How to MANUALLY set up a network

[SBO Dental Lab]

Hello and thank you for your attention,

We want to manually set up a network that consists of just four PCs. When I
mean manually I mean specifying the IP Addresses, DNS, Gateway etc. There
will be no Server and one PC will be used as the Gateway for the rest to
access the internet. It has an ADSL connection. Does anyone know of a good
website that shows a blueprint of how to do this. I know how to specify IP
Addresses and Subnet Mask, but I wouldn't know what to put for the Default
Gateway etc.

Thanks again,

David

--
SBO Dental Laboratory Ltd
120a Marylebone Lane
London
W1U 2QG
+44 (0) 20 7486 2097
www.sbodentallaboratory.co.uk

-Precision meets Art-

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

We want to manually set up a network that consists of just four PCs. When I
mean manually I mean specifying the IP Addresses, DNS, Gateway etc. There
will be no Server and one PC will be used as the Gateway for the rest to
access the internet. It has an ADSL connection. Does anyone know of a good
website that shows a blueprint of how to do this. I know how to specify IP
Addresses and Subnet Mask, but I wouldn't know what to put for the Default
Gateway etc.

David,

first of all, you won't have to enter or otherwise touch any IP
addresses at all, because that's neither necessary nor desirable
for the task. It's all automatic.

Connect your gateway computer to the Internet first, then enable
Internet connection sharing. Then boot all other computers.
Always have the gateway computer running before you boot any
other computer.

I would recommend to buy a WAN router though. Depending on your
demands, even a very cheap one may well do, particularly if all
you need is web browsing and email.

For simple networking guides turn to the help system first. Try
Start, Help & Support.

For a step by step guide to Windows XP Home Edition networking
you can read a series of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles
beginning with this one:

How to Set Up a Small Network with Windows XP Home Edition (PART
1)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=813936

For a 60 page tutorial that covers networking with several
Windows versions go to
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=87c0a6db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028
and download the Word document FileSharing.doc. Some more links:

Making the Wireless Home Network Connection in Windows XP
Without a Router
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_02april08.mspx

Several step-by-step tutorials: www.practicallynetworked.com

Hans-Georg

 

[wanderer]

If you put in a simple cheap wireless firewall router with its 4 lan
ports you could connect all the pcs directly to the internet and have
the protection of nat and a firewall.

Having said that the gateway entry is easy. You provide the address of
the nic closest to the workstation as the gateway address.

Setup would look like this. You have one pc with two nics. One nic
goes to the adsl. One nic goes to a hub that all three pcs are
connected to. You engage ICS on the gateway pc. You give the gateway
nic a ip address of 200.200.0.1. You give the pcs addresses
200.200.0.2-4. Their gateway is the .1 address. The adsl will auto
assign its ip address. ICS will bridge the two nics sending the
200.200.0.x network requests to the internet

 

[wanderer]

If you put in a simple cheap wireless firewall router with its 4 lan
ports you could connect all the pcs directly to the internet and have
the protection of nat and a firewall.

Having said that the gateway entry is easy. You provide the address of
the nic closest to the workstation as the gateway address.

Setup would look like this. You have one pc with two nics. One nic
goes to the adsl. One nic goes to a hub that all three pcs are
connected to. You engage ICS on the gateway pc. You give the gateway
nic a ip address of 200.200.0.1. You give the pcs addresses
200.200.0.2-4. Their gateway is the .1 address. The adsl will auto
assign its ip address. ICS will bridge the two nics sending the
200.200.0.x network requests to the internet