How do I hide my shared connection?

[Dug]

I am running a Win2k Pro box to share my printer and my cable connection. It has 2 nic's. 1 for cable with ICS enabled. And the other is connected to a 5 port switch.

I have 2 computers running WinME that are also connected to the switch.

The network runs fine and both computers can access the printer and the internet.

I'm not suppose to have 2 computers sharing the internet connection according to my cable company, without buying another ip address. Will they be able to tell that I am with this setup?

 

[Dyngoe]

No, they should not be able to tell. You still only have one IP going to the outside world. Many of us are using ICS or Wingate, Sygate or NAT32 here with DSL and Cable modems. For your own safety, go to Shields Up! and check your computer for leaks. The worst thing is when a hacker can get deep into your network. Hope everything works out.
As Alwyas,
D

 

[DocDoo]

No.

Your cable modem will only note the MAC address (and marry it) of the NIC that connects to the NET. If for any reason you need to change the NIC that goes to the cable modem... try unplugging the modem for several minutes (to reset).

BTW: I hope you are not sharing your printer over a TCP/IP setting. You might have a serious security issues here...

Post your entire network settings here, I'll help you secure it (if it's currently TCP/IP, share)

 

[Dug]

DocDoo-

I would appreciate the help. I have gone to many sites dealing with networking and security, but it seems the settings they offer on these sites don't take into account multiple uses for the networks. Like turning off printer and file sharing. (What do you do if you need to share a printer?)

Anyway here is my setup

Win2k pro box-
Local Area Connection 1 (Internet connection) I only have TCP/IP enabled and ICS
Local Area Connection 2 (LAN) I have Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing, and TCP/IP

WinME boxes-
I have TCP/IP bound to Client for Microsoft Networks.

The Win2k box is just for storing files, sharing internet and printer. I don't even have a monitor hooked up to it. I'm using VNC if I have to make any changes to settings.

I still would like to play games between the 2 WinME boxes. That is why I assumed I needed to use TCP/IP instead of NetBEUI. I don't know if this is correct.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dyngoe]

You have a LAN very similar to mine. Here's my suggestion:
Install Syagate on all computers. Some people like ICS and some don't. I'm one who does not! Are you having trouble with ICS? if you are not, disreguard my suggestions. If you are, Sygate works great in Win2K and I believe it works in WinME as well. Sygate also comes with a good built-in firewall. You should have a LAN that looks like this:
Win2k comp- LAN1 with automatic adressing and LAN2 with STATIC 192.168.x.y
WinME1- LAN adress 192.168.x.y (where x is the same as before and y is anything number except a previous value)
WinME2- LAN adress 192.168.x.y (where x is the same as before and y is anything number except a previous value)
I prefer to have LAN set manually because it is easier to diagnose when you know the IPs of your comps, and they are not changing every time you boot. Sygate is easy to install and as long as you leave your internet connection LAN untouched, you can access the internet and troubleshoot Sygate if it has errors. This is my suggestion.
As Always,
D

 

[Sukhoi]

Though if ICS works fine for you, I wouldn't install SyGate.

Here's what to do to have the best chance of outside people not being able to hack your LAN (which is hard to do anyway with a router).

On all the PC's, go into the TCP/IP settings for all the adapter and unbind it from file and printer sharing. Then install NetBEUI on all the PC's. Go into the NetBEUI settings, and bind file and printer sharing to it. This is what I do on my LAN, and it works fine, and seems to be more secure.

 

[Dug]

Sukhoi-

Currently my 2 WinME boxes don't have file and print sharing enabled. Just the Win2k box (and not on the nic that is connected to the internet) Although this alows me to transfer files and print, it doesn't allow me to transfer files between the 2 WinME machines.

If I go with what you suggest, don't I still need tcp/ip on the WinME boxes to play games?
Also would I have to enable NetBEUI with the nic that has the internet connection?

 

[DocDoo]

Your network is almost there, but not what I would use. I would but a $100 "cable/dsl router" that would replace your NT box, and use the NT box as your "file server" within the LAN. This is a perfect little set up!

I also agree with what Dynjoe said...


<< If I go with what you suggest, don't I still need tcp/ip on the WinME boxes to play games? >>


Actually, I have never needed to play games on a client, it's always been on the host. NetBEUI will not be able to go out on the net.


<< Also would I have to enable NetBEUI with the nic that has the internet connection? >>


NetBEUI is a &quot;non-routable&quot; protocol. This means it can't access the internet (UDP or TCP). This is why NetBEUI is ideal for a LAN set up. You should share your printer and files only through NetBEUI (make sure it's bound to nothing else).

PS. Make sure your NetBIOS is not on.

