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Home Networking Plus Shared Internet Access BY GREG SWAIN Networking is a great idea if you have two or more computers. It lets you exchange files, share resources such as printers and even set up shared Internet access via a single phone line. Here’s how to build your own home or small office network with shared Internet access. 4  Silicon Chip D ESPITE ITS OBVIOUS attractions, most people regard comput­ er networking as just too difficult. But while that may have been true once, it’s now so easy that almost anyone can do it. In the past, you had to know about tricky configuration setups for net­ work interface cards (NICs), to avoid clashes with other hardware. You also had to know about networking proto­cols, setting up file and printer sharing, assigning network addresses and “mapping” drives. And as for allowing computers on a network to use a single modem for shared Internet access ... well, forget it! Not any more! Home or small office networking is now almost a “no-brain­ er” thanks to plug and play (PnP) hardware and the networking wizards now included in Windows 98SE and Windows Me. What’s more, setting up shared Internet access via a single tele­phone line is child’s play. If you have more than one comput­ Fig.1: a typical small network setup. All the PCs on the network are connected to a central hub and the machine with the modem functions as the “gateway” to the Internet. Note that each PC is assigned a different IP address. er, a network makes a lot of sense. It allows you to easily exchange files and share re­sources such as printers, disk drives and modems. No longer do you have to transfer files between PCs using removable disks or swap cables about when you want to print something. As far as each “client” PC on a net­ work is concerned, it looks as though shared resources such as printers, folders and even entire disk drives are directly connected to it. You can even “map” drives on another machine so that they look like local drives. This can be very useful if you want to share a CD-ROM drive between two or more machines, for example. Installing The Hub & Network Cards 1 Switch off the power, remove the cover and install a network interface card (NIC) into a spare motherboard PCI slot on each machine. Make sure that the card is seated properly in the slot. When the machine is rebooted, you will be prompted to install the drivers for the network card. 2 Plug the Cat.5 cables into the RJ45 sockets on each of the network cards in the computers. The other end of each cable is then connected to the hub (see below), which forms the central point of the network Internet sharing OK, enough of the file and printer sharing stuff. For many people, the main reason for wanting a network is to provide a shared Internet connec­ tion via a single phone line (or cable modem). Until recently, this also required the purchase of addi­tional software or hardware. That changed when Micro­ soft included Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) in Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) and, subsequently, in Windows 2000 and Windows Me. ICS is easy to set up and allows two or more users on a network to access the Internet simultaneously via a single connection. Before setting up ICS, all the com­ puters on the network must have net­ 3 The cables from the network cards are plugged into the individual ports of the hub. The 5-port Net­Gear hub shown here is a little unusual in that the ports are all on the front panel – handy if you want fast access to the cables. Most hubs have the ports at the back. December 2000  5 Fig.2: click the Device Manager tab in the System Properties dialog box of each PC to confirm that the network card drivers have been correctly installed. A yellow exclamation mark indicates a problem. work interface cards installed. Internet Connection Sharing is then installed on the “host” machine (ie, the one with the modem). This configures the host machine and also creates a setup disk which is used to configure the “client” machines. Once this has been done, the clients can all access the Internet through the PC with the Internet Connection Sharing. Basically, the host machine acts as a “gateway” – when a client machine requests Internet access, the host machine automatically dials out, makes the connection to the Internet and then relays the data back and forth between the two (see Fig.1). Without getting too technical, Inter­ net Connection Sharing uses the TCP/ IP networking protocol. It assigns a fixed IP address (192.168.0.1) to the Fig.3: the Network properties dialog box shows whether or not Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) has been installed on the host machine. host machine and also sets up a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Proto­ col) service that automatically assigns IP addresses to the client machines. Don’t worry if these terms don’t mean much to you – the ICS wizard does all the setup for the computers on your network, so you don’t have to know anything about IP addressing. Note that ICS is not installed on the client machines. This means that the clients can run earlier operating sys­ tems such