ZyXEL Communications 2 8.8 Home Networking Technical Reference

Chapter 8 Home Networking

8.8 Home Networking Technical Reference

This section provides some technical background information about the topics covered in this chapter.

8.8.1LANs, WANs and the AMG1312-T Series

The actual physical connection determines whether the AMG1312-T Series ports are LAN or WAN ports. There are two separate IP networks, one inside the LAN network and the other outside the WAN network as shown next.

Figure 56 LAN and WAN IP Addresses

LAN WAN

8.8.2 DHCP Setup

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, RFC 2131 and RFC 2132) allows individual clients to obtain TCP/IP configuration at start-up from a server. You can configure the AMG1312-T Series as a DHCP server or disable it. When configured as a server, the AMG1312-T Series provides the TCP/IP configuration for the clients. If you turn DHCP service off, you must have another DHCP server on your LAN, or else the computer must be manually configured.

IP Pool Setup

The AMG1312-T Series is pre-configured with a pool of IP addresses for the DHCP clients (DHCP Pool). Do not assign static IP addresses from the DHCP pool to your LAN computers.

8.8.3 DNS Server Addresses

DNS (Domain Name System) maps a domain name to its corresponding IP address and vice versa. The DNS server is extremely important because without it, you must know the IP address of a computer before you can access it. The DNS server addresses you enter when you set up DHCP are passed to the client machines along with the assigned IP address and subnet mask.

There are two ways that an ISP disseminates the DNS server addresses.

•The ISP tells you the DNS server addresses, usually in the form of an information sheet, when you sign up. If your ISP gives you DNS server addresses, enter them in the DNS Server fields in the DHCP Setup screen.

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	AMG1312-T Series User’s Guide