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The
easy suggestion: Find a friend and offer a bribe
By
Lou Dolinar
Newsday
So
you have a cable or DSL modem, and you want to share the
connection with other computers in your home. Hey, with
all that extra capacity, why not?
Well, because setting up a network and sharing a connection
is a pain in the neck, mostly. I've been playing with small-scale
networks for 10 years, and now and again I'll still hit
a snag - like I did last week with a balky networked printer
- that kills off a day. If you're new to this sort of thing,
be prepared for even more frustration. Or find a computer-savvy
friend and bribe him with a couple of tickets to a ballgame
or a case of decent cabernet.
This article isn't the last word, either. Take the time
to read through Windows help under Networking and Internet
Connection Sharing on the Start menu; also see my series
from last year, archived at www.dolinar.com. And be sure
to run through the various networking and broadband links
on that page.
That said, we're going to lay out how to set up Windows
98's built-in networking and connection sharing, the simplest
and cheapest route to take. Using this system, you take
one of your regular computers and have it run connection
sharing in background. Next week we'll look at more sophisticated
and expensive options.
We'll start by assuming you have an external broadband modem.
It is connected via a 10 Base-T wire to a network interface
card (NIC) inside your computer. Some vendors favor internal
modems, but if you have the option when you get broadband,
go for the external modem, because it allows more flexibility
in networking. More on that later.
On the hardware side, you need a NIC for every computer
on the network, including the one that's connected to the
modem. That means there are two NICs in that particular
computer, which is going to turn into your Internet connection
server. It's best to have two different brands of NICs in
the server. You and your software will find it easier to
distinguish between them later. You also need a hub, with
a port for each computer, and prewired cable to connect
each NIC to the Hub. Your best bet here is to buy a 10/100
Base-T networking kit containing all of the above for around
$100.
On the software side, you need Windows 98 Second Edition
or newer, which includes Internet Connection Sharing. If
you already have an earlier version of Windows 98, you can
upgrade for $25 and get a disk directly from Microsoft.
(See https://order4.microsoft.upgrade.com/ scripts/startwin98se1.asp?).
There are other products out there that work in a similar
fashion, but generic solutions tend to be more stable. Still,
if you are happy with Windows 95 and don't want to upgrade,
see www.tim higgins.com/sharing/freeshare.htm for freebie
sharing software. I can't vouch for any of them myself.
The preferred sequence of installation, particularly if
you have more than two computers, is to first set up the
local area network (LAN), then install the broadband connection,
then install Internet Connection Sharing. The only problem
with this is that you probably installed your broadband
modem first, and are only now getting around to connecting
the rest of your computers. At which point you should proceed
to install the network, then share the connection.
Next, a little background. There are two ways to configure
individual computers on a network. You can assign each one
a permanent address, known as a static IP, which follows
the form 192.168.1.1, and add various other information.
I wrote about that in painful detail last year, and you
can look up the details at my home page.
Since then, Windows networking has become a lot more friendly
toward automatically assigning IP addresses. With Windows
98 SE you don't configure anything, just install network
software. The magic phrase here (look it up in the help
menu for details) is "Automatic Private IP Addressing."
Now this is a great idea, especially when it works, because
the whole networking process can be automated from start
to finish.
Here's what's supposed to happen, assuming you have a new
computer with Windows 98 SE: You open the case of your computer
and plug in a network card. When Windows starts up, thanks
to Plug and Play, it recognizes a new piece of hardware,
and either installs the correct drivers from the Windows
98 disk, or it prompts you to insert the disk that came
from the manufacturer. Installation software does its thing,
not only putting in the drivers for the card, but also -
usually - adding all the network components you need to
get started, such as TCP/IP and file and print sharing services.
If you were using the old static IP system, this is where
you kill a couple of hours setting up addresses, DNS, and
other such nonsense.
With automatically assigned IPs - which is the default of
Windows and most installation software - you're mostly done.
When the computer turns on, it looks at the network, finds
itself an unused address and makes its presence known to
other computers. The end result is that when you've plugged
in cards, installed driver software, wired everything together
and restarted your computer, about all you need to do at
that point is open up the Network item in the Control Panel.
Make sure the settings are correct. Highlight the TCP/IP
line and click on the properties button. Click the IP Address
tab, and be sure that "Obtain an IP address automatically"
is selected. Click OK. Then click on the Identification
tab and give your computer a name. When you restart, each
PC on your network should show up, by name, when you click
on the "Network Neighborhood" icon.
That's a simple network. Where things get flaky here is
when you have additional connections - say, a dial-up modem
along with a network adapter card connected to your cable
or DSL modem. The window should then show two or three adapters,
and additional instances of TCP/IP, each on the same line
as the name of the adapter it is associated with.
We'll assume your network is functioning at this point;
if it isn't, try Windows network troubleshooter in the help
system. The next step is to get Connection Sharing up and
running. Go to the Add/Remove Programs item in the Control
Panel. Click on Internet Tools and check "Internet Connection
Sharing," then OK. The software will install, and up will
pop the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard. You'll be prompted
to insert a disk that will be used to configure the individual
computers on the network. When you put that disk in another
computer, it will tell the browser to look for a network
connection.
After you restart your computer, go to the Internet Options
item in the Control Panel. Click on the Connections tab,
and you'll see that you've got a newly available "Sharing"
button under "Local Area Network (LAN) Settings." Click
on the button, and you'll get the Internet Connection Sharing
Window. Verify that the settings are correct. At that point,
use the disk you made to configure the individual computers
to connect to the server computer.
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