Wireless Routers in the Dorm
- How do I configure my wireless card to work on the Rose network?
- How do I configure my wireless networking in Windows XP?
- What is a hub?
- What is a router/access point?
- What is a switch?
- What is DHCP?
- What is NAT routing?
- What is the cause of my laptop wireless card picking up a signal but then immediately dropping it?
- Where and how can I get wireless connectivity on campus?
- Why do I receive warnings about limited connectivity when connecting to the RHIT wireless network?
- What is the RHIT-GUEST network?
If you are going to connect a router to the Rose-Hulman network it is important that you configure it correctly before connecting it. Serious problems can result for you and for other users if you do not connect the router correctly. There are a few general settings that you should change on your router before you ever connect it to a network (not just the Rose-Hulman network).
- Look at the device's manual and figure out how to connect to the device's configuration pages.
- On the configuration pages change the router's administrative password to prevent unauthorized changes to your router configuration.
- For a wireless router, change the SSID of the router; this will ensure that it is easy to distinguish your wireless signal from all of the other 'Linksys' or 'Netgear' networks available over wireless.
- You may also want to consider enabling WEP or WPA encryption for the wireless router. These keys will allow you to control who can access your wireless router and will also provide rudimentary encryption for your wireless signals.
The best and safest way to connect a router to the Rose-Hulman network is fairly simple. First, register the router's network address (also known as a MAC address, Physical Address, etc.) which can usually be found on the bottom of the router. Plug an Ethernet cable into the internet/uplink port. You should now be able to access your wireless network. This method is the safest for the Rose-Hulman network as some wireless routers (such as the Linksys BEFW11S4) can take down segments of the network if used in other configurations. With your router connected using the Internet port, any traffic to and from the Internet will accrue against your bandwidth limits even if the traffic isn't from one of your computers. Also, we recommend enabling logging on your router if possible.
Other configurations may work on the Rose-Hulman network, however problems have occurred with those configurations that slow or stop areas of the network. In order to restore network functionality, your port maybe disabled to allow network traffic to function normally.
