Networking > 9 Users

[rmutter]

I am trying to have more than 9 users on the microsoft network. We have a
T-1 with a router and a 16 port switch. All computers/network printers have
been running fine. We've tried to add a 10th computer to the network and the
computer only has limited connectivity and does not find the workgroup.

Talked to the T-1 and router people....they say it's not a problem with
their equipment. When we plugged the 10th computer into the switch...all the
lights light...meaning no problems with the switch.

Does the microsoft network have a quantity limitation or some license only
up to 10 users?

Please help.

 

[AJR]

XP - Yes.

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi
If you need more than 10 concurrent computers on a network it is time to
move to Windows 2003 SBS.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/default.mspx
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Steve Winograd]

I am trying to have more than 9 users on the microsoft network. We have a
T-1 with a router and a 16 port switch. All computers/network printers have
been running fine. We've tried to add a 10th computer to the network and the
computer only has limited connectivity and does not find the workgroup.

Talked to the T-1 and router people....they say it's not a problem with
their equipment. When we plugged the 10th computer into the switch...all the
lights light...meaning no problems with the switch.

Does the microsoft network have a quantity limitation or some license only
up to 10 users?

Please help.

No, there's no limit to the number of computers that can access the
Internet and the workgroup on a Microsoft network.

There's a different limit that causes a great deal of confusion in
forums, newsgroups, and even on a well-known computer maker's web
site: a computer running Windows XP Professional allows a maximum of
10 other computers to access its shared folders simultaneously. That
limit has nothing to do with your situation.

The "limited connectivity" message on the 10th computer means that it
was unable to obtain an IP address from a DHCP server. Check the
router's configuration, and make sure that it allows more than 10 DHCP
clients.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[AJR]

Semantics - fun with which to play. Take "...XP Professional allows a
maximum of 10 other computers to access its shared folders
simultaneously...." - (politically correct) actually XP allows 10
"concurrent" connections (shared folders not with-standing).

Regarding "...When we plugged the 10th computer into the switch..." - the
"switch" expands a network but does not exend the connection limit.

 

[Steve Winograd]

Semantics - fun with which to play. Take "...XP Professional allows a
maximum of 10 other computers to access its shared folders
simultaneously...." - (politically correct) actually XP allows 10
"concurrent" connections (shared folders not with-standing).

I'm not sure what your point is. Sometimes, another computer can have
multiple connections to XP Pro, so it's possible to run into the limit
with less than 10 computers. That's why I said "a maximum of 10 other
computers".

What type of connections other that shared folders count against the
limit?

Regarding "...When we plugged the 10th computer into the switch..." - the
"switch" expands a network but does not exend the connection limit.

What connection limit are you referring to? As I said above, there's
no limit to the number of computers that can be on a workgroup
network. Well, I should say that there's no practical limit. A
typical network with a /24 (255.255.255.0) subnet mask can only have
254 computers.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Bilbo]

Not really semantics. I've run Windows XP and Windows 2000
Peer-to-Peer networks having as many as 15-19 workstations without any
difficulty. After 19, we installed SBS 2003.

One way to ensure trouble is to have lots of mapped drives in your
network. Mapped drives make persistent connections and will cause you
to exceed the built-in limits immediately.

A better way to stretch your connectivity is to replace all those
mapped drives with UNC short-cuts to the shares that will be used from
time to time. It's quite unlikely that all of these things will truly
be needed continuously. Each client PC would need a UNC shortcut to
the particular shared resource its user may need -- from time to time.
To access a file in such a shared resource, the user simply
double-clicks the shortcut and navigates to the file and does his/her
thing with it. When closed, the connection is gone.

It's like a printer; you really only need to be connected to a shared
printer while you're actually printing and that's the way the
connection is actually handled. Of course, printers with built-in
print servers make it even simpler for your environment.

If you truly need persistent connections from more than 10 other
users, then you truly have entered the realm of the server and should
investigate SBS2003 post-haste.

Hope this helps.

Bilbo