael Carter]

I have a LAN setup here at home used for multiple computers on the internet.

It's a Linksys router box that my computer is plugged directly into. The other system upstairs is wirelessly connected just for internet.

Can this same set-up be used to network a second FS computer to for use in my sim?

There are additional Cat V ports on the router box to directly hard wire another computer. This is a little beyond me. Any help would be appreciated.

Would a third hard wired computer to the router box work for FS, or do I only have an internet LAN?

[Bob Reed]

Hey BSW! I have never had good luck with wireless for my cockpit. Just seems like there is a little too much network traffic for it to be stable... Maybe someone else has made it work but I gave up on it a long time ago.

[PaulEMB]

Whereever possible, use hard wired networks.

i have 7 pcs running Pm and WideView using an Ethernet, and in all of the forums (Pete Dowson etc), it is recommended to avoid wireless, as it just adds work.

I would suggest hard wiring al networked pcs on the sim, with one acting as a gateway for a WiFi connection to the Internet.

[AndyT]

The problem with wireless is that it takes up so much CPU time. In order to be active on the connection, the CPU if forced to scan the wireless device every other mili-second and this eats up processing power in a huge way.

Use a switch to connect all your PCs together and make one of them the wireless connection. That will take care of it.

[Michael Carter]

OK, thanks for the answers, but the question remains, can I still use this router with the additional unused Cat V jacks to hardwire another computer to the network, or is what I described in my first post only an internet LAN?

Do I need a separate ethernet card and separate router for an FS network?

[Bob Reed]

The answer is no. If you have a working network and room for more computers in the switch , you are good to go.. My Sim is hooked up to the house network so the weather server can get out and get live weather.

[Michael Carter]

That's good news. All I need then is another computer!

Thanks!

[ivar hestnes]

I have a Linksys wireless router, and a 8pos D-link switch attached to it.

All 6 networked computers attached to the switch, and with specified IP-adress for each one of them. And all of them have VNC-server installed.

And a laptop wireless with VNC-wiewer. Use this computer to maintain all the others.

Only the FS-computer have keyboard and mouse.

Working great:)

[Michael Carter]

Should I use a separate IP address for the two FS computers to keep the third wireless computer off of my FS net and the FS computers off of the internet?

I was doing some reading about this and it's recommended to isolate desired computers from the rest of network and/or the internet.

In order to do this and still have access to the internet on the main computer (or server), I'll need two network cards, is that right?

[ivar hestnes]

All my computers have access to the internet. To give each one of the computers a specific IP-adress is to ensure that two computers wont automatically get the same IP-adress. Then they cant talk to each other;)

On most computers IP-adress is given automatically from the router. The same for my laptop which always get 192.168.1.100

I then set the others up like this: FS-computer 192.168.1.111
CDU 192.168.1.110
Captains side 192.168.1.112
Upper eicas 192.168.1.117
Lower eicas 192.168.1.115
PM-systems 192.168.1.118

All this computers are in a workgrup I call "boeing".

On each one of the computers i also have a folder where I install all the sim programs.

C: Folder-name/ programs

I made this folder "shared" so the other computers can read and write as necessary.

And yes, you need a network card for every computer that you want to connect to another computer via a switch

[Michael Carter]

Thanks for that information Ivar. That was very helpful.

My question though was about having two network cards for the server computer. One for internet throught the router and the other strictly for FS.

Is this right? Or will one network card on the server computer with different IP addresses for internet access and FS networking suffice?

[ivar hestnes]

I am not that technical gifted:D

I`d guess you just put both computers into the router. Thats the easyest way;) You router has built in switch I guess???

One network card in each computer.

[paulj]

BSW

the use of a second network card would be redundant if both were going to be plugged into the same router/cat v system.
What you should do in that case is plug one network card into the router and a second card into a separate hub/switch etc.

However there should be an easier way to achieve what you want.

In the configuration software for your router you should have an option to set up your local network and list IP addresses that that you do not want to have access to the internet. That way all your pc's would still be plugged into the same router/hub but only the ones you nominate will be able to use the internet while they all can still talk to each other.
Of course an even simplier way is to not list a gateway address in the individual pc network setup. If the pc doesn't know what the gateway address is it should not be able to use it to gain access to the outside environment and the router will simply act as a hub for those pc's.
Whatever way you do it, you don't need another network card.

hope this helps

Paul

[Michael Carter]

Thank Paul. I understand now.

I just wanted to keep the upstairs computer from accessing the main server. I only want the upstairs computer to have internet access through the router.

[sas550]

You can also assign a bogus ip as primay/secondary DNS on the pc's you don't want on the internet. Then there's no possibility to surf using url's. You can still use internet via ip adresses though. You can also stop the traffic from XP SP2 Firewall.