as Windows 95, Windows 98 or even Windows NT on the clients, although an NT box will require man­ ual configuration. Installing the network To set up a basic network, you need a hub, a network inter­face card for each PC, and some Cat.5 cables Fig.4: the Home Networking Wizard in Windows Me is accessed via the Start menu. Alternatively, if you are using Windows 98SE, you have to run the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard. 6  Silicon Chip (fitted with RJ-45 connectors) for the connections between the cards and the hub. Fig.1 shows a typical network set­ up for a home or small office. This is known as a “star” configuration – the hub provides a central connection point for the network, with the con­ nections radiating out to the PCs. The advantage of this arrangement is that a problem in one device doesn’t affect other users on the network. If you’re just starting out, consider buying a network starter kit. This will include all the parts needed to network two PCs, including a couple of network cards, the cables and a 4-port or 5-port hub. If you want to connect more that two computers, it’s just a matter of purchasing additional network cards and cables. One thing to watch out for is the speed of the hub. For most small networks, a 10Mb/s hub will do the job but if you regularly move large amounts of data, a 100Mb/s hub will really speed things up. Note that most 100Mb/s hubs will automati­ cally switch down to 10Mb/s when communicating with 10Mb/s network cards. Want to save some money? Well, you don’t really need a hub for a 2-computer network. Instead, you can directly connect the two network cards together using a special Cat.5 cross­over cable. Provided you’re using 100Mb/s network cards, this really is the cheapest route to a fast network. Putting the network together is a breeze – it’s just a matter of installing a network card in a vacant slot in each PC and then connecting them to the hub. When the machines are reboot­ ed, the cards will be automatically detected (we’re assuming plug and play cards here) and you just follow the on-screen prompts to install the driver software. Once that’s done, it’s a good idea to verify that the driver has been correctly installed. You do that by double-click­ ing the System icon in Control Panel, clicking the Device Manager tab in the System Properties dialog box and then double-clicking on the “Network adapters” entry. If everything is OK, you should see an entry for the net­work card similar to that shown in Fig.2. That’s it – the network is up and run­ ning although you still have to share resources and set up shared Internet The Windows Me Home Networking Wizard Fig.5: the host computer is configured here to connect to the Internet via a dial-up adapter. Fig.6: here’s how to configure the host machine to share its Internet connection with the other computers Fig.7: you can let the host connect to the Internet auto-matically on demand from a client machine or you can choose to connect manually. Fig.8: each computer on the network is given a unique name but the same workgroup name must always be used for the machines to “see” each other. Fig.9: this dialog box lets you set up file and printer sharing. Fig.10: the wizard creates a setup disk which is run on the client machines. December 2000  7 100Mb/s Network Starter Kit from MicroGram IF YOU WANT your first network to be fast, this budget-priced 100Mb/s starter kit can deliver the goods. Branded Edimax, it contains all the parts required to network two PCs, including a 5-port hub, two network inter­face cards, two 4.5-metre cables, access. But first, you have to install ICS on the host machine. Installing ICS Internet Connection Sharing can either be installed on the host com­ puter when the operating system is installed or it can be added later using the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. If ICS has been installed, you’ll find several entries referring to it in the Network Proper­ties dialog box (Fig.3) – right click My Network Places (or Network Neighborhood) and select Properties to bring up this display. Fig.12: once the network is up and running, you can access shared resources on remote machines using My Network Places or Network Neighborhood. 8  Silicon Chip a plugpack supply and a detailed installation guide. Note that the hub runs at 100Mb/s only (ie, it cannot switch down to 10Mb/s) but that’s not a problem if you stick to 10/100Mb/s network cards. The fifth port can also function Alternatively, double-click the Add/ Remove Programs icon in Control Panel, click the Windows Setup tab, click Internet Tools in Windows 98SE or Communications in Windows Me and then click Details. There should be a tick in the Internet Connection Sharing check box. If not, select the check box and click OK to install ICS. Don’t install ICS on any of the client machines. If you do, you’ll get all sorts of conflicts between the various services that are set up and your net­ work won’t work properly. Basically, four key components are as an uplink port for connecting to another hub. The kit (Cat. 11900) is priced at $199.00 and is available from Micro­ gram Computers – ph (02) 4389 8444; email info<at>mgram.com.au; website