You can't request more than 20 challenges without solving them. Your previous challenges were flushed.

Hands-on hardware: DSL / cable modem routers

December 11, 2000, 10:44 AM —  ITworld.com — 

You've got your DSL connection. You're using an ISP-provided DSL bridge (aka DSL
modem). Your LAN is routed through one computer that accesses the Internet with network
address translation (NAT) or proxy services. Your service is OK, but you feel there are
definitely some weak spots.

Where are the weaknesses?

The most obvious weakness is that Internet access depends on one computer. If that
computer is a server, it's probably up and running most of the time; but then you-know-
what happens, maintenance is required, and so on. And, of course, such things will
happen at the worst possible moment for someone on the network.

Another weakness is that the computer serving as the router/NAT runs at least four
pieces of software that consume resources: DHCP, NAT/Proxy, the Point to Point Protocol
Over Ethernet (PPPoE) service, and the DSL connection software. All are OK, but
consume valuable resources.

Also, your DSL probably goes down more often than you'd like. When this happens,
the software establishing the connection to the DSL must continually retry the
connection -- or, more likely, try a few times, then give up until an administrator
instructs it to try again. We were offline for 6-8 hours last week because no one
restarted the DSL connection. The actual outage was probably much shorter.

Where do you go for improvements? For a minimal investment ($80-$150, depending on
brand), you can add a DSL/cable modem router, a semi-intelligent box that sits between
the DSL bridge and the LAN. A router is smart enough to continually retry the DSL
connection after it goes down. It can also provide some valuable services to your LAN
and lighten your server's workload.

Thanks to several vendors, I was able to try three different routers: a Hawking
Technology PN9225 10/100 Broadband DSL/Cable Router, a Trendware TW100-W1CA, and a
Linksys BFSR11.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough

pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients

Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process

mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes

David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features

sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake                        

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words

 

Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace