I am kind of trying to learn some networking basics, so I would really appreciate it to have some of these questions answered. 1) What is the "default gateway" in my IP config? 2) What is the Subnet mask? 3) What is the DHCP Server and what does DHCP stand for? 4) What is a DNS suffix? 5) What is a WINS proxy? 6) What is IP routing? 7) What is SOCKS? 8) If I set up my browser NOT to use proxy servers, does my ISP act as the default proxy (assuming my ISP stores recently accessed sites somewhere)? If I DO set up my browser to use some public proxy, does my HTTP request skip over my provider's "default" proxy to the public server? Or does my request get answered from the first possible place? 9) Can an ISP block my ability to ping or traceroute to ip's outside of the ISP's providing range? 10) How public is a WINS server? Does each ISP typically have its own or are there public WINS servers that anyone can use?

1. The default gateway is the device that handles all traffic to and from your local area network. 2. A subnet mask is an IP address of a subsection (subnet) of a network. 3.A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server assigns IP addresses. As opposed to devices that have static IP addresses. Servers tend to have static addresses and those addresses are matched to names or URL's so that they can be easily found by either their IP address or domain name. 4. A DNS suffix is text that is appended to a DNS..like if the suffix was mine.you.me.com and you pinged xyz you would actually query xyz.me.com & xyz.you.me.com. 5. Simply, a WINS proxy performs a similar funcion for Netbios that DNS does for TCP-IP, name resolution. 6. Try this site to get a basic understanding of IP routing: www.sangoma.com/fguide.htm 7. A sock or socket is a program that is the end-point of a communication link between a client and a server. 8.It sounds like you're asking about domain name resolution here.. You can give your browser the address of the DNS servers that you want to resolve URL's to IP addresses for you...and you provide the sequence you want them searched. 9. Yes. ISP's typically block certain ports. Port 80 is frequenty blocked by ISP's to keep their users from easily running servers. 10. Check Microsoft for this one: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/serverroles/winsserver/default.asp

Does anyone know of a ethernet hub that allows you to plug in usb devices. I'm trying to find out if there is a device that allows you to connect USB devices directly to it. Such as connecting your printer or scanner. Then connect it to your network. I'm trying to set it up so I can still print from my wireless laptop through my network. I'd appreciate any suggestions.