Broadband, or high-speed, Internet association is what many users currently use in their home. Along with high-speed Internet, many users may also use a router to allow many computers to connect to the Internet. This post will present how a router is used to connect many computers. To make it easier to understand, I will use where you live as a comparison to how your computer is linked to the Internet.
What is an Ip Address?
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Ip addresses are a series of numbers in the form: nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn, where nnn is a one to three digit number. An Ip address is unique to an personel computer on a network, similar to how your home has a unique address. For an Internet connection, an Ip address is supplied by your Internet service victualer (Isp). In some cases, your Isp may supply you with more than one Ip address, which allows you to connect many computers. As you will see later, however, you can still connect many computers with a particular Ip address.
Connecting a particular Computer
Connecting a particular computer to your high-speed Internet is very uncomplicated to do. Simply connect a network cable into your modem, and then into the network card in your computer. Your computer will then be assigned an Ip address from your Isp. For example, if your Isp assigned you the Ip address of 24.24.50.17, then your computer will have that Ip address.
When you make a ask to a server, such as for a Web page, the Web server knows which Ip address made the request. The facts is then sent through the Internet and back to your computer. This is similar to when person sends you mail to your home. The address on the mail allows it to be delivered to your home and not somewhere else.
Connecting many Computers
How can many computers connect if only one address is assigned? When you make a ask for a Web page, how does it know which computer requested that page? Let's take our home analogy one step further. Let's say instead of living in a house, you live in an apartment. When person sends you mail, they not only contain your address but also an apartment number. This amount is internal to your apartment construction and every apartment has its own unique number. Similarly, many computers can connect to the Internet if they each had there own unique local Ip address. This can be handled by a router.
A router is a piece of hardware that connects directly to the modem. Each computer is then linked to the router, instead of the modem. Now instead of your computer having the Ip address supplied by your Isp, your router now is assigned that Ip address. This is similar to your router acting as the apartment building.
The charm of a router is that it can assign its own local Ip addresses. When you connect a computer to the router it now receives one of the Ip addresses assigned by your router, similar to how each apartment has it's own number. Now when you make a ask for a Web page, the ask is sent using the same Isp address, but this time it is assigned to the router. When the Web page is returned, the router receives the request, and sends it locally to the computer that requested the page.
The router also has its own local address that is similar to the local Ip addresses of the computers. So now the router has two addresses assigned to it: an external one provided by your Isp, and a local one provided by it. This allows the router to connect to both the Internet and the local network.
Note: The 192.168.xxx.xxx address are special Ip addresses reserved for Local Area Networks (Lans).
Managing a Ftp or Web Server on Your Network
Let's take a look at this scenario. You have a router connecting many computers to the Internet. But now you want to originate a Ftp or Web server. No problem. You setup the important software on a computer on your network, told person surface your network the local Ip address of your Ftp server and they try to connect. They then discover that they can't connect. Why? Its similar to person mailing something to you by just specifying your apartment amount and no address.
The Ip address assigned to your computer is local to your network. You can connect to that computer from within your network, but not from the Internet. You will need to use your Isp-assigned Ip address (the one assigned to your router) to have person from the Internet connect to your Ftp server. The qoute is that your router is assigned that Ip and not your computer, and since an Ip address must be unique, how can two computers have the same Ip? The answer: they can't, but they don't need to.
Routers have the quality to transmit facts on a port to a exact computer. A port is a numbered channel that data can be sent through on a network. You cannot physically see it as it is a virtual channel used extensively in networking for sending/receiving data. For Ftp servers the default port is 21; any way another port can be used.
Open your router setup and look for the port forwarding option. Specify the internal Ip address of your Ftp server and the port amount and then save that information. Now when a user tries to way your Ftp site, they must use the Isp Ip address that is assigned to your router. The router will then notice that the data is being sent on port 21 and then transmit it automatically to your Ftp server. A Web server can be setup the same way, but its default port is normally 80.
Note: By default a router will dynamically assign Ip addresses to the computers linked to it. This means that the first computer to connect to the router will get the first ready Ip address, and the next will get the second, and so on. If you manage an Ftp server, it may be easier to assign a static Ip address to the computers to ensure that the Ftp server always has the same Ip address.
This article described how to connect one or more computers to one Internet connection. It is foremost to remember the following:
- If you have one computer linked directly to the modem, then that computer will be assigned the Ip address from your Isp.
- When using a router, the the router will be assigned the Ip address from your Isp. Any computers linked to the router will be assigned a local address by the router.
- A router will have the Isp Ip address and a local Ip address. This allows it to connect to both the Internet and your network.
- When setting up a computer as a Ftp, Web, or other server to present over the Internet, it is foremost to use the router's Ip address to way your server. You will then need to transmit the important port to your server.
For more information, please read the Technically Easy blog.
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