Network trouble

[ArBiTaL 24]

I've got a network just set up (i've posted in here recently asking about some stuff). My network layout is basically like this:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/arbital24/mynewnet.JPG

With a Netgear FR114P router/firewall thingy. THe "server" is installed with Win2K3 enterprise server OS, and it's basically doing not much at the moment. It will be sharing print services eventually, and hosting my website, although i haven't got a clue how to configure it all and all the controls in the server OS are confusing me, lol

***EDITED***
Original question *sorted*, new questions below!!

[ArBiTaL 24]

Ok, first proper question #1:

The computer I have in the other room, running Windows 2000, isn't seeing the network. It will ping properly the router, and the server, and i can log on to the router from the machine, so i know the cabling is all fine and they can speak to each other.

However, I have the printer shared on the server, and the other computer on Win2K can't see it. Also, if i try and access the workgroup (let's call it "blah") from the Win2k machine, it says it isn't accessable at the moment. Also, If i try and access the Win2k machine from the server, it says that it's not accessable (and stuff about you might not have the correct permission, etc)

Any ideas? Thanks :)


***EDIT***

I got really confused with the server, and it started acting funny (it kept saying the network was connected, then disconnected, then connected... blah, blah). So I formatted, and am now installing Windows 2000 for the time being, as I have to leave soon until the weekend and I needed to get Internet working before I leave.

Therefore, I'll just set up the print sharing on the server (with Win2k) for now, and maybe try server again later when I have more time.

Q2: The Internet sometimes really slows down and acts unreliable. I'm on the router; is there a comon reason for this?

Q3: I've heard that Domains are much more secure and better access control than workgroups. If I get server working again, should I set it up as a Domain? And how would I go about doing that? (I did add the "domain controller" option when it was a server, and had a quick glance, but it all looked very confusing. All this active directory stuff, etc).

Q4: Does my router need any extra special configuration, or is it ok running as it is? I.e, is the firewall working fine on default config, or are there and extra special rules i have to add or something?

Thanks :)

[stan03]

i can't answer some of the questions, but for q2, does the internet slow down for all computers? or just one? is this network wireless?

[ArBiTaL 24]

It's a wired network, and it slows down at least for my main rig.
It seems ok all at the moment, so ignore Q2 for now :)

Q5: I've just set up my printer local to my server, and it's working. It's also shared, but when i try and add a printer from this machine (my main rig), using the add new network printer thingy it can't see the printer or even the network. The server is running 2K
Any ideas? Anyone?

***EDIT***

Right, i've put Windows 2000 server on the server, *sort-of* configured it, and I still can't see the printer from the other machines. Nor will they see the network on my workgroup.

I *think* I've configured a domain. How do I add the computers to the domain? when i try from the computers to add my domain, it tells me that it can't find it or something :(

[KaHNZa]

Make sure you didn't install DHCP services on the server. And to add the computers to the domain, you have to setup the users on the server, and then add those computers to the domain by right-clicking on My Computer, Network Idendtification Tab, and clicking the Network ID button. To do that you need Domain Admin priveledges. This would be SOOO much easier if we were in the same room.

[ArBiTaL 24]

How can I tell if my computer is a / make it a domain controller? Hmmm... I set up the computer by computer name and a user in the active directory thingy on the server, and tried to connect, and it still says it isn't there... (through network ID)...:(

[KaHNZa]

Is there anyway you can set this up without the router? I think that it and the server are interfering with each other.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Hmmm, i'm not sure.... In what way? The server is there to share the printer, the router is there to connect all the computers and it *has* a print-server built in, but it's only for parallel, not USB.

[KaHNZa]

Do you need all the advanced features of Win2k Server? Or are you just playing around to learn? Because if you installed DHCP services on the server it could be interfering with the DHCP on the router. DHCP= Automatic IP assigning.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Well, i've had Win2K3 server on there before, then I put on 2000, and now this.... I was kinda hoping to use it to configure a domain, to learn more about networking, but I guess I could just put 2k back on for now until I learn more... I just need to share a printer at the moment, really :)

***EDIT***

Right, formatting, putting 2k back on the server. Also, when i try and access my workgroup from my rig or the other computer, the error i get is basically "The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available" (there's a little bit of text before that, but it's different for 2k and XP).

Does this give any extra ideas?


***EDITED AGAIN (saving thread space :))***



Right, Win2k is on now, and can see all 4 computers on the network (in my workgroup), but i cannot access any of them from the server, it says

"\\(computer-name) is not accessable"
"The network path was not found"

That's on the server. For some strange reason, even though it's 2k the same as the other deesktop (not my rig), but when i open "my network places" on the server, and "computers near me", it shows the 4 machines, and on the other desktop is shows "JSNET" workgroup, which i cannot access at all (see last post)

What's going on? someone please help me get this working, it needs to be done ASAP and i'm only at home on weekends :(

[dkdgbroyles]

Well I had something simular where my main rig couldn't connect to any printers. My problem was my firewall. I think some routers have built-in firewalls?Also , to share internet connection without a router all you need is an extra ethernet card on the rig sharing (rig to modem) connected to a switch.Make sure you enable DNS under TCP/IP in the control panel under network for the other rigs sharing.As for firewalls, they are a pain sometimes, you just need to configure it.