www.mgram.com.au Fig.11: Network Neighborhood is renamed as “My Network Places” in Windows Me. installed as part of ICS: (1) the DHCP service; (2) a Domain Name System (DNS) for resolving computer names into IP addresses; (3) a Network Ad­ dress Translator (NAT) which is used to route the information between the clients and the Internet; and (4) an Autodialler. However, you don’t have to know anything about the technicalities to get the system up and running. It’s just a matter of installing ICS on the host machine, then running the Home Networking Wizard for Windows Me or the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard for Windows 98SE (or Win­ dows 2000). However, unlike the Home Networking Wizard, the ICS wizard in Windows 98SE doesn’t set up your network shares. In either case, you get to the wizard Fig.13: a folder or disk drive is shared by right-clicking it in Windows Ex­-plorer and selecting “Sharing” from the drop-down list. via the Start menu – click Start, Pro­ grams, Accessories, Communications. Figs.5-10 show some of the dialog boxes that appear. The Internet Con­ nection Sharing setup comes first, after which you move on to the local network settings. Each computer must be given a unique name but the workgroup name must be the same for all the computers on the network, otherwise they won’t be able to “see” each other – see Fig.8. The next dialog box (Fig.9) sets up file and printer shar­ing. By default, the wizard lets you share the My Docu­ ments folder only but you can share additional folders (or even an entire hard disk drive) later on. If you don’t enter a password here, a warning panel will appear when you click the “Next” button to go to the next dialog box. If you don’t want a password, just click OK to close the warning panel and then click the “Next” button again and the wizard will carry on as normal. Passwords can be a real nuisance if no security is required. Finally, the wizard prompts you to create the “Home Net­working Setup” disk so that you can set up the Win­ dows 95/98 client machines on the network. Using a network It doesn’t take rocket science to use a network. You access shared resources on other machines by double-clicking “My Network Places” in Windows Me or “Network Neighborhood” in Win­ Fig.14: Windows Me features a greatly-improved “Help and Support” utility, with a web-like interface. If you can’t get Internet Connection Sharing to work, click Help in the Start menu and search for ICS to bring up this dialog box. You can then use the troubleshooting wizard to solve the problem. dows 95/98/98SE (Fig.12). Alterna­ tively, you can access these resources via Windows Explorer. By default, the Home Networking Wizard gives other users full access rights to a shared My Documents folder. If you want to change this to read-only access, right-click the My Documents folder in Windows Explorer, select “Sharing” from the drop-down list and select the settings in the resulting dialog box (Fig.13). Additional folders (or disk drives) are shared in exactly the same man­ ner. By the way, it’s a good idea to keep other users away from sensitive system files, so avoid sharing an entire disk drive if these files are present. By sharing only selected resources, your Assigning Letters to Shared Disk Drives & Folders A useful “trick” in some cases is to map a shared folder or disk drive on a remote computer to a drive letter on a local machine. This can be very useful if you want to store files on a single “work” disk or if you Fig.15: mapping drives across a network. have only one CD-ROM drive and want to share it get an error message. This typically across the net­work. occurs because the other computer A network drive is mapped by has not been switched on. right-clicking My Network Places (or Fortunately, there’s an easy anNetwork Neighbor­hood) and select- swer to this problem: double click ing “Map Network Drive...” to bring up the Network icon in Control panel, the dialog box shown in Fig.15. You choose “Client For Microsoft Netthen choose an unused drive letter works” from the list, click the Properand click the down arrow next to the ties button and select “Quick Logon”. Path window and select the path to From now on, Windows will only log the shared re­source. you onto the network when you boot Note that if a machine cannot find a but won’t try to reconnect any network mapped drive during boot-up, you will drives until you use them. December 2000  9 NetGear Network Starter Kits – You’ll Want One For Christmas Sharing! NetGear’s network starter kits include a modem sharing utility that’s similar to ICS. The installation wizard also sets up your disk drive and printer shares. NETGEAR’S NETWORK STARTER KITS include everything you need set up a small network in the home or office. There are two models: (1) the budget-priced SB105 which comes with a 5-port 10Mb/s hub; (2) the FB105 which boasts a 5-port 10/100Mb/s switch (a switch not only functions as a hub but also filters unnecessary traffic from individual network segments to increase overall speed). critical system files will be invisible to other computers on the network. Checking ICS You can test the Internet sharing feature by launching Internet