Small Office Network: How Do You Keep One Workgroup From Seeing Another?

[Pavlov]

I am trying to help out a Professor who has a training business keep his
Office network separate from his Training room PCs. All the PCs use file
& printer sharing but I thought that keeping them in separate Workgroups
would have done the trick. There is no server or domain controller as it
is just a small 13 PC operation. Is it in fact possible to set the PCs
up so that the Training room PCs don't see the Office PCs and
vice-versa? Is there a better solution to this? Thanks for any
assistance.

- Pavlov

Check out my pics!
http://www.neiu.edu/~akkoziol

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I am trying to help out a Professor who has a training business keep
his Office network separate from his Training room PCs. All the PCs
use file & printer sharing but I thought that keeping them in
separate Workgroups would have done the trick. There is no server or
domain controller as it is just a small 13 PC operation. Is it in
fact possible to set the PCs up so that the Training room PCs don't
see the Office PCs and vice-versa? Is there a better solution to
this? Thanks for any assistance.

Put them on a segregated LAN - different switch/hub, different IP range. Or
a single switch with VLANs.

 

[Sean Gahan]

Pavlov,
You need to install a firewall on the professors machine. This will make him
not visible to others on the network.

Regards,

Sean Gahan

 

[Guest]

The easist way is to reconnect the wiring so that the office PC's are connected and another set of wires to connect the Training room computers. (You may have to configure Network Propities After You Have Done This)

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I am trying to help out a Professor who has a training business keep his
Office network separate from his Training room PCs. All the PCs use file
& printer sharing but I thought that keeping them in separate Workgroups
would have done the trick. There is no server or domain controller as it
is just a small 13 PC operation. Is it in fact possible to set the PCs
up so that the Training room PCs don't see the Office PCs and
vice-versa? Is there a better solution to this? Thanks for any
assistance.

I'm sorry, but workgroups don't provide any type of security or access
control in a Windows network. A computer in any workgroup can access
a computer in any workgroup. In Windows 95/98/Me, workgroups
determine which computers appear in the opening window of Network
Neighborhood. In Windows XP, workgroups aren't much use at all.

If the computers run Windows XP Professional, you can disable simple
file sharing and create customized access control lists to determine
which users can access which shares. Details here:

Windows XP Professional File Sharing
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

If you want the Office computers to be completely separate from the
Training Room computers (and vice versa), put them on separate
physical networks.
--
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

 

[Pavlov]

Put them on a segregated LAN - different switch/hub, different IP range. Or

a single switch with VLANs.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I should have been more detailed when I posted
this but I think I have figured out a way to make the office PCs and the
Lab PCs be on a separate network. Right now, the small operation
connects via a Linksys router. The router can go out on the Internet.
What I think I would need to do is set up the Linksys router to put the
Office PCs on a VLAN based on a MAC addresses access list and it should
keep them separate. I think the model they have supports that. I don't
know why I didn't think of it before. Thanks for the help though!

- Pavlov

Check out my pics!
http://www.neiu.edu/~akkoziol

 

[Pavlov]

I'm sorry, but workgroups don't provide any type of security or access

control in a Windows network. A computer in any workgroup can access
a computer in any workgroup. In Windows 95/98/Me, workgroups
determine which computers appear in the opening window of Network
Neighborhood. In Windows XP, workgroups aren't much use at all.

If the computers run Windows XP Professional, you can disable simple
file sharing and create customized access control lists to determine
which users can access which shares. Details here:

Windows XP Professional File Sharing
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

If you want the Office computers to be completely separate from the
Training Room computers (and vice versa), put them on separate
physical networks.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I should have been more detailed when I posted
this but I think I have figured out a way to make the office PCs and the
Lab PCs be on a separate network. Right now, the small operation
connects via a Linksys router. The router can go out on the Internet.
What I think I would need to do is set up the Linksys router to put the
Office PCs on a VLAN based on a MAC addresses access list and it should
keep them separate. I think the model they have supports that. I don't
know why I didn't think of it before. Thanks for the help though! I'll
give that article a looking over too. Thanks for the tip!!

- Pavlov

Check out my pics!
http://www.neiu.edu/~akkoziol