Can I set up a LAN at home between 2 PC's using a router? Does the router serve the same purpose as a hub?

Answer 1

schnauz200 is completely WRONG.

What you specify is exactly what you need to set up a LAN.

Yes the Router serves the same purpose as a hub, but is better than a hub since the switch in the router only sends traffic to where it needs to go. The hub broadcasts the traffic to everything on the network, while the switch directs the packets directly to the port where the IP address is present.

Additionally, the router provides a firewall to protect your LAN that a hub does not provide.

Finally, with a hub, you have to pay an additional charge each month to your ISP for each extra IP address that you use. The router has a built-in DHCP server that can be used to assign private IP addresses to all of the equipment on your LAN or you can assign private IP addresses manually -- your choice. These private IP addresses make it so that you don't have to buy additional IP addresses from your ISP -- they are in effect "free". All you need is just the standard one IP address from your ISP that will be used by the router.

Good luck,

Annorax64

Answer 2

I'll give you the technical difference between a router, switch, and hub...and then I'll give an analogy that I think works well.

A hub is a device that simply couples ethernet connections. Any data that is sent to the hub is repeated back across all ports on the hub. So if you have Computers A, B, C, D, and E connected to a hub, and computer A wants to send a message to computer E, it travels down the wire, to the hub, and from the hub is sent to all the computers, meaning that data is sent to A, B, C, D, and E, which is the intended recipient. Besides the security problem this poses, it also presents a functional problem. Lets say computer A tries to send data to computer C at the same time computer B is sending data to computer D. Because the hub sends all data to every port on the hub, the signals get mixed, and none of the data is received by any of the recipients, this is called a "collision".

A switch attempts to resolve the issues with a hub by only sending data to the port that needs to receive it. So in the above scenario, computer A sends data to computer C, and computer B sends data to computer D. This time, the switch receives the data from computer A, and sends it on the port to computer C, receives the data from computer B and sends it to computer D. No more collisions, no more lost data, and no more security issue.

A router can be many things, but in the realm of a home or small office, a router is comprised of 4 basic components:

A switch - this provides the physical link between all of the computers connected to the router

NAT (Network Address Translation) - This allows the creation of a private LAN subnet sharing one public ip address. This component actually creates the LAN.

A Firewall - This controls traffic entering and leaving the network. It blockes incoming and outgoing traffic by using a set of rules. Typically, in a home or small office environment, the firewall is set to allow all traffic out, but none in unless previously requested by an internal computer.

A DHCP server - This assigns private ip addresses in the LAN so that manual configuration is not needed.

If that didn't make sence to you, think of it like traffic stops.

A hub is much like a 4-way stop sign. There is no authority controlling the traffic at a 4-way stop. If two cars arive at the same time, and try to go at the same time, there is a collision.

A switch is much like a stop light. The lights are controlled so that only lanes that cannot run into each other can go at the same time, lanes that sould collide are prevented from moving until it is clear to go.

A router is much like a highway on-ramp. Traffic can only go one direction, out toward the highway...in addition multiple local streets are connected to one on-ramp, allowing them all shared access to the highway.

All three of them serve the same basic purpose of connecting network segments together, the difference comes in how they do it.

Answer 3

Yes, you can use a router instead of a hub, yes it will serve the functions a hub performs with more robustness and security. But when we are talking about 2 PC's a router is very expensive option. As someone said a switch or if you have the budget of buying a router, you could as well go for a wireless access point and two wireless network cards for your pc and connect them wireless. Saves a lot of wire length and the it will look neat.

Answer 4

Yes you can. Router does more than a hub because it has forwarding table and other software stuff and it can connect to your modem or gateway to share the Internet connection to the network, but you can do it.

If you are buying one just to set up a LAN, though, don't do it. Router is a lot more expensive than a hub. Stick with hub or switch if you are simply getting one to set up a LAN, not to connect to Internet.

Answer 5

sure u can. The router will function as a hub n u would be waiting to get entry to shared information of ur 2 computers. only connect the lan cable frm ur 2 computers interior the ethernet ports of ur router n ur set!!!

Answer 6

you can but unless have a reason to it might be easier to get a switch .
You need to setup each computer on a different IP network add rule to your router to connect the two.
A cross cable connected to each will be easier that way both computer can be on the same network like 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 .

Answer 7

I don't think so... You will need a crossover ethernet cable or a hub for a lan.

Answer 8

annorax4 is corect. However, there are many ways of setting it up. If you need help, step-by-step insructions, or whatever, post again. Great question.

Answer 9

you can use a router