 

[Need4Speed]

Yes Netbeui would be nice on his lan, but no one has commented on the fact that he does not have a monitor hooked up and uses vnc to log onto the win2k box. VNC will only run on tcp/ip not netbeui. This means that in order to use vnc on the other machine, the network traffic would have to go from his WINME box to the internet and then back to the WIN2k box...a very slow process even on cable modem. With tcp/ip on the lan, it is a direct connection which is much faster (assuming his lan is 100baseT)

Also running TCP on the LAN using his setup is no problem. since he is using 2 nics in the win2k box, he can bind print/file sharing to the internal nic (LAN) awithout having to bind it to the external nic (cable. WAN). This is a fairly secure setup.

ICS works fine, as long as there isnt too much port forwarding that needs to be done.

 

[Dug]

Thanks Need4Speed

 

[Need4Speed]

my pleasure
my setup is identical to yours (with the exception of win2k on the server) and it works flawlessly. TCP on the lan is nice becuase of the games and vnc (which i also use).

 

[Sukhoi]

No, you can have TCP/IP and NetBEUI installed on the same machine at the same time. Just don't bind file and printer sharing to TCP/IP for security reasons.

I have file and printer sharing unbound from TCP/IP on my lan, and VNC still works fine.

Any other questions?

 

[Need4Speed]

yes u can and vnc will work, but not across the LAN. VNC will have to go across the WAN in order to connect to the remote box.

If you are using vnc across the LAN running netbeui, i'd like to know how you connect to the remote box since netbeui does not use IP numbers. What are you putting in the server name for a VNC connection? The netbeui name cannot be resolved properly. AN IP IS NEEDED...thus tcp/ip if and only if u wish to use vnc across the LAN.

Also DUG stated he would like to continue playing LAN games...most games do not support netbeui, only tcp/ip (older games do support ipx and even netbeui, but not many recent ones)

looking forward to your response.

 

[Sukhoi]

I dunno what version of VNC you're running, but mine does not need to go across the WAN to access other machines on my LAN. I just tested it. My 486 DX4-100 has VNC installed as a service. I just connected to it from my C433, while no system in my LAN had internet access. It worked for both the static IP address, and the computer name.

All computers on my LAN have TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI installed. Windows file and printer sharing is only bound to IPX/SPX and NetBEUI. It is not bound to TCP/IP. All IP communications seem to work fine on my LAN, and I've played games over it. File and printer sharing also works fine, though now that I think of it I dunno if Windows uses the IPX or NetBEUI protocol. However, I know for certain that file and printer sharing does work over the NetBEUI protocol, because I've connected a DOS machine to a Win98SE machine when the DOS machine only had NetBEUI installed, and I could transfer files to the DOS machine fine.

I think I'm going to remove IPX/SPX soon though, since I really have no use for it. This is the website I got my version of VNC from:

http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

I wonder why your LAN isn't working the same as mine? :Q

 

[Need4Speed]

Weird indeed.

File and Printer Sharing does work over netbeui...no question about that becuase I use it as well.

My only point was that vnc would not work over netbeui...only tcp.

Here is the FAQ from the VNC website:
Can I use VNC over a modem without using TCP/IP?
Not at present. VNC could run over other transports such as RS232, firewire, USB, modems, IrDA etc, in fact, anything which gives a reliable 2-way connection. At present we just use TCP/IP, because it's convenient, ubiquitous, and easy to route. This means that you can use VNC over anything which supports TCP/IP, so using it over a modem is just the same as any other network, once you have Dial-Up Networking set up. If you need to communicate directly between two machines without going via the internet/intranet, then set up a remote access server on one and dial in from the other.

NO netbeui support. Are you running DNS on your server? Is it possible that your machine is resolving the computer name into an IP address?

Also, I see that you said It worked for both the static IP address
That means that you are using TCP on the lan as well. Netbeui does not use IP addresses. So, even though netbeui is installed, it is not the primary protocal for your lan. Your lan will support netbeui, but any app wanting to use tcp/ip will be able to. this is why vnc is working for u on the lan side.

remove all your pcs from the internet and then uninstall tcp/ip..only leave on netbeui and file/print sharing...try using vnc then. you will find that it cannot resolve the computer name and make a connection.

Thus...i'm trying to stay on topic here and help Dug out ... if using vnc on the lan is important (ie u want the vnc connection to be as fast as possible) then tcp on the lan is a requirement. This, btw, is a very secure setup sicne the server hsa two nics and File/Print sharing is only bound to the internal nic (as i stated above).

 

[Sukhoi]

<< That means that you are using TCP on the lan as well. Netbeui does not use IP addresses. So, even though netbeui is installed, it is not the primary protocal for your lan. Your lan will support netbeui, but any app wanting to use tcp/ip will be able to. this is why vnc is working for u on the lan side. >>



Yep, sounds like it. But remember that I don't have file and printer sharing bound to TCP/IP on my LAN, so it should still be pretty secure.

 

[Need4Speed]

YES! Exactly right
Great thread BTW

 

[Sukhoi]

Yes, this is a pretty good thread.