Hi all,

 

I happened to forget the power cord to my router and I wont have access to it for another month (home from school).

 

I have a gigabit switch that I use in tandem with my router, and I am wondering if I can somehow use my switch in place of my router for the mean time. I am hoping there is a way to have a simple connection from the client (my macbook) to the switch and then to the unraid box.

 

My initial thoughts are that this will not work since there will not be a DHCP server anymore, but I am a freshie when it comes to networking, so I thought I would ask.

 

Thanks for your help!

You can run them together without a router if they're both set to a static IP (different IP's on the same private subnet ... e.g. 192.168.x.x); but first you need a way to access them to make that change.

 

Realistically the simplest thing to do is just pick up a very inexpensive router ... BestBuy and WalMart both have them for $30 or so ... and if there's a used computer outfit in your area you can probably get one for $10 or so.

 

 

 

Will the power cord not fit the router from the switch?

Put the flash drive into your PC and go to the config directory and open the network.cfg file. Set it to something like this;

 

# Generated settings:
USE_DHCP="yes"
IPADDR="192.168.1.100"
NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
GATEWAY="192.168.1.1"
DHCP_KEEPRESOLV="no"
DNS_SERVER1="192.168.1.1"
DNS_SERVER2=""
DNS_SERVER3=""

 

On the PC, open the local area network properties, pick the TCP/IPv4 and open the properties for that. Set the networks settings the same except chose a different IP address besides 1 or 100. They should now connect to each other.

 

Set both back to how they were before when you use the router again.

 

On another note, it's very possible your PC and server could be connected directly without the switch. Many newer gigabit Ethernet ports can auto configure their connection to a crossover configuration.

 

Put the flash drive into your PC and go to the config directory and open the network.cfg file. Set it to something like this;

 

# Generated settings:
USE_DHCP="yes"
IPADDR="192.168.1.100"
NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
GATEWAY="192.168.1.1"
DHCP_KEEPRESOLV="no"
DNS_SERVER1="192.168.1.1"
DNS_SERVER2=""
DNS_SERVER3=""

 

On the PC, open the local area network properties, pick the TCP/IPv4 and open the properties for that. Set the networks settings the same except chose a different IP address besides 1 or 100. They should now connect to each other.

 

Set both back to how they were before when you use the router again.

 

On another note, it's very possible your PC and server could be connected directly without the switch. Many newer gigabit Ethernet ports can auto configure their connection to a crossover configuration.

 

except there is no gateway any longer. 192.168.1.1 points to nothing.

 

@OP, most DSL modems or cable modems have a DHCP server. try to enable that.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

If I was to connect my client directly to the server via a crossover cable, how would I reference my server for the web gui as well as a telnet session?

You probably don't need a crossover cable => virtually all modern NICs are auto-sensing and will use the appropriate lines when connected.

 

Without a DHCP server, you'll need to set up a static IP, as I noted earlier.  If you don't have access to a DHCP server (e.g. a router) that lets you make those changes via the web GUI, then remove your flash drive and put it in a PC/Mac, and edit the network.cfg file to set up the configuration.  That file is in the Config folder, and normally looks like this:

 

# Generated network settings

USE_DHCP=yes

IPADDR=

NETMASK=

GATEWAY=

 

You need to change the "USC_DHCP" setting to no; and then assign the network parameters.    Then you can access the server with the IP address you assigned.

 

As I noted earlier, a much simply solution to this is just pick up a cheap router 

You can access the server by using the IP address you assigned to it.

 

except there is no gateway any longer. 192.168.1.1 points to nothing.

 

Yes, that means you can't contact an external network.