<<
<< Do I have to make up IP's for both pc's in order for them to talk to each other?
Yes. You usually use what are know as "private" or "reserved" address space IPs, eg., 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x, or 192.168.x.x. >>
>>
Most DSL/Cable routers will only allow you to use the 192.168.etc
The answer to this is actually no. You don't need internet at all for peer-to-peer networking. Just right click My Network Places>Properties>LAN connection>Properties... in there u'll see all your protocols and bindings, make sure that both win2k machines are using the same protocol. TCP/IP is the default and internet standard, but for performance purposes, I'd suggest you use NetBeui instead, it's faster and less overhead. In this dialog box, u can see if file and print sharing is installed and enabled, i think in 2k it is by default but i could be wrong (u'll need it installed and enabled to accomplish this). Next, right click My Computer>Properties>Network Identification... make sure the machines are on the same workgroup. You should be set from here...[/i] >>
Yer right if he doesn't want to browse with the other machines... if he does want internet accessablity on those machines he has to setup TCP/IP and assign addresses to those systems or have the router act as a DHCP server.
<<
<< Most cable/DSL routers allow you to set them up as DHCP servers and if you set your PCs up for DHCP, then when you boot them they'll blap for an address and other key info and the router's DHCP server will give them an address. >>
It's not actually DHCP, it's called NAT (Network Address Translation). Basically, this is what gives u those private IPs Poof mentioned. If you have internet on the win2k machine, everything is working fine... All windows OSes are set to seek a DHCP at bootup, which NAT acts like, so there's no need to set IPs. If you goto Start>Run>type "cmd">type "ipconfig" you should see all your IP info. It should tell you your External IP, your gateway (something like 192.168.0.1), your subnet 255.255.255.0 and your IP which would be someting like 192.168.0.2.HTH >>
Actually, you're wrong. This is DHCP... the router is assigning an address to the system when it boots and requests one. NAT is the ablity for an external address to mask an internal network. NAT doesn't really have anything to do with assigning addresses.
Ummm... there is no "external" and "internal" ip address... well actually, lemme qualify that... if your system was running as your NAT box you'd have an internal and external ip address... but for systems within the NAT you have only one IP address.
Here's are the definitions to clarify things:
DHCP:
Short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol for assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network. With
dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP address every time it connects to the network. In some systems, the
device's IP address can even change while it is still connected. DHCP also supports a mix of static and dynamic IP addresses.
Dynamic addressing simplifies network administration because the software keeps track of IP addresses rather than requiring
an administrator to manage the task. This means that a new computer can be added to a network without the hassle of manually
assigning it a unique IP address. Many ISPs use dynamic IP addressing for dial-up users.
NAT:
Short for Network Address Translation, an Internet standard that enables a local-area network (LAN) to use one set of IP
addresses for internal traffic and a second set of addresses for external traffic. A NAT box located where the LAN meets the
Internet makes all necessary IP address translations.
NAT serves two main purposes:
Provides a type of firewall by hiding internal IP addresses
Enables a company to use more internal IP addresses. Since they're used internally only, there's no possibility of conflict
with IP addresses used by other companies and organizations.
Allows a company to combine multiple ISDN connections into a single Internet connection.
