Adding second router

[Noonmid27]

Hi guysOk i just moved into a new place that have a 4 computers hooked up to a 4 port dlink router. i wanted to hook up my second computer but that would require another router to the network. i was reading once a new router is added i would need a network address because i would be creating a new subnet. what i wanted to know was how would i go about creating a custom subnet mask so i can get the network address for the second router. Also which computer would i create the custom subnet mask on. That was my understanding of the information i read so i hope it's right.

[goretsky]

Hello,The easiest way to add additional wired Ethernet connections to your existing network would be to unplug one of the computers from your residental gateway (router), plug an Ethernet switch into the now-empty Ethernet port, and then connect the computer(s) to the Ethernet jacks (ports) on the switch.In this case, you can think of a switch as a kind of power strip for your networking gear: Just as a power strip does not provide more electricity, a switch does not provide additional services, such as DHCP, DNS, NAT, routing or SPI. What a switch does do is increase the number of Ethernet jacks available. A five-port Ethernet switch starts at about $10.00USD. One of the ports on it will connect to the residential gateway, and you will be plugging an device into the switch if you have used up all the ports on the residential gateway, so this will give you three additional Ethernet ports. If you think you will need more, than you might want to consider an eight-port Ethernet switch, which start at around $15.00USD or so.Now, there are some some Ethernet switches which incorporate some advanced features for monitoring and manipulating network traffic, but these tend to costs hundreds or thousands of dollars (or more) and are designed for enterprise which have very complex network designs in place. For a small business or a home, a sub-$100 Ethernet switch should meet your needs.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

[FuzzButt]

Adding an additional router would just be a waste of money. It can be done if you already have one though. You can remove the normal router and add the new one. Connect to it's admin page and turn off the router function. I have done this on a Linksys router I got to replace a Access Point. I turned off the router function and made it 192.168.1.2 I used it like this for a good year or so. I have since replaced everything but my router with Gigabit stuff. I use Goretsky's example above as a start to my setup. With mine I have a Speedstream 4100 DSL modem connected to the WAN port on my Linksys WRT54GS router. On one of the 4 Ethernet ports I have a Dlink DGS2208 Gigabit switch. My 100MB printer and the switch are the only things plugged into the router. I have another 5 port switch in my wiring closet in the garage to support the 4 cable runs to the other area of my house that I have jacks wired up. This gives my 6 of 8 ports for PC's on one switch, 4 of 5 ports on the other and 3 of 4 ports on the router. 13 usable ports 10 of which are 10/100/1000 capable. So as you can see just knowing what to add and where you have nearly limitless connection opportunities. The only real limit is wire length. I would not connect switches more than 3 deep either.