Dsl on a lan...What's the Best Suggestion?

[mledezma]

I have a client that has three registers and three administrative workstations. They are all networked together. They have recently added a Dsl line and want it on one of the administrative workstations. But still need the Administrative workstation on the network.
I suggested just adding another network card for the DSL and letting the ISP setup the network settings. And leave his Lan settins on his existing NIC. But the Tech from the ISP suggested he get a DSL router and share it that way. So I'm wondering how those are setup and if it's the best way to manage the dsl line.

[jklbruin]

i'm a bit unsure of your question but i think this may help. if you only want to provide access to the dsl to one computer, a second nic in that computer, set to the dsl settings should do jus tfine. if you want to share the dsl to all computers on the network, there are a couple ways to do that.

1) install a second nic in one aministrative machine. set that machine as the ICS (internet connection sharing) gateway. to do this, you'll need software such as WinProxy or use the built-in Internet Connection Sharing in Windows98se. then all the other machines can connect to the dsl line, by going "through" this gateway machine.

2) buy a broadband router; a few such manufactureres are Netgear (my choice) Linksys, or D-Link. With this setup, the dsl line goes into the router, which is configured with the correct network settings as provided by the isp. then use the router as your dhcp server which all the other machines on the network can connect to.

The two options up there are just basic outlines for connection-sharing. The details can be quite long, but are easliy found online at many different websites.

I hope this helps.