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Peer to Peer questions? Please help....

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by nixer 1 view

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Hi,
I am quite new to networking and looking for a little help.

I am attempting to connect my PC to another using a crossover cable. The other pc is actually a firewall called smoothwall.
I am able to view pages on the other pc, but all to often i'll click a link and receive a page timed out error. Is the problem the crossover cable?

Also, If I just wanted to connect my pc to another regular pc do i need special software if not how would i see the other pc?

Thanks for any help.
if you could either point me in the direction where i could read up on situatios such as these or any experience you may have had would be fantastic....!!
Thanks again.

8 replies

by lordinfidel

It sounds like the firewall is not forwarding your requests or you can not resolve any outside names.

Review your tcp/ip settings.
Make sure your firewall is forwarding your requests.
Make sure you can make dns queries.

by serverjockey

Hi, using a crossover cable you can network 2 pc's together assuming you have a NIC installed in each PC already! All you need to do is make sure they have the same workgroup name, enable file and print sharing and then share out the c drive. Remember, Microsoft's supported way of viewing PC's on a network is by using Start, search, and find computer - not by browsing Network Neighborhood!

Hope this helps!

by one_night_man

Try using TCP/IP... Add the protocol in th Network settings and try giving each computer a static IP Address. Then use sharing to access the computer through the network. If this works, then your network is fine, and your problrm might be in the software you are using.

by cowen80194

Make sure you have your settings for your ISP correctly typed n the DNS fields and if you have a static IP or dynamic IP also check that you have the GATEWAY settings correct. My system (computer A) is actually connected to the Internet with information assigned by my ISP. Now depending on the "PROXY? you use, for example my internal computers B - F have information that points back to the (Computer A). In my case I assign the GATEWAY using the IP number for (Computer A) the rest of the information is assigned by the DHCP service by (Computer A) you can also point the DNS settings back to (Computer A) this works well for my setup. Normally WINS is left disabled unless you are instructed that you need it. EACH COMPUTER NAME and IP Must be unique you can not have 2 of the same numbers MS will shut down both ends until one of them changes the best selection is assign automatically but you have to have a DHCP service running if you are not sure or are not using one then you must assign a number that is on the same SUBNET and in the same IP range but that number can not exist on the internet anywhere Check your documentation for DHCP.

Software well MS Windows has made networking easy with MS Netw3orking protocols and drivers the only one you may have to find is the Network card drivers since Windows may not have that driver.

Are you wanting to just get the Internet or share files too....

What you need for the Internet is
Client for Microsoft Networks
Your Network card?s driver and
The TCP/IP Protocol

To share files you will need IPX/SPX or NetBeui and the File and Printer Sharing Service.

Net Bios is not necessary and is of some security concerns also make sure you password all shares and make them long and complex don?t use simple passwords on shares.

by cowen80194

To setup go to Start and Settings and Control Panel and Network if you see the Network card click on ADD and add the above protocols from MICROSOFT.

There are more Clients, Protocols, and Services of which each has its own purpose depending on Windows Version and your network setup. I have referenced what you posted above
Client for Microsoft and TCPIP can be found under the title Microsoft,
Even ?Printer and File sharing? and IPX/SPX if that is something you wish to do can be found underMicrosoft. The others are for different network types.

IMPORTANT:
On the Identification table under Network settings you need to give the computer a Name and each device should be on a Workgroup I don?t use the one MS suggests the description is just a place for a comment.

The Access Control tab is not of much concern for your question.

Make sure you have your Windows CD you will need that. Hope this clears things up.

by lordinfidel

The only things you need on a MS netwk is

Client for MS netwks
File and Print sharing
TCP/IP

That is it.... Nothing more.... Anything else is just a frivolous waste of netwk traffic.

If you are on a novell netwk, then yes, you will need IPX/SPX installed and bound in the correct order on your netwk adapter.

If you are an extremely small office and have no gumption to get on the net and you have no idea what you are doing, then use NetBeui for communication.

The point is, choose1 protocol and stick with it.

NetBios (latest version) is called NetBT (or NetBios over TCP/IP). It is used by default for MS Networks.

You lost me on the entire 1st part of your post, but essentially while I beleive you mean well, don't handout advice if your not really sure what you are saying. You confused even me.

Not trying to be mean, just be careful as to the advice you dole out.

by nixer

Thanks for all of the great help. It will certainly help.

LordInfidel,

I am confused as to the advice you thought I was trying to give? In the first part of my post I was simply wondering about connecting to a firewall. I certainly didn't meanto come off like I was trying to dole out adivse.

I downloaded a product called smoothwall and I am using a crossover cable to connect to it. I am able to view the administration pages that come with the package, but all to often I'll atempt to follow a link on the page and the page will time out. As an example .. the documentation says to upload new firmware if I am using a ADSL modem. I attempt to upload the file and always receive a page timed out response.

I basically just wanted tomake sure that there wasn't something wrong with the way I was trying to connect to the firewall.

Thanks for all the help...

by lordinfidel

It was the other person....

Just follow the way the thread goes....

When you see a post underneath another, it is generally a reply to that post, not to the original.

If you noticed, my 1st post was directly under yours. My second post wasa correction to somone who posted to you.

Your issue

Basically what is happening is that while you can connect and view pages on the firewall, you can not see past the firewall.

So either your firewall is
A) Not set up correctly to allow http traffic out.
B) Not set up to forward packets.
c) Not set up to allow DNS Queries out

Or your client system
A) Does not have a gateway set up
B) Does not have a DNS server specified
C) Does not have a route in it's routing table
for the net (dest 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 gtwy x.x.x.x)

Or a combination of
A) Client machine has pvt ip address, fwl has public IP, but no NAT is set up on the firewall to translate and forward packets.

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