[Armitage]

First of all, what is the purpose of this network and the server in question? Are you just trying to share a printer and maybe some file sharing? If that is all you are trying to accomplish, don't bother with a domain controller. I would only install a domain controller if you wanted to also run an Exchange server to handle all the mail coming into a network for example. What you should do is get yourself a good 10/100 switch to put behind the router and connect all of your machines to that. What KaHNZa said is completely correct. A domain controller will be trying to assign IPs to machines that are logged in / connected to it. If you don't NEED a domain controller, don't configure one and use workgroups instead.

As far as security being better with a domain compared to a workgroup, I would disagree ... they are both bad when shares come into play. What you need is a good firewall (not the firewall crap that is on the router). Either dedicate a box to run a linux IPV6 firewall, or purchase a dedicated hardware firewall; the latter will cost you infinitely more money.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Originally posted by dkdgbroyles
Well I had something simular where my main rig couldn't connect to any printers. My problem was my firewall. I think some routers have built-in firewalls?Also , to share internet connection without a router all you need is an extra ethernet card on the rig sharing (rig to modem) connected to a switch.Make sure you enable DNS under TCP/IP in the control panel under network for the other rigs sharing.As for firewalls, they are a pain sometimes, you just need to configure it.

Yea, it's a combined switch/router firewall.
I don't have an option called TCP/IP in control panel, but I think it's enabled... All the machines can access the Internet, but not the network as such (they can see each other, but not connect to.

Do I need a DNS server on the server rig? If so, would I need a server OS for this?
However, I believe you should be able to access any resources on a machine over a network without having a server... We do that in college with Win98 and it works fine (although that's just using hubs, not firewalls or routers).

I'm a complete n00b with this stuff anyway. I can't really tweak my router to do things because I don't understand them; I think this router was designed for IT professionals and network admins, not home users. I can understand some of the settings, but some I don't know.



Originally posted by Armitage
First of all, what is the purpose of this network and the server in question? Are you just trying to share a printer and maybe some file sharing? If that is all you are trying to accomplish, don't bother with a domain controller. I would only install a domain controller if you wanted to also run an Exchange server to handle all the mail coming into a network for example. What you should do is get yourself a good 10/100 switch to put behind the router and connect all of your machines to that. What KaHNZa said is completely correct. A domain controller will be trying to assign IPs to machines that are logged in / connected to it. If you don't NEED a domain controller, don't configure one and use workgroups instead.

As far as security being better with a domain compared to a workgroup, I would disagree ... they are both bad when shares come into play. What you need is a good firewall (not the firewall crap that is on the router). Either dedicate a box to run a linux IPV6 firewall, or purchase a dedicated hardware firewall; the latter will cost you infinitely more money.


The purpose primarially is to give all computers on the network access to my USB printer, and share files with each other (like a shared folder on the server).
That's OK, i'll run with workgroups, however, I shouldn't need a switch, as one is built into the router.

As for security, it's actually marketed as a "Firewall/print server", and all over the box it's marked as having advanced firewall features, better than any other router, so, it's not mainly a router but a firewall, and it prob just as good (for my purposes anyways) as a dedicated firewall. It also passed 100% with the tests on "Shields UP!".

[Armitage]

If you get a 10/100 switch to put behind the router/firewall and connect all the machines to that, the firewall is taken out of the equation. The firewall should ONLY be between the intenet and your internal network, NOT between machines inside the network.

Which router do you have?

[ArBiTaL 24]

Sorry, your first post was posted as i was typing the reply to dkdgbroyles. I have edited my last post to comment on your post :)

As for the firewall, it's a Netgear FR114P firewall/print server. Do i need a dedicated switch? I thought the problems I was having was maybe due to an incorrectly configured OS or firewall?

EDIT: Linky to router (http://www.netgear.co.uk/html/prod_routers_bband_fr114p.htm).

[dkdgbroyles]

Let me see, just trying to narrow things down. Do you have "file and printer sharing" enabled under control panel/network?

[ArBiTaL 24]

Yep, I have the file/print sharing protocol enabled. This is kinda tricky because we do networking at college on '98, which is different to XP. We do 2000 too, but for some reason that always works, lol. It may be because I have different OSs in use here - my main rig has XP pro, as does my lappie, the other 2 have 2K but I really think server (2k or 2k3) would be better if i could understand it :/

[dkdgbroyles]

Well I have Me and xp on a network and I gave up on sharing printers for a while but I could get into each computer's files. Like I said it was my firewalls that weren't configured properly. On one of my rigs I was forced to delete the firewall but I kept the firewall that was directly hooked up to my modem.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Hmm, well I have norton internet security (with a firewall), and a hardware firewall in my router... Maybe that's causing the problem?

[dkdgbroyles]

Wouldn't hurt trying, disable it on all rigs then try again.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Hehehe, I can now access the systems on the rigs i disabled norton on, funny how these things work :)

Although for some reason my computer has disappeared from the list of computers on the server, though i think i know why this is...

I still can't see that shared printer on the server though....

[dkdgbroyles]

under add printer on the control panel,go into that and add through the network

[ArBiTaL 24]

I got it working in the end, I couldn't do it that way so I just accessed the server and added it through the shared printer that way, thanks for the help :)

It also seems as though the other problems I was having earlier, with the systems not seeing each other, was also due to this :)

I'll pop out sometime and get Norton AV 2004, so i can uninstall this internet security..

One thing though, would it be worth sometime in the future putting a server OS back on the server, and fiddling with domains and such, to try and learn about all this active directory and domains and stuff? Or can anyone explain it all to me or knows a good guide which may help?

Thanks :)