Using BEFSR41 as hub / switch?

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Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

I currently have a wireless LAN in place and would like to put a
BEFSR41 I have lying around to some use on my current LAN.

Is there any way I can effectively use it as a hub/switch/any other
interesting Ethernet purposes? Like I said, I just have it lying
around and want to put it to some use.

Thanks!
 
Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

idontcheckthisacct@post.com (Random Person) wrote:
>Is there any way I can effectively use it as a hub/switch/any other

Yes, turn off the DHCP server and use the four LAN ports as a switch.
 
Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

Random Person wrote:




> I currently have a wireless LAN in place and would like to put a
> BEFSR41 I have lying around to some use on my current LAN.

> Is there any way I can effectively use it as a hub/switch/any other
> interesting Ethernet purposes? Like I said, I just have it lying
> around and want to put it to some use.

> Thanks!

If you disable the DHCP server via its Web interface and don't use the WAN
port, there should be absolutely no reason why you can't use it as just a
4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch.

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I also want to use a BEFSR41 as a switch -- to connect two or more devices (TV and Blu-Ray Disk Player, initially) to a WET610N Bridge to communicate with a WRT400N Router. Do I simply plug each device into one of the four standard BEFSR41 ports (after turning off DHCP)? Does the WET610N go into a special port? I think I read that I also need to change the IP address of the BEFSR41. Is that correct? Thanks in advance!
 
[wrt400N]<--wireless-->[wet610n](lan)<--wire-->(lan)[befsr41]

1. BEFSR41 needs to have its DHCP server disabled.

2. BEFSR41 should have a static IP in the same subnet as WRT400N.

Same should already be true of the WET610N, so let say WRT400N is 192.168.1.1 and using 192.168.1.100 thru 192.68.1.200 for DHCP, then perhaps make WET610N 192.168.1.2 and BEFSR41 192.168.1.3

That’s it.

 


eibgrad,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Does it matter which ports on the BEFSR41 I plug the WET610N, TV and Blu-Ray player into?

Thanks again -- Phil J
 
eibgrad,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Does it matter which ports on the BEFSR41 I plug the WET610N, TV and Blu-Ray player into?

Thanks again -- Phil J
Click to expand...

That particular router has had MANY revisions. The oldest had an uplink port for daisy-chaining to another switch (obsolete now). If that's the case, don’t use that particular port. Newer models don’t have the uplink port anymore. So use any LAN ports you want except uplink port (if present) and WAN port.
 
Thanks for this additional info!

Yes, my router does have an Uplink port, so I will avoid using that port. I checked the firmware version and it is listed as 1.39.1, Jul 19 2001. Should I update the firmware? If so, is there a recommended level? Are there any to be avoided? Do I have a choice?

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for this additional info!

Yes, my router does have an Uplink port, so I will avoid using that port. I checked the firmware version and it is listed as 1.39.1, Jul 19 2001. Should I update the firmware? If so, is there a recommended level? Are there any to be avoided? Do I have a choice?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You could certainly update the firmware (assuming such an update is available), however, in all likelihood it would only affect the routing side (which you're not using in this configuration anyway), not switching. Switching is pretty stable at this point, not likely there are any bugs to be fixed. Most standalone switches can't be upgraded at all. It's ONLY because the switch is integrated into the router that such firmware updates are possible.

So unless you're having a problem w/ the switch (highly unlikely), I recommend you leave it be. Otherwise there’s always the outside chance you might brick it. Of course, if later you decide to use it for routing, particularly w/ the Internet, it would make sense. Such updates might affect NAT, the firewall, security, etc., and be worth having. Just make sure you match the firmware to your hardware. Sometimes the internal hardware changes (e.g., chipsets), esp. a device that’s been through this many revisions, and thus you MUST match the correct firmware to the hardware or you will definitely will brick it.
 
What about using a cross over cable from the router to the BEFSR41 switch? Is that required? Not required.
 
PS. Is there any reason not to use this old router as a switch connecting to my BD player and A/V receiver (and possibly someday to my WLAN N router)--for example, not capable of jumbo frames, Gigabit, etc.? My DSL WAN is limited to 3360Kbps down and 864Kbps up. I think that the answer is No Reason if only source is WAN, as that is so choked down in this case. But as to whether accessing HD files via some drive on the LAN might be possible faster than 100Mbps, I guess I will need to do some research. Answer seems to be: (1) If only used to access material from the WAN, 100Mbps is a way high ceiling for my measly DSL (with a theoretical max of around 6500Kbps, even though mine is throttled down to 3360Kbps). Even if I had FIOS or cable, 100Mbps would be plenty of room from the WAN. (2) But if I were to download some HD content to some drive(s) on my LAN, then having a Gigabit network might make sense, as SATA drives are at least 3Gb/s. Course my mdoem/router is an old 10/100, so I would have to change that too. So for now using the old Linksys BEFSR41 as a 10/100 switch is fine. But if I ever want to source HD from downloaded files on my drives on along the LAN, I would have to upgrade all choke points in the network to Gigabit. Do I have this right, or is HD file access usually slower than 100Mbps?

