Need help with lan and internet sharing...

Hello, I have two computers, wich are operating with Windows 2000 PROFESSIONAL EDITION, I have 3 nic's, 2 from Micronet & 1 OEM Realtek and a cable modem connection to the internet, I would like to use one of my pc's to become a full time HTTP/FTP/Forums server, and the other pc I just want to use to surf the net, play some games and do work, I would like to have both pc's connected between them in a lan with two nic's and a croosover cable and share the internet connection with the 2nd pc at the same time, while the 3rd nic connects the 1st pc to the cable modem, but I don't know how I can do this with Windows 2000 PRO. and the nic's I have, can anyone explain to me step by step and in a simple way to understand what I have to do to get the lan and internet sharing working for both pc's ? Thank you for your help !

P.S: Oh and by the way, my OEM Realtek nic might not be fully functional, but I will try that 1st, but if it doesn't work, I can still connect my 1st pc to the cable modem by USB connection (but only as a last resort !!!), if I do this, will I still be able to do all the same steps you will teach me to put both pc's in lan and share internet, just like if I was using a nic to connect to the modem ?

Should be simple to set up: I had it running in Windows at one point.

Put one NIC in the server PC. Hook it up to the cable modem and test the connection. Make sure you can download and upload etc.

Then firewall it. Try something like ZoneAlarm or similar.

After that, put the second NIC in the server, and an NIC in the other PC. Get their seperate network up and running. Use an IP address like 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 for the server.

Make sure Internet connection sharing is set up and running on the server, to allow the other PC to access the net through the server. Then set up the other PC.

Sorry I couldn't be more specific, the network I had set up had XP as the server with one Win95 client.

David

I've never tried it that way, but it may be easier to just get a router you can pick up a 4port router for$30-$50 after rebate nowdays, than you'd only need the two nics and you'd have the flexibility to expand if you needed to. Also If you want to have a server hosted You'll need to do some packet forwarding, I believe you can do this with ICS, but never tried it. J&R has a SMC router for 29.88 after a Mail in rebate http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=870017&highlight_key=y&keyword1=smc You'll need ports 80 and 21 forwarded to the server's IP for web and ftp. If you go with a router its a real simple setup attach the two computer to the router, use the routers dhcp and I believe it'll automatically hand out the default gateway and DNS and you're ready to rock and roll(after you reset, or type "ipconfig /release", "ipconfig /renew" in the command line. Idon't have a computer with 2000, so I can't tell ya exactly how ICS works on it.