Dell Powerconnect 2824 Switch - What I am doing wrong?

[davevt98]

I just purchased a Dell 2824 24 port switch. I thought that it was going to be a simple plug and play device where the cat5 cable coming in from the modem plugs into any port and it would distribute the signal to all other cat5 cables connected.

When I did this, I tried to connect to the internet through the computer and it was not connected. It said that it had a self addressed IP.

I am not sure whether it should be in managed or unmanaged mode but all I want it to do is to distribute the network signal to all connected devices. Any idea of what I am doing wrong or what I need to do?

Thanks in advance.

[GoGo Delicious]

I just purchased a Dell 2824 24 port switch. I thought that it was going to be a simple plug and play device where the cat5 cable coming in from the modem plugs into any port and it would distribute the signal to all other cat5 cables connected.

When I did this, I tried to connect to the internet through the computer and it was not connected. It said that it had a self addressed IP.

I am not sure whether it should be in managed or unmanaged mode but all I want it to do is to distribute the network signal to all connected devices. Any idea of what I am doing wrong or what I need to do?

Thanks in advance.

What type of modem are you using? Cable, Fios/U-Verse, etc? Some modems providers use have a router built in but it sounds like you need a router. The router would be placed in between the modem & switch. so it looks the following.

Internet ----> Router ----> Switch ----> Computers.

Depending on how many computers you have you may not need the Dell switch since routers generally have 4 - 8 ports on them depending on the brand and model.

[ILoveC4]

I have a Dell 2724, and it works great. Like GoGo said though, you probably need a router.

I am not a big networking guy so I don't know all the aspects of the role the router plays, but I do know that it serves up IP addresses. I don't know if having all your gear on static IP's will affect your need for a router or not.

I use the switch in managed mode, simply because I had to make some changes on specific ports to help with performance.

[henniae]

As has been stated you probably need a router.

[spugh]

I'll chime in... I'm a network engineer, among other things, and the others are right. If it is just a cable modem that you are plugging into (device that has a cable coax in and 1 single Ethernet port out), then you need something providing Layer 3 functionality... translation, you need a router.

If the device you are plugging into is something like a DSL gateway from AT&T with DSL in and 4 Ethernet ports out, then that device has a router built into it. It will do NAT (network address translation) and will serve as a DHCP server as well. NAT allows you to have a large number of devices with private IP addresses on your network (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) and translates those to the 1 public IP address the cable modem gives out. DHCP is the process that automatically assigns IP addresses to the devices on your network.

Sorry if the explanation was overkill, but the simple explanation is that you probalby need a router, like everyone else has said. Just as an example, I have cable modem service. Cable Coax goes into a cable modem. Ethernet out from the cable modem into a Linksys Wireless Gateway. Wireless gateway acts as a router and provides Wireless coverage, plus 4 ethernet ports out. One of those goes into another Linksys gigabit switch to get the number of ports I need for my setup.

Hope that Helps,

Steve

[cyblog]

If you don't need wireless this should work nicely for you.

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-4-Port-GamerLounge-Broadband-Gigabit/dp/B0006TIA0C

Install it in between the modem and your Dell switch.

[tigrzeye]

^HELLO NASHVILLE !! Please have a beer for me at Legends Corner and/or Tootsies for me the next time you go there, if you do.

Been a while since I visited but since 1996 been there 5 times, twice for Fanfair ooppps I mean CMA Music Festival as it is now called.

edit: attached are some "yeah I met 'em" pics - JoDee Messina, Brooks & Dunn, Big & Rich, Martina McBride, Sugarland, and Clint Black.

[wingzz]

^HELLO NASHVILLE !! Please have a beer for me at Legends Corner and/or Tootsies for me the next time you go there, if you do.

Been a while since I visited but since 1996 been there 5 times, twice for Fanfair ooppps I mean CMA Music Festival as it is now called.

edit: attached are some "yeah I met 'em" pics - JoDee Messina, Brooks & Dunn, Big & Rich, Martina McBride, Sugarland, and Clint Black.

You poor man, I feel so sorry for you having to endure that stuff

[davevt98]

Excellent. Thanks for all your help. So if I am understanding you correctly, I need to do the following:

Cable modem ---> router --> switch

All I need to do is take ONE cable from router to switch and ALL 24 ports can be activated. Is this correct? Also, if I have a 10/100 router and my switch is a gigabit switch with cat6 cable, will I get gigabit speeds or will I need to have a gigabit router as well?

Thanks for everyone's help on this.

[GoGo Delicious]

Excellent. Thanks for all your help. So if I am understanding you correctly, I need to do the following:

Cable modem ---> router --> switch

Yes

All I need to do is take ONE cable from router to switch and ALL 24 ports can be activated. Is this correct?

Yes. You will want to plug it in to the "Uplink" port if your switch has one. If not people generally use Port 1 or the last port. In your case Port 24.

Also, if I have a 10/100 router and my switch is a gigabit switch with cat6 cable, will I get gigabit speeds or will I need to have a gigabit router as well?

Depending on how you have your computers setup you can get Gbit speeds between computers. What type of computers are you running? Mac's, PC's both?

I did a write up about 3 years ago in regards to Gigabit networking. Some of it may be out dated as there are other ways to accomplish somethings since I wrote it. But it's a simple overview that provides the basics. You can read it HERE.

Hope that helps. Anything else let me know.