Latest Reviews

Webtechnoyard.com
Wireless Networking Round-up - Installation
Article Index
Wireless Networking Round-up
Bluetooth USB Dongles
802.11b Standard
The contenders
Installation
Testing Actiontec Wireless Router
Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway router
Testing the Belkin Router
Compex Netpassage 16
Conclusion
All Pages
Page 5 of 10
Installation

Installing the unit is a matter of hooking the wires and cables. We decided to connect one desktop and a laptop to the Home Gateway. Before you setup the wireless networking part, the gateway has to be configured through the desktop PC which is connected to one of the 10/100 Ethernet ports. All configuration is done through a web interface, so you'll need to fix the DSL/Cable connection as well. If it's a cable connection, make sure you reset both devices after connecting. We experienced a problem where the IP address didn't change and as a result couldn't get a internet connection. However resetting everything made it fine.

Thereafter simply type in this web address http:// 192.168.0.1 and you'll be taken into a web configuration interface shown below.



Go into the "basic setup" and everything in there is very straight forward. I know most home users wouldn't have to worry about some features offered here, nevertheless if there's a requirement, might as well set it up. Since we were using a cable connection, the basic setup was very simple. It's just a matter of typing in your Domain and workgroup if necessary.

 

Below are some pictures of the "Advanced Setup" console. If you need any help with regard to a setting, simply consult the help section or the manual. It'll provide you with a good level of understanding.

The Home Gateway offers quite a number of security features such as Services blocking and website blocking. Furthermore you can setup "Port forwarding" as well as set up DMZ hosting. Here's an extract taken from Actiontec.

Port Forwarding:

A broadband router or other NAT application (like ICS) creates a firewall between your internal network and the internet. A firewall keeps unwanted traffic from the internet away from your LAN computers. A 'tunnel' can be created through your firewall so that the computers on the Internet can communicate to one of the computers on your LAN on a single port. This is handy for running web servers, game servers, ftp servers, or even video conferencing. This is called port forwarding. One of your computers could run a web server (port 80) while another computer could run an FTP server (port 23) - both on the same IP address.

DMZ:

A DMZ allows a single computer on your LAN to expose ALL of its ports to the Internet. When doing this, the exposed computer is no longer 'behind' the firewall.

Port Forwarding vs DMZ:

A DMZ is far easier to set up than port forwarding but exposes your entire computer to the Internet. Sometimes TCP/IP applications require very specialized IP configurations that are difficult to set up or are not supported by your router. In this case, placing your computer in the DMZ is the only way to get the application working. Placing a computer in the DMZ should be considered 'temporary' because your firewall is no longer able to provide any security to it.

Port forwarding can sometimes be difficult to configure, but provides a relatively safe way of running a server from behind a firewall. Since only a single port (or small series of ports) is exposed to the Internet, the computer is easier to secure. Additionally, port forwarding allows you to run multiple kinds of servers from different computers on your LAN.

If you want to follow a full tutorial on everything, click here.

 
 
Home Reviews Network Components Wireless Networking Round-up - Installation