Linksys BEFW11S4 as a Hub

I want to use my wireless laptop and will be at a university that provides a
single Ethernet plug in my dorm room. They supply DHCP and say to use a hub
so my roommate and I can both use the network.

If I connect the university Ethernet to one of the four ports (not the WAN
port) and disable the BEFW11S4's DHCP, will it appear as a hub to the
university's network?
My other choice is use a hub and AccessPoint to get wireless access.

Comments and recommendations, please.

John <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I want to use my wireless laptop and will be at a university that provides a
> single Ethernet plug in my dorm room. They supply DHCP and say to use a hub
> so my roommate and I can both use the network.

> If I connect the university Ethernet to one of the four ports (not the WAN
> port) and disable the BEFW11S4's DHCP, will it appear as a hub to the
> university's network?
> My other choice is use a hub and AccessPoint to get wireless access.

I would plug it in to the WAN as "normal", and see if it works.
If that doesn't work, disable the DHCP on the Linksys, and plug the uplink
port of the Linksys to the wall.

It is likely either way will work fine. Using the WAN port would add some
firewalling, making it harder to share files from your computer, but also
harder for your campus neighbors to attack your computer.


--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

Go to the Linksys website and click on "Support", then "Knowledgebase". Do
a search on "router". One of the first 2 or 3 hits will be instructions on
how to connect a Linksys wireless router to a Linksys wired router.

Just ignore the "wired router" part, and the rest is a breeze.

Or you can use it in the normal manner. You and your room mate will have
your own private IPs and your computers will be that much more secure.
Either way, make sure you have good, up-to-date firewall software on each
computer.


Bob

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fsw_a.7790$_(E-Mail Removed)...
> I want to use my wireless laptop and will be at a university that provides
a
> single Ethernet plug in my dorm room. They supply DHCP and say to use a
hub
> so my roommate and I can both use the network.
>
> If I connect the university Ethernet to one of the four ports (not the WAN
> port) and disable the BEFW11S4's DHCP, will it appear as a hub to the
> university's network?
> My other choice is use a hub and AccessPoint to get wireless access.
>
> Comments and recommendations, please.
>
>
>
>

Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will let
all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP server
whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
(another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC addresses
will still flow back.
Am I correct in this analysis??


"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fsw_a.7790$_(E-Mail Removed)...
> I want to use my wireless laptop and will be at a university that provides
a
> single Ethernet plug in my dorm room. They supply DHCP and say to use a
hub
> so my roommate and I can both use the network.
>
> If I connect the university Ethernet to one of the four ports (not the WAN
> port) and disable the BEFW11S4's DHCP, will it appear as a hub to the
> university's network?
> My other choice is use a hub and AccessPoint to get wireless access.
>
> Comments and recommendations, please.
>
>
>
>

John wrote on [Thu, 14 Aug 2003 10:25:24 -0400]:
> Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
> security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will let
> all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP server
> whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
> (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC addresses
> will still flow back.
> Am I correct in this analysis??

you can clone the MAC address onto the router, and that would work, also

But if they're two of us in the room (my roommate is connected too) sharing
the one university connection, there'd only appear the one MAC address--that
of the router.

"Justin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> John wrote on [Thu, 14 Aug 2003 10:25:24 -0400]:
> > Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
> > security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will
let
> > all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP
server
> > whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
> > (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC
addresses
> > will still flow back.
> > Am I correct in this analysis??
>
> you can clone the MAC address onto the router, and that would work, also
>

That is correct, and the router is designed to deal with that. Many cable
ISPs use (or used to use) MAC filtering, probably in an attempt to keep you
from connecting more than one computer to their line. That's why most of
the routers now allow MAC address cloning... to fool the ISP.


Bob

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:U6P_a.1402$(E-Mail Removed)...
> But if they're two of us in the room (my roommate is connected too)
sharing
> the one university connection, there'd only appear the one MAC
address--that
> of the router.
>
> "Justin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > John wrote on [Thu, 14 Aug 2003 10:25:24 -0400]:
> > > Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
> > > security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will
> let
> > > all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP
> server
> > > whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
> > > (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC
> addresses
> > > will still flow back.
> > > Am I correct in this analysis??
> >
> > you can clone the MAC address onto the router, and that would work, also
> >
>
>
>

John <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
> security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will let
> all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP server
> whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
> (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC addresses
> will still flow back.
> Am I correct in this analysis??

Did I miss a posting? I didn't see any claim that the university did any
tracking of the MAC address. Even if they did, a MAC clone would take care
of that.

The university does track each MAC address associated with the issued IP.
With a hub, two computers (one for each roommate) will each receive an IP
and their MAC address would be registered in the DHCP database. However with
a router, only one MAC address would be registered, that of the router or
one of the computers if the router's MAC address were cloned. Wouldn't that
still leave the other roommate's computer unregistered in the DHCP database
due to the NAT workings of the router?

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bhhhbt$rcf$(E-Mail Removed)...
> John <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
> > security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will
let
> > all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP
server
> > whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
> > (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC
addresses
> > will still flow back.
> > Am I correct in this analysis??
>
> Did I miss a posting? I didn't see any claim that the university did any
> tracking of the MAC address. Even if they did, a MAC clone would take
care
> of that.

John <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> The university does track each MAC address associated with the issued IP.
> With a hub, two computers (one for each roommate) will each receive an IP
> and their MAC address would be registered in the DHCP database. However with
> a router, only one MAC address would be registered, that of the router or
> one of the computers if the router's MAC address were cloned. Wouldn't that
> still leave the other roommate's computer unregistered in the DHCP database
> due to the NAT workings of the router?

Aha, secret information! (somehow the post with you saying that the MAC
was tracked arrived after my last comments.)

So... what difference does it make if the university never sees the second
MAC address? I would run as a NAT router, if possible, for the added
security. If that doesn't work, use it as a switch, as I described
earlier. In either case, it's not a hub, but that doesn't really matter.


> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:bhhhbt$rcf$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> John <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> > Since the university ties each IP to the user's NIC's MAC address (for
>> > security reasons), I think you do need the hub approach since it will
> let
>> > all connected computer's MAC address flow back to the central DHCP
> server
>> > whereas a router will only show its MAC address. With an AccessPoint
>> > (another hub) connected to the hub, the wireless computer's MAC
> addresses
>> > will still flow back.
>> > Am I correct in this analysis??
>>
>> Did I miss a posting? I didn't see any claim that the university did any
>> tracking of the MAC address. Even if they did, a MAC clone would take
> care
>> of that.




--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5