neato switch

15 posts / 0 new
Last post
catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
neato switch

I spent a couple days trying to get my 9600 w/ Panther & a NIC to act as a router between the NIC and built-in.

I had some success, but it was getting old fast.

I went up to WalMart (it was Sunday night when I gave up) and saw they had a 5-port hub for $35... NOT.

I came home and found this neato switch on eBay (which I am picking up). I can't find any reviews, but I found the same model and model number made by a different manufacturer for over $500.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51268&item=5713009922&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
Wow.. That thing is cool!

Wow.. That thing is cool!

visorboy333's picture
Offline
Last seen: 15 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 35
wow. i second that. alot cool

wow. i second that. alot cooler than my switch. cool find. when/if you get it, you gotta let us know what else that LCD displays. Looks like maybe port specific network traffic. Very cool

catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
I'll definately be back

It should be here tomorrow, so I'll let you know.
Also, I'll probably be asking questions about networking stuff. :?

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
Well I bought a couple of tho

Well I bought a couple of those switches too. It will be nice to replace all of my dumb 10mbs hubs that i have daisychained in my house with these 2 swtiches (i like the fact that the swtichs have sepearate uplink ports)>

also those blinky lights are danged cool.

catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
Switch arrived...now what?

It looks great... but came with absolutely no documentation.
So I'm confusing myself on the implementation.
I'm asking for ideas here, please...

I have a cable modem.
I have an Airport Extreme.
I have 3 ethernet computers and 1 Airport enabled computer.

I know that I can run the cable modem to the Airport to the LAN... but is that really what I want to do? Do I want all internet traffic going through the Airport when there is only one machine that needs it?

If I connect the cable modem to the switch, and the Airport to the switch, and everything else, too, will the Airport still send out IPs to the other machines? Will the port mapping still work?

I'm at a loss... I'd prefer that not all traffic went through the Airport if not necessary, but if not, how else am I sharing my 1 real IP address. I'd also like to be able to hit any computer from outside my LAN (from a remote location, through the cable).

Could someone clarify what the best option probably is?
Thanks.

davintosh's picture
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 554
Suggested Setup:

Given the gear you've got
1 cable modem.
1 Airport Extreme.
3 ethernet computers
1 Airport enabled computer

Add to that the switch you just got, I would set it up this way:
Cable In --> Airport --> Cable Modem --> Switch --> ethernet puters
. . . . . . . . . . . . . L-- > Airport enabled puter

This is assuming that the Airport is set up to act as your router. If you're connecting multiple machines to the outside using a single line and a single public IP address, you'll need a router. Most hardware router devices will act as a firewall as well, as an intermediary between your network and the Internet. The router will dole out IP addresses as needed, give the network clients DNS information, route incoming traffic to specific machines inside the network according to which port is specified, etc.

If the Airport is not acting as a router, it would look like this:
Cable In --> Router --> Cable Modem --> Switch --> ethernet puters
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L --> Airport-- > Airport enabled puter

There must be a router for you to be able to have multiple machines access the Internet through a single connection and IP address.

As for the ability to hit any computer on the network from outside, that won't be possible unless you a) have multiple external IP addresses, or b) can reconfigure the router's port mapping from outside the network (a Really Bad Idea.) I've never played with the router configuration on the Airport, but on most router devices you can specify which port (21 for ftp, 25 for smtp, 110 for pop3, etc...) goes to which computer. You can have multiple ports go to a single machine, but you can't have a single port go to multiple machines. One thing you can do is specify a single machine to be in a DMZ (De-Militarized Zone), which essentially puts that machine outside the firewall, and all ports that you have active on it are accessible outside the network. This is an OK idea, provided you're sure that the machine is secure or you don't care if someone can hack into it.

catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
Thanks, the 1st setup

Thanks, the 1st setup suits me well...

My next problem... no documentation on this switch...

fooling with the buttons, I came accross a password prompt... I don't know how to deal with that.

This this is cool, but, seemingly, a generic version of the
Lancast CenturySwitch 10/100... no labels, no manufacturer listed anywhere (actually, I prefer a piece of technology to look like one and not a big ad for the manufacturer, or one that should appear in a Mountain Dew commercial... I don't know what product designers are thinking these days!)
If anyone knows where Lancast went, or where I might find documentation on this, that would just about do it for me...

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
well the company that bought

well the company that bought out lancast is here:

http://www.metrobility.com/

I did find out that these swtiches were 899 dollars retail when new in 2000. Wow.

I could not find any documentation on this switch as metrobility's website though. Apparently they don't care about old obsolete products so we are on our own to find the documentation.

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
Here you go, i got a big ole

Here you go, i got a big ole pdf file with instructions for the swtich:

http://www.spilky.com/bo/stf/CenturySwitch3500Manual.pdf

right click and save target as and have fun!

catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
Thanks

Applefritterers rule!

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
Hows yoru swtich working out

Hows yoru swtich working out for you, Cat? I love mine. I got 2 of them and have one upstairs in my kitchen and the other downstairs in my basement next to my server. I have them linked together via the uplink port on the one in the basement to port 12 on the one upstairs.

I also found the default password in the instruction which was 0000.

Moving files around and doing general networking related stuff is SOOOO much faster on these swtiches compared to what I had before. I prevoiusly had about 6 daisy chained hubs though out the house. I went and bought 1000 feet of cat 5e cable and ran all new cable though the house.

I'm a happy camper. Thanks again for pointing out that auction.

catmistake's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 1100
very cool

I really like it... Its easy to see when someone is hitting my ftp server, my internal network now sees speeds up to 3megabytes/sec (not the max, but that's across airport extreme)...

All in all, I am pleased, even though I never received the feet that were supposed to come with it (no biggie). I have to borrow a digital camera and take a shot of the set-up... I know fritterers will appreciate how cool it all is...

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 455
I wonder why you never reciev

I wonder why you never recieved the feet? Both of mine came with feet.

I'm gonna have to take some pics of my setup too.

Offline
Last seen: 1 year 3 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 69
I demand an iTunes visualizer

I demand an iTunes visualizer plugin for it. Smile Set up the visualizer to flood the network with packets on loud noises...

Log in or register to post comments