Explorer on one of the clients, entering a web address and clicking the “Go” button (or pressing Enter). If everything is working correctly, the modem on the host machine should au­ tomatically dial out after a brief delay. The system should then log onto your ISP and download the requested page in the usual manner. In short, it should all work as if the modem is di­rectly connected to the client machine. A proviso – the autodial feature will only work if you chose “Yes, connect to the Internet automatically” (see Fig.7) 10  Silicon Chip Both kits contain two 10/100MB/s PCI NICs (network interface cards), two 3-metre cables and an easy-tofollow fold-out guide. Also included is a Drivers & Diagnostics Disk and a CD-ROM which carries “FirstGear” – a network installation wizard and modem sharing program that’s similar to Internet Connection Sharing. This could be handy if you don’t have Windows Me or Windows 98SE. A feature of the NetGear hubs is when you ran the Home Networking Wizard. Alternatively, you can elect to manually connect the host computer before attempting Internet access from the clients, to prevent automatic dial-outs. Once a connection has been made, all clients have immediate access to the Internet. If it doesn’t work, check out Win­ dows Me’s “Help” utility. In fact, this is a much-improved feature of Windows Me, with all the informa­ tion arranged in web page format. To troubleshoot your ICS installation, click Start, Help and enter “ICS” in the Search window to bring up a list of topics – see Fig.14. The low-down on TCP/IP For most people, that will be the that the ports are at the front. This can be an advantage in some installations, as it provides easy access to the cables. In addition, port 5 can be switched to function as an uplink port, for cascading to another hub. NetGear Network Starter Kits are available from computer stores and electronics retailers. The suggested retail price (including GST) for the SB105 is $159.00, while the FB105 retails for $299.00. end of the story since they now have a network up and running with shared Internet access. However, it’s handy to learn a few networking basics so that you can customise your setup or just to understand how it works. By default, Windows 98 and Windows Me install the TCP/IP networking protocol. TCP/IP stands for “Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol” and it relies on each computer being assigned a unique number called an IP address. You can think of an IP address as being akin to a telephone number if you like. An IP address consists of four groups of numbers separated by deci­ mal points, with each number having a value between 0 and 255. In this case, the ICS utility uses IP addresses rang­ ing from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254. These addresses belong to a group that has been specifically reserved for local area networks and cannot be accessed via the Internet. Another number called a “Subnet Mask” is used in conjunc­ tion with the IP address to set the network ad­ dress. By default, ICS uses a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0 and this is the same for all computers on the network (otherwise, they won’t be able to “see” each other). In addition, a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0 means that the first three numbers of each IP address must be the same. If an IP address on one machine is different in this respect, it will have a different network ad­ dress and will be invisible as far as other computers on the network are concerned. When you install ICS, it automat­ ically gives the host ma­chine a fixed (or “static”) IP address of 192.168.0.1 which is bound to the network adapt­ er. At the same time, it also sets up a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) service on the host machine. This DHCP service then doles out IP addresses to the client machines as they boot up. This means that the client machines must be configured to obtain IP ad­ dresses automatically (this is done by the networking wizards). Typically, the DHCP service issues the first cli­ ent with 192.168.0.2, the second with 192.168.0.3 and so on. Note that these are dynamic IP addresses. This means that a client com­puter can theoretically be issued with a different IP address each time it boots up. By the way, the Home Networking Wizard will guide you through the process of installing TCP/IP if it hasn’t already been installed on a client machine (eg, Windows 95 installs the NetBEUI protocol by default). If you’re not using the wizard, you will have to install TCP/IP yourself – double-click the Network icon in Control Panel, click Add, click Protocol, click Add, select Microsoft, select TCP/IP and click OK. Assigning fixed IP addresses For most people, using the DHCP service is the easiest way to go. The only wrinkle is that the host machine must always be started first, otherwise client computers will be unable to obtain a valid IP address. Checking Out The Assigned IP Addresses YOU CAN quickly check the IP address assigned to any client computer by using the winipcfg utility that’s automatically installed with Windows 95/98 & Windows Me. It’s started by clicking Start, Run and typing winipcfg in the