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Initial set up of network (LAN) with no domain controler

T

theXing

Member
I am very new to networking and would like to network an XP, W2K, W98, and W95. I have a 4-port hub with an additional uplink.

I have many questions many may just be stupid and others hopefully simple.

I want to have it be the most efficient (with a hub, I don't want to by a switch or router), I would also like to be able to use Internet Connection Sharing, regardless of which box is dialed in (I am in a house setting - too cheap to buy DSL).

First what is the best way? I would like to have everyone be able to type "\\computer_name" and I know that uses NetBUI, and I would like to have each computer with an IP address but that isn't in stone, I know to use the Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0 but what does that mean? What else is valid? What is DHCP and how can I use it, or can I on this LAN? What is WINS do I need it on this small of a network? How does it work? I know we all have to be in the same work group, but what if I wanted there to be an upstairs and downstairs work group? How do you set multiple gateways to access the internet, or can you? How can we allow people who dial into our networks to see all the computers on our network and all the computers on theirs? We would like to have it so that we can call to another place and share resources there.

Bottom line is what is the best way to set up a network to share files, printers, modems, resources across different networks and yet have it stable and secure. Each computer will have Zone Alarm installed with Norton AV to prevent network worms. Rather than use MS wizard or some other program we would like to understand the technology and the setting so that we can do it manually incase something goes wrong, which has been our experience with MS wizards and such programs. We have had to rebuild a HD of a computer already because our pseudo network didn't work and it broke my friends computer. We don't want to all upgrade to XP or W2K because we don't have licenses and we do things legally.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks to all of you who respond. I will be checking this frequently so I will try to ask questions as the discussion proceeds. Thanks again, and holiday blessings from the Inland Northwest.

theXing

 
woah there. you just asked a mouthful. </simpsons> 🙂 let's start from the beginning. you don't need a domain controller with 4 PCs. you'd like to set up dial-out to your ISP access and internet connection sharing, here's how to do it. select 1 PC that will have a modem, the rest just need NICs. set the IP of PC1 w/ modem to 192.168.1.1, second to 1.2, etc.. then set the default gateway on each PC to be 1.1 - from here you can configure dial on demand through Dial up networking and ICS; whenever one of your PCs wishes to reach the internet, it will dial your ISP and authenticate if there isn't already a connection established.as long as all the machines are using 'workgroup' as their default workgroup, you should be able to use \\[pcname] to access them no problem. 255.255.255.0 refers to the subnet mask of the IP range you're using. it lets your network card know how big the network space you're addressing is. DHCP is Dynamic Host Control Protocol. I recommend you pick up a good book on TCP/IP [oreilly.com] to learn more about networks. You don't need to worry about WINS on a network this size.
 
What if the "1.1" is not logged on and we don't want to boot it up. Like right now we each dial in and check simple things like email or IM. But to keep switching who is dialing in is stupid and a waste of time. We would like it so that if one of us is dialed in to do his thing and another person comes home that an extra step won't need to be taken. We all have decent boxes, and 56k's but we would like the semless integration of a network and a shared phoneline. What is a NIC? ICS? What would happen if I put a subnet mask of 255.255.255.4 since there are 4 computers, what would that do?

Thanks for the references. Again blessings

theXing
 
You are going to be sucking major A$$ with 3-4 people sharing dial up. WHy dont the 4 of you splurge for the 10-15 bucks each per month, and get DSL or Cable modem. Your gonna be sorry if you dont.
 
theXing,

You don't want to change the subnet mask to 255.255.255.4. The subnet mask is used to determine whether another computer is on the same network as yours. I'll do my best to explain this but it gets a little complicated.

When you have a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and your ip address is, let's say, 192.168.1.2, then your NIC (network interface card) will assume that all hosts that have an IP address between 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 are within the same network as you (on the same side of a router, basically). You need to know a little about binary to fully understand subnet masking. When you put a number in place of the 0 on 255.255.255.0, you are basically dividing that range (192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254) up into smaller networks rather than one big network. For example, if you wanted to divide the single network of 192.168.1.x into 2 smaller networks, you would make the subnet mask 255.255.255.128. Then, computers in the range 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.127 would be on one network, and computers in the range 192.168.1.128-192.168.1.254 would be in the second network and both networks would have to be separated by a router. You could divide the same range into 4 smaller networks by making the subnet mask 255.255.255.192.

I wish I could explain more but it would take too long. Basically, you need to leave the subnet mask at 255.255.255.0

Cru
 
i think the dial on demand and internet connection sharing will work... ive never used dial on demand myself, i just have 1 computer connected to the internet, and all the rest just use ICS to access the internet through that computer...

if the dial on demand works the way i think it does. if 1 of the computers needs to access the net, it tries through ICS, but if the comptuer with a modem isnt connected, it then makes that computer dial up and connect, then uses the connection... any of the ocmputers on that network can then use that connection....

wether you leav it dialed in all the time, or use dial on demand, you will still need to leave the 1 computer that connects directly to the internet on all the time.
 
crudas, that was an outstanding explanation. Let me add - the reason the computer needs to know whether the other computer is on the same network or not is: If it is on same network, the computer will do an ARP request for the address of the other computer. If it is on a different network, it will do an ARP request to the default gateway (the router) which will then look at the routing table and see what interface the other computer is on. If that happens, you don't directly talk to the other computer, you will be talking through the router. Note that some routers have PROXY ARP so they will let you talk to the correct machine even if you have the wrong subnet mask and ARP the router by mistake.
 
use static addressing rather than DHCP; it will save you some hassle and you won't need to configure a DHCP server.
 
What are safe static IP's? I heard that 10.XXX.XXX.XXX should be what is used because it is not used as an IP address on the internet. Is that true?

theXing
 
Class A: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
Class B: 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
Class C: 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255

The most frequently use is 192.168.x.x, then 10.x.x.x, and 172.16.x.x is rarely use.
 
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