Monday, August 24, 2009

Network admin work

A little bit of network administration this morning.

Over the week-end, I picked up two monitors and a Linksys router. This morning I tested them.

The monitors were easy: plug them in, attach to a working computer, and verify the display. Both are working and will be good monitors for servers on Ben's project.

The router was a little more work. You can attach a router to a computer but you must know its IP address. And to change anything, you must know the password. I knew neither.

The router is a Linksys BEFSR41 4-port WAN/LAN router, suitable for home use with a broadband feed. I use the wireless sibling of this router for my home network.

A little bit of research on the internet provided the instructions for a complete reset of the BEFSR41. (Power on, press and hold the reset button until the red lights come on and go out.) It also provided the default password ('admin') and the default IP address (192.168.1.1). I reset the router on a completely separate network, to avoid conflicts on my home network.

Once reset, I was able to configure the router and I am confident that we can use it for a small network.

OK, that's enough hardware fun for today!

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