Open field and clicking OK (for NT, type ipconfig at the prompt in a DOS window). You then click the down arrow and select the NIC (not the PPP adapter) to check the details. This utility is particularly handy for checking that a PC is correctly obtaining an IP address from the DHCP server. It also shows the address of the DHCP server, the IP address lease period, the subnet mask and default gateway, and the DNS and WINS server addresses. Alternatively, select the PPP Adapter if you want to check the corresponding The way around this is to give each client a static IP address. To do this, go to the TCP/IP Properties dialog box Look Before You Leap! Don’t try to set up ICS on a network that’s already running DHCP and DNS services. If you do, the services that are set up by ICS will conflict with the established services and the network will stop functioning correctly. The same comment applies if the existing network relies on installed gateways and/or fixed IP addresses. Similarly, ICS could cause all sorts of problems on a network that’s running a proxy server such as WinGate. Fig.16: the winipcfg utility lets you check assigned IP addresses. details for this adaptor when the host machine is connected to the Internet. on each client by double-clicking the TCP/IP entry for the network adapter in the Network dialog box and follow these steps: (1) Select “Specify an IP address” and enter a unique IP address in the range 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254 – see Fig.17. Give each client a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0. (2) Click the Gateway tab and enter a gateway address of 192.168.0.1 on each client computer (Fig.18). (3) Click the DNS tab, select Enable DNS and enter a unique host name (the name of the computer is recom­ mended). Finally, enter an address of 192.168.0.1 for the DNS Server Search Order (Fig.19). Notice that both the Gateway ad­ dress and the DNS Search Order ad­ dress are simply the IP address of the What About Broadband Connections? Naturally, you can also use ICS if you have a broadband connection to the Internet; eg, via a cable modem or ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) device. This will give several users simultaneous access to the Internet without experiencing the dramatic slowdowns that occur with a dial-up modem. If you have a broadband connection, be sure to use two network adapters (NICs) in the ICS host computer. One of these adapters connects to your cable modem, while the other is con­nected to the network hub to provide the LAN connection. Do not connect your broadband device directly to the network hub as this will expose your network to the bad guys on the Internet. December 2000  11 Assigning Fixed IP Addresses To The Clients Fig.17 Fig.18 Fig.19 Step 1 – select “Specify an IP address” and enter a unique IP address in the range 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254. The Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0. STEP 2: Click the Gateway tab, enter a new gateway address of 192.168.0.1 and click the Add button install it. Do this for each client machine. STEP 3: Click the DNS tab, select Enable DNS and enter a unique host name. Enter an address of 192.168.0.1 for the DNS Server Search Order. host ma­chine; ie, the host functions as a “gateway” for the clients when they access the Internet. For this rea­ son, don’t change any of the network settings on the host computer, as this will stop the ICS service. Once configured with static IP addresses, the clients no longer go looking for a DHCP server when they boot. This can be handy if you don’t wish to start the host machine and will elim­inate annoying delays as the clients boot up. It also allows the client machines to be networked without starting the host ma­chine. Note, however, that the DHCP ser­ vice still runs when the host computer is on and will automatically issue an IP address to any machine that requests it. Fig.20: stopping the DHCP service involves a registry hack. Drill down to the folder shown here and change the “Enable DHCP” key from “1” to “0”. 12  Silicon Chip Stopping the DHCP service Going a step further, the DHCP ser­ vice could well prove a nuisance if you want to set up ICS on a network that already has a DHCP server. In that case, the two DHCP services will conflict with each other. Unfortunately, stopping the DHCP service involves a regis­try hack. This involves starting the Registry Editor, drilling down through the keys to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ CurrentControlSet\Services\ICShar­ ing\Settings\General and changing the “EnableDHCP” key entry from “1” to “0” (just right click the key, click Modify and type in the new value). When you subsequently restart the computer, the DHCP serv­ice will be disabled. Be warned though – you play with the registry at your own risk. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to back up the registry before making any changes. The new System Restore utili­ty in Windows Me should also get you out of any trouble. Finally, note that ICS does not work with some versions of AOL and even if the host does connect, the clients must have different AOL accounts for SC Internet access.