Answer: I did some browsing and it appears to me that HDTV is broadcast at 17.89Mbps and Blu-ray content at up to 40Mbps, so except for simultaneous multiple HD content streams, a 10/100 switch should be fine. I wonder what folks use Gigabit capable units for--huge HD content servers feeding multiple computers and HDTVs? Gaming apps? Now I have to look up Jumbo Frames. Other use of Gigabit is large file transfer within the LAN, but all adaptors, wires, network hardware must allow it.
 
PPS. If I were sourcing my HD TV (via the A/V receiver through the 10/100 switch, the old BEFSR41 as a switch), to a file someplace on my LAN, would I want or need Jumbo Frames or Gigabit throughput? Or is the old 10/100 quite adequate as a switch?
 
PPPS. Interesting--I setup the old Linksys BEFSR41 as a switch (as per instructions in this thread--thanks), losing contact after setting its IP address to 192.168.1.10, last thing. I thought that I might have to setup a static route to it--192.168.1.10, from my modem/router, but no, it seems to be transparent (not listed in DHCP table) and only the IP addresses of the device(s) that it is acting as a switch to show up. I wonder if that means that its internally assigned IP of 192.168.1.10 is available to be assigned from my modem/router, or is it taken by the switch, but doesn't show in the DHCP table. Anyone? Sorry for the ignorance.
 
If you manually assigned it an address, it would be only reachable on that address from it's built in switch, assuming the computer reaching it has the same IP scheme.
 
Yes, I guess it would depend on the potential speed of access along the LAN to the drive where the HD data was stored (including the drive specs). But sk1939, mightn't this old thread still be relevant for folks with old router/switches looking to do the same?
 
The now switch was self assigned an address of 192.168.1.10, but when looking at the DHCP table of the router to which this switch is connected, that IP is not listed, even though a device connected to the switch does show up. So the question is: Is the switch transparent to my router in the router's construction of its DHCP table (despite the switch's internally assignd IP address) and that IP might end up being assigned by my router to another device (even connected through the switch), thus creating a conflict?
 
Well the switch doesn't show in the router's DHCP table, but when I request that address from the browser, I get the switch's (the BEFSR41's) logon page. Hm, maybe the prudent thing would be to set the switch's IP up toward the top of the DHCP range. Anyone?
 
sk1939, the router obviously can access that IP (else I wouldn't be able to access the switch from my browser), but does it know that that IP already "belongs" to a device and thus wouldn't assign another device to the same IP?
 
No, you would have to manually disallow the IP address by removing it from the list, as otherwise there is a chance that DHCP could assign it to another device and lead to an IP conflict.
 
Thanks sk1939. I will just logon into the switch and and configure it a self-assigned IP way up in the range.
 
Thanks for this additional info!

Yes, my router does have an Uplink port, so I will avoid using that port. I checked the firmware version and it is listed as 1.39.1, Jul 19 2001. Should I update the firmware? If so, is there a recommended level? Are there any to be avoided? Do I have a choice?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I had to use the Uplink port to get my home network to work. Heads up in case you run into the same issue that I did.

If you are using a linksys router as a switch that connects to another router and you cannot get a ping to go through the "switch" try using the uplink port to connect to the main router instead of using one of the switch ports. Leave the WAN port empty and use one of the switch ports to run to your device.

After several configuration tries and triple checking everything this is what finally worked for my home network. Evidently this older router does not have auto-sensing to compensate for the wrong cat5 cable type like the newer ones do. !

 
Here is what I did to use my BEFSR41 as a switch.
Please let me know if anyone sees a problem with this configuration.

1. Set my Verizon FiOS Router's DHCP Server (your existing Router's DHCP Server) to assign IPs from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.199 (instead of to 192.168.1.254).
2. Set the BEFSR41 device to have a LAN IP address of 192.168.1.200 (instead of the default 192.168.1.1)
3. Disable the DHCP Server on the BEFSR41.
4. Plug a standard ethernet cable from a LAN port of the FiOS Router to the Uplink Port of the BEFSR41.
5. Plug multiple computers into the LAN ports of the BEFSR41.

Notes:

The FiOS Router uses IP 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.100 as well as potentially other IPs in the range from 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.150.

If you do not make the LAN IP address of the BEFSR41 different from that of the FiOS Router (192.168.1.1) and outside the range of the FiOS Router's DHCP Server, you may have multiple devices with the same IP. This can cause a lot of problems. The FiOS Router's DHCP Server will not recognize nor assign/allocate an IP address to the BEFSR41.

I knew I had to make the IP of the BEFSR41 different from the IP of the FiOS Router just so I could access each device's configuration page independently, but I didn't know I could and had to assign the BEFSR41 an IP outside the assignable range of the FiOS Router's DHCP Server. For a while I gave the BEFSR41 a LAN IP inside the range of allowable IPs assignable by the FiOS Router DHCP Server. I learned the hard way that the FiOS Router did not recognize the BEFSR41and just gave out the same IP to my printer. I almost returned my network printer thinking is was malfunctioning when pages half printed out and the printer kept rebooting randomly. The BEFSR41 had the same IP and was interfering with every print job!

If you can't reduce the range of your main Router's DHCP Server to allow a non assignable IP for the BEFSR41, just assign the BEFSR41 a very high IP such as 192.168.1.250 in hopes that that IP will never be assigned by the DHCP Server
 
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