03 - Routers & Firewalls - Home Networking 101

Welcome to Home Networking 101 - the ultimate guide for beginners looking to unlock the full potential of their home networks. In this episode, we're going to cover the basics of routers and firewalls including types of routers, what to consider when purchasing, common terminology and concepts, and finally, I walk through the complete setup of two different routers as examples.

Here are the routers that I feature in this video (affiliate links):

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Timecodes

00:00 Intro
01:40 Where a router fits into a home network
03:10 Types of routers
06:39 Considerations when purchasing a router
10:09 NAT vs. Firewall Rules
13:07 More router features to consider
15:14 Common router concepts and terminology
16:30 LAN IP addressing and subnets
20:19 Dynamic vs. Static WAN IP addresses
21:11 What is a Default Gateway address?
22:19 DNS server settings
23:54 DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
26:20 Configuring the NetGear AX1800
41:22 Configuring the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X

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[dopex]

These are great. I hope you keep making them. You’ve had the most straightforward teaching style I’ve seen on the web.

[philippemiller]

I wish you could've been my computer science m teacher

[nurmworks-]

This is, so far, one of the best descriptions of these concepts. I especially liked the one for NAT. Excellent! Looking forward to the next installment

[dgrecchi]

Hi Chris! I'm learning a lot with your videos, not only with these ones from 101 series but with all the others too. Thanks a lot for the initiative! Great job! Best regards from Brazil!

[kiwichocaholic]

Rebooting the Modem is often a good troubleshooting step - this can fix the issue and should be done before calling the ISP. Great video - you have a knack in explaining things to people who are not technical. I can see myself referring people to these videos to help them better understand their network.

[cloudmover]

Excellent series! As a semi- knowledgeable consumer, I always like to know the exact meanings of the many, many networking acronyms and what they actually do!

[vnn_]

This video provided so much clarity for me while im learning networking so that I can land a Cyber role. Thank you so much.

[flush_me]

This is a pretty good overview for newbies just starting out.

Re the routers self advertising their IP as the DNS server. They are using the ones you have assigned but are just acting as a proxy. In most cases this is fine and means if you change them in the router config, you don't have to change them in the DHCP setting also.

Also, I don't put anything on the IP .1, my router lives on .254. Reason being, is if you plug in a device that needs configuring, there is no IP address clash and you don't have to reconfigure anything to access it. For grandpa at one just needing internet, not really an issue but if, as I do, need to configure devices for other people who don't know how to themselves, this is a godsend.

Looking at the steps for the Netgear and their insistence on using their app, so glad I don't use their stuff. I can command line configure a Cisco router and get it online with the same level as the Netgear in the same amount of time and I have no Cisco training.

[fredarmstrong]

Love the series so far. For my home, I am setting up pfSense in combination with HomeAssistant. I would love it if you could make some general recommendations / best practices for VLAN setup in a similar environment as the series progresses.

[LWRC]

Excellent explanation. Geat that you mentioned the basic router for most home users who are not using high speed routers for gaming! It seems like most WiFi router reviews cover the highest speeds of the high end routers when most home ISP don't provide Gigabit speeds!
Well done !!! 👍👍👍

[remyazharyyosef]

This is a great refresher series. I even discover several new terminologies that are certainly useful for my home network since I'm running a web server, NAS and Plex.

[auslander]

Amazing set of videos! So clear and simple! I wish I watched something like that 10 years ago - that would save me tons of time

[UltraviewXLimited]

Love the use of a DEC VT100 Terminal for your VPN PC!! I used to work for DEC in London!!

[illstateofmind]

Although I already know most of this stuff, I find this series very enjoyable.

[clellbritt]

Thank you for going over the edge router x. I had been considering either this with a few WAPs and switches or getting a Dream Router. I think I might just go the edge router for my needs.

[jimkingselectronics]

Great explanations. You would make good teacher.

[marcusschmidt]

Love the picture changes in the background.

[ferhanmm]

Love your channel Chris! Please review a Firewalla device if you can. Have been on the fence for a while but would love to hear your opinion. Thank you!

[athmarams]

Chris, Excellent tutorial. Do you have any plans to make a video on VPN 101? I would be interested to take that. Thank you.

[andherium]

Can’t believe I watched the entire video! That was awesome!!