Need some help adding a home server

[Chapbass]

Okay guys, so my roommate and I both recently sold our gaming desktops to focus more on school and such. So now we both have laptops, and I recently had a wonderful idea to take a bunch of older parts and make a small server to have a central place for files, a printer, and hopefully remote access over the net.

So im trying out Windows Home Server, and so far I'm loving it. Up until tonight. Now me being completely ignorant with modern networks is catching up to me . So i need your help!



Heres the current setup:


DSL Line coming into the apartment (Qwest is the provider) ---> DSL Modem (Actiontec M1000, IP Address 192.168.0.1) ----> My choice of a Belkin N1 hardware version 1 or a Linksys WRT54gx2. Right now we'll assume the linksys since ive had more luck with it. Right now the modem is giving the router a WAN IP of 192.168.0.4 and the routers LAN IP is 192.168.1.1.


After that, we have one wired computer (the home server), IP address 192.168.1.100, My roommates computer, and my computer. Both laptops are wireless.


Yesterday I set everything up, turned it on, and like magic it almost all worked. Set up my shared folders on the server, moved over a bunch of files, etc. Both my laptop and my roommates laptop can see everything fine, print, access, whatever.


Now I have two problems. Today, when i wake up, I find that I can't access my server with my laptop. the WHS console cant find it, typing \\servername wont do it. My roommates comp, however, can still see it perfectly. My computer had been shut down for the night, the server stayed on all night. however, if i type 192.168.1.100 into IE, it finds the shared folders/printer just fine.


I get the feeling that this is caused by the DNS servers? the question really is i dont know how to fix it. I tried doing the flushdns from a command line, but that didnt do it. granted I havent restarted yet, but still.




Question number 2! Windows home server has the ability to have remote access. It uses your windows live account and creates a domain name on the net so all you have to do is go to its website and itll redirect you to your computer. the problem is this: When i go to the website (we'll call it server.homeservers.com), it doesnt come up with anything when im outside of my network. When im INSIDE my own network and try it, it takes me to the setup screen of my m1000 modem.

I'm semi sure that when im outside of the network the modem is set to not receive remote access requests (to change the settings in the modem setup), so thats why its blocking the connection, but ive tried all sorts of port forwarding combinations, and within my own network it always goes to the m1000 screen. I've been to portforward.com, and kinda poked around, but I really dont know what "looks" right.



Okay, I know its a long post, but if anyone could give me some assistance, I'd LOVE to get this up and rolling!

Thanks AT, you guys rock .

 

[JackMDS]

You have two Router working as a Router and creating Double NAT.

The second Router should be configured as a switch with an Access Point.

Here how, http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Modes.html

When every thing woild be configured accordingly it would be simple to configure the connetion to the WHS.

 

[Chapbass]

hey jack. Thanks for the response.



Quick question, by 2nd router, are you referring to the linksys router? the one "farther in" on the network tree? I would assume thats a yes considering that by "access point" your referring to the wireless, which would have to refer to the linksys router.

Lemme know if im mistaken, thanks again.

 

[Chapbass]

Okay, i Looked over that link you sent me, but im a little confused as to how to configure my router. If i remember right, a normal wrt54g router has just a toggle to go from "router" to "gateway" or somethign like that. I dont see any such options on my gx2 router.



Sorry, just somewhat confused with this whole thing.

 

[drebo]

As far as outside access goes, yes, you do have a double NAT...though not because you have two routers.

What you need to do is set your DSL modem to use bridge mode. Most modern DSL modems now adays have the capability to do basic NAT and perform basic routing. As such, your DSL modem is NATing your DSL connection, and then you've got another router behind that NATing it again. Turning the DSL modem into a bridge will solve that problem.

Performing that configuration change varies by provider, but is usually possible through a web interface of sorts. Find out what the gateway address is on your Linksys (probably 192.168.0.1) and type that into a browser. The Linksys will then need to be reconfigured to use PPPoE instead of DHCP for its WAN connection. That's pretty straight forward. This will give the public WAN IP to the Linksys, and you'll be able to use port forwarding to get access to the WHS.

As far as name resolution goes, you're up the creek on that one. Generally, in an environment where I don't have a managed name server available, I simply address everything by IP. You could do that. Alternatively, you could create a static host by editing your hosts file in $WINDOWS$\System32\drivers\Etc. That's pretty straight forward.

 

[JackMDS]

I do not recall a button on the WRT54G.

In any case any Wireless Router can be used as an access point, No need for Button.

You leave the WAN Port open and disabling the DHCP, and Voila, it is an Access Point.

 

[Chapbass]

okay, quick update. I did some searching around, and found out how to change my actiontec modem to "transparent bridge". According to the guide on doing this, I've got to change my linksys router to pppoe instead of dhcp. Understandable, and I did that. Only downfall now, is that its asking for a user name and password...which is probably the user name and password that Qwest provided to me?

I, in my infinite genious, forgot the user name and password, so im gonna call qwest and get it. Until that point, my router is now showing all 0's as its IP and gateway for the WAN, my modem is now inaccessable, and the "Internet" light on my modem is off now.


Do you guys think putting in the right user name and PW will solve all of this or do I have to change something else (at least in order to reach the modem from my router). Oh, and also, the cable going from my modem to my router, it should be plugged into the linksys' uplink port still, correct? much like I would in a cable modem situation?

 

[JackMDS]

The PPPOE is authentication is done in the Router.

Since you disable the Actiontec Router part it does not authenticate any more and you do not have Internet.

Leave as is until you get the ID an PW. Then to the switch ( http://www.ezlan.net/PPPOE.html ).

Be careful Not to disable the LAN side DHCP in the Linksys if you are going using it as a Router.

WAN side of Routers is an Uplink so a regular straight patch is going to be OK.

 

[Chapbass]

Awesome jack, that website helped alot. I wasn't aware about the "dial-in" style of pppoe.


I'll give qwest a call, get my info, and hopefully be set to roll!

Thanks all, ill let you know in a few hours how it goes (hopefully)


Oh, will this also solve my DNS issue with not being able to do \\server on my computer but able to do \\192.168.1.100 to access my server? Still kinda confused as to why I can't do that however my roommates computer can.

 

[drebo]

It's because it's not DNS. It's using the NetBIOS name, which is notoriously shitty in a Windows environment.

Again, the only ways to ensure connectivity are to add an entry within your hosts file or to use the IP address.

 

[Genx87]

It sounds like the router provided by Qwest is dishing out IPs. I suggest letting it do that.
From there hook the wireless router into the router via its switch(lan), leave the wan side of the wireless router as dhcp and leave it disconnected. Turn off the dhcp and enable dhcp relay on the wireless router.

You will authenticate with the wireless router and get an IP from the modem from qwest. Set your home server's IP in the same subnet your laptops are getting which looks like 192.168.1.x which should be a subnet of 255.255.255.0

As for your issues with finding the server by name. Sounds like a netbios issue. Does the home server have a built in dns server? If not you can always edit your hosts file.

 

[Chapbass]

okay,. quick update. Called qwest, they gave me the user name and PW. as soon as i put that in the linksys router updated its IP and got all the info. I'm now on the net! The WHS also was able to correctly configure upnp now that my router has all the control and remote access is now working!


as for my server name issue, as soon as i punched in the hosts information for my WHS, it popped up. This also restored functionality to the WHS Console, which apparentally uses the server name, not its IP (makes sense i guess since its not necessarily a static ip).


For now, looks like im all set! Everything is working absolutely awesome atm. Thanks guys for all your help!