LAN Issue

[Ricky Sebastian]

Hello All.

Here's the scenario. I set up a LAN in my home as part of a college project
& because I wanted to. The network consists of two desktops, one server,
and two laptops. The cable modem is going through a wireless router
(Linksys) with 4 ethernet ports on the back. My Mom's computer and my
server are connected to the router via cat5 ethernet cable. My desktop and
the two laptops are connected via wireless NIC's. The server is running
Linux and XP Pro, a dual boot system. I'm still learning Red Hat Linux so
want to use XP Pro for the server software. Is it possible to create a
peer-to-peer network as a "Workgroup" network instead of a domain network
using XP Pro? And should the server computer be directly connected to the
modem and/or router? Right now, the server is connected to the router as
well as my Mom's desktop (hard wired) but my Mom's computer is the one
connected to the cable service via the router. Shouldn't the server be
connected to the main port on the router instead of Mom's computer, not the
other way around? Also, using XP Pro as the server software, I'm assuming
that I'm limited to creating only a workgroup LAN, not a DNS LAN.

Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated 'cause I'm almost
there but am missing something crucial and it's driving me bananas.

Thanks,

ricseb

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Hello All.

Hi. I'm answering your questions assuming that you're using XP Pro on
the "server" computer. I can't answer questions about a network using
a "server" computer that runs Linux.

Here's the scenario. I set up a LAN in my home as part of a college project
& because I wanted to. The network consists of two desktops, one server,
and two laptops. The cable modem is going through a wireless router
(Linksys) with 4 ethernet ports on the back. My Mom's computer and my
server are connected to the router via cat5 ethernet cable. My desktop and
the two laptops are connected via wireless NIC's. The server is running
Linux and XP Pro, a dual boot system. I'm still learning Red Hat Linux so
want to use XP Pro for the server software. Is it possible to create a
peer-to-peer network as a "Workgroup" network instead of a domain network
using XP Pro?

A peer-to-peer network can only be a workgroup. XP Pro is a client
operating system, not a server operating system. You can't set up a
domain using XP Pro.

And should the server computer be directly connected to the
modem and/or router? Right now, the server is connected to the router as
well as my Mom's desktop (hard wired) but my Mom's computer is the one
connected to the cable service via the router. Shouldn't the server be
connected to the main port on the router instead of Mom's computer, not the
other way around?

I'm not sure what you want the "server" to do.

Do you want it to act as an Internet server, connecting directly to
the cable modem and providing Internet access to the other computers?
I don't think so, since you said that all of the computers connect to
the wireless router.

Do you want it to act as a file server, providing shared disks and
folders to the other computers? In a peer-to-peer network, all of
the computers can act as file servers, and all of the computers can
act as clients. There's no special setup required on any computer,
and there's no server software to install.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "main" port on the router. The
router has a WAN (Internet) port and four Ethernet ports. To use the
router to share the cable modem with all of the computers, connect the
cable modem to the WAN port, and connect computers to the Ethernet
ports.

Also, using XP Pro as the server software, I'm assuming
that I'm limited to creating only a workgroup LAN, not a DNS LAN.

A workgroup can only use NetBIOS over TCP/IP for name resolution. It
can't use DNS for name resolution, because there's no local DNS server
in a workgroup.

Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated 'cause I'm almost
there but am missing something crucial and it's driving me bananas.

Thanks,

ricseb

--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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