Absolute Beginner: Am I using TCP/IP? 2

[Kendo]

Hi,

I really am an absolute beginner, I know very little about Networking.

Last night I put together a new machine and put WindowsME on it (only OS I had available!). My other machine runs Windows98SE. They both have 10/100 NICs and I'm using a crossover cable to network them.

After a few minutes I got the two talking to each other (sharing drives), but I can't really say that I knew what I was doing...it just...sort of...happened. Basically I went into control panel, click Networks and pressed random buttons.

So what protocol am I using across this network? I REALLY don't have a clue.

What else could you tell me about the networking of these machines that would help me on my way to understanding what the h*ll I'm doing? Some good on-line tutorials or something similar would be a great help.

Thanks in advance guys/gals.

 

[UNIX72]

Go in the network properites and see what protcols you have install Netbeui, IPX/SPX, TCP/IP. I doubt you are using a tcpip because you need to specify a 32 bit address that's how tcpip hosts communicate. You are most likely using netbeui which is use for small non-routable LAN (Local Area Network. Sorry can't think of links about networking. post back if you have questions. Hope this helps

 

[shakenama]

This site,

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/HomeNet-start.asp

has all the know how and step by step instructions on networking, including TCP/IP, Netbeui, IPX protocals.
It's just too bad I found this site AFTER I got my network up and running! X-)
Have fun !
Shawn

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

For windows 'sharing', you would either be using netbeui (aka netbios) or more probably what is called 'NBT', i.e. Netbios over TCP. If you do the dos command 'netstat -n' you will probably see TCP connections on port 139 .. this is port used for netbios connections. Essentially NBT is just the old netbios packets encapsulated in a TCP packet to provide routability. Netbios is not routable beyond a local area network whereas Netbios over TCP uses TCP/IP's routing capability. You can literally share your drives with someone the other side of the world using the internet ! (Not a good idea from a security point of view to say the least but it can be done...)

Regards

 

[wardo]

http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/fr_index.html?/main/server-software.html

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

http://www.wardgriffin.com

 

[Tels]

I just went through the same crap a couple of months ago, now I'm on the other side it seems so easy!! but was it?

If I was you I'd go into the network card's properties, then you'll get a list of protocols which are bound to that card. Make sure TCP/IP, NetBios and 'Client for Microsoft Networks' are there. if not, add them.

Once you have done that, click on the TCP/IP entry and click properties. This will give you all sorts of options such as DNS servers, gateways, DHCP etc.

Just switch DHCP off and use type in an IP address of 192.168.0.1 for one of the machines, and 192.168.0.2 for the other. These are common LAN network addresses.

Then if you go into a dos prompt (within windows) and type "ping 192.168.0.1" (or whatever the OTHER machines IP address is) you should get a response....
(you might have to restart but I use Win2k so forgive any differences)
Once you have done this, you should be able to see the other computer.

PS crossover cables gave me nothing but friggin grief. if it continues see if you can borrow a hub cos they are so much more reliable!

Hope this helps

Tels

 

[Kendo]

Thank you all for your excellent replies.

Well, I've scrapped Win98 and WinME and gone for NT 4.0 server and workstation.

So, as you can probably guess I'm getting ALL KINDS of new problems.

Tels - I wonder whether I'm having difficulty with my crossover cable. Some part of the NIC driver load is failing, anyway. Event Viewer is a little sparse on details, unfortunately.

It's so difficult to know what to do when things like DHCP, DNS, BINDING settings crop up, and I haven't a clue what they mean.

Anyway, thanks again for the help and advice. I hope to get my mini-network up and running soon.

 

[wifeOfHotFat]

Hi there. We've installed Apache on my machine, and also Cold Fusion Server (I write stuff in CFML). Anyways, I've came up with these web pages, but how do we view it from the other machine? (I'm 192.168.0.2 while he's 192.168.0.1). How should I configure stuff (by that I mean I dunno what I should change at all ..).

tankQ =)

regards,
maggie

 

[shakenama]

To WifeOfHotFat, (Ok! i won't ask!)

You'll get alot more attention and replys/help to your question if you Start a New Thread

You can do this by going to the TCP/IP forum

http://www.tek-tips.com/gthreadminder.cfm/lev2/5/lev3/60/pid/581

At the top of the msg threads click on Start a New Tread
and start typin!

Shawn s-)

 

[Tels]

Hmmm. Crossover cables did give me more than a week of grief...

See that the lights on the back of both your NIC's shine.. (most NIC's have them) to be sure that they are recieving a signal from the other computer, wiggle them a little and see if the light stays on. If not, the cable is most likely faulty. If all that's OK, you may still want to check the cable against a wiring diagram, only one or two of the wires have to be right for the light on the NIC to shine, the rest could be wrong and you just wouldn't get anywhere.


Maybe you could see about getting a hub? check it out. I don't know how much you are prepared to spend, but all the problems I had dissapeared when I stopped using crossovers and started using hubs...

FYI:

DHCP = Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
This is a service that you can set up on NT4 (Server). This way, instead of manually setting up IP addresses on each computer (good for small networks, not so good for big ones) you can tell a client to use the DHCP server, and as long as you have set it up OK, it will be given an IP address automatically by the server, this IP address then has a lease - a length of time for which it is valid. When that lease expires, the DHCP server gives it another IP address.

If I was you, don't worry about DHCP. Switch it off and configure manually.

DNS = Domain Name Server. This is how something like

http://www.yahoo.co.uk

gets turned into 212.12.6.17, it basically resolves names to IP addresses using a database. If it doesn't have the answers, it passes you on to another DNS server. The fact you got to this website means your computer had to access a DNS server.

Again. Don't worry about this too much. Thats about 5-10 steps along the line yet

If I were you, I'd set up the NIC's to use 1 IP address each, namely 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2, and try to ping each computer from the other. To make sure the NIC's are set up OK, use the command IPCONFIG from the command prompt. If you can't do this, there is no way to move on to the next stage. Once you can ping, you know there is a connection. Then you can worry about neighbourhoods etc.

See if this helps, get back to us...

Tels