-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Home network
- From: "Don" <dsw32952@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 18:21:33 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bashful Bob" <Bashfulbob@xxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 1:57 AM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Home network
> Hi Don
> Still a little confused probably because I have never dealt with a KVM
> switch.
>
> It looks like you have the KVM switch connected to 3 puters. Can the third
> puter access the other two puters without going through the KVM Switch?
>
> What I had envisioned is that the keyboard would connect to the KVM switch
> (say in the front) and the 2 other puters connect to the KVM switch (in
> the
> back) and those 2 puters connected directly to the router. The third puter
> would be connected to the router directly, without going through the KVM
> switch. How close am I?
***
To use a KVM switch you connect the keyboard, mouse and monitor to one end
of the KVM switch. The other end has two sets of cables... one set goes to
the keyboard, video and mouse connectors on one computer and the other set
goes to the other computer.
At the present time the L466c is not in use. Neither is the KVM. I want to
use the L466c with the KVM switch to avoid losing desktop real estate to a
third keyboard, monitor and mouse. So to simplify things lets just assume
that all three computers have their own monitor and keyboard and mouse.
Connecting the KVM switch will be the easiest part of the networking task
anyway.
>
> Let me tell you about my LAN as I think we are pretty close in the
> topology
> except for keyboards and KVM switch.
>
> I have DSL telephone connection to my ISP and my netgear router connects
> to
> the telephone lines. Then I have 4 puters connected to the router on
> separate ports, all via cat 5 cable. I have two mail boxes with my ISP.
***
I have cable connected to a cable modem that is then plugged into my
router/switch at the WAN port via CAT5 cable.
The 8300 is connected to the Router/switch via CAT5 cable. The 8300
currently has the All-in-One printer and the Kodak EasyShare dock connected
to it.
The 2350 is also connected to the Router/switch via CAT5 cable. There is
nothing of any consequence connected to it.
The L466c is sitting on the shelf going to waste.
>
> Puter #1 is mine and is a dual boot 98SE and Win2k. I use 98 primarily. I
> have printer #1 hooked directly up to this puter. This is usual the puter
> I
> use when playing on the net and doing most of my school work when I am
> home.
> I also have an extra HD in it that has Linux Red Hat 9 and XP PRO on it. I
> only connect (disconnect the flat cable from the dual booted HD with 98
> and
> win2k and connect the flat cable to the HD with Linux on it) it up to the
> puter when I have something specific to do on it.
***
The 8300 is my computer. It is my primary computer and is used to surf the
net and email, plus typical home user applications. It has two SATA hard
drives in it. One has Win XP Pro, the other has Win XP Home. Based on
earlier comments I will likely remove Pro and install it on the L466c
instead. I want to move the printer to the L466c.
>
> Puter #2 is the little woman's and has 98 SE OS with printer #2 connected
> directly to it. She uses her puter a lot and we both usual use this
> printer
> when we print anything.
The 2350 is my roommates computer. It is used primarily for Internet and
email. Chatting with voice and video. Very little else is done with it.
>
> Computer #3 is a 266 with Linux Red Hat 8 on it. No printer is attached. I
> use it very seldom,
***
The L466c is the computer I would like to put the printer onto and also use
as an email server if that is practical (My picture groups dump lots of mail
24/7 and I need to constantly have a puter on to receive it or risk
overflowing my mailboxes.) It will also serve as a backup computer... store
disk images of the other two computers plus whatever else needs frequent
backup. (Yes, I understand I will likely need to write the image to a local
drive and then move it to the L466c... software I can afford probably will
not image across a network.) I have a second printer that I may or may not
connect also just to get it out of the closet.
>
> Computer #4 is a Laptop with XP PRO on it. I am able to connect to the
> router with a cable any time I want too. I can access the net any time it
> is
> hooded up to the router.
***
The fourth computer has a bad integrated controller card and is a pain to
work around it so it is not even in the picture. A laptop will likely be
added when we begin traveling to NC more often but I'll worry about that
when it happens.
>
> Puters #1, 2, and 3 are configured with file and printer share network.
> The
> files in the puters are all protected with access passwords and are only
> set
> up to be shared when we need to get into each other files for some reason.
> There is no ICS configured or set up.
***
There is no network configuration done at present... I want to establish
full printer and file sharing across all three computers for those
occassions when it is needed. Right now I burn a lot of CDs or DVDs and
pass them over to my roommate. Would much rather tell him to go look in a
folder on network drive L. Also, sharing will allow both of us to print
instead of him passing all his stuff to me to do.
There is no ICS configured or setup and I do NOT want it. I need all three
computers to be able to operate independently of each other.
> Puter #4, the laptop with XP PRO wants to be the boss of the network and
> so
> I have not been able to get it in the network without it being the boss.
> XP
> seems to be that way. So it is not really on the network. It can't see
> the
> other puters files nor can the other puters see the laptop files.
***
I'll avoid having a laptop with XP Pro on it then.
>
> Puters #1, 2, and 3 can send print jobs to any printer. I don't use puter
> 4
> to print stuff at home.
***
I want all three computers to be able to print also.
>
> Mail boxes. Mine is set up to access both mail boxes BUT it is set up to
> only remove mail from the ISP server on my mail box. Her puter is not set
> up
> to access my mail box and her puter is set up to remove her mail off the
> ISP
> mail server. If I remember correctly, there is no extra charge for the
> extra
> mail box.
***
Is it feasible to have the L466c send/receive mail for ALL accounts and then
have the 2350 and 8300 collect mail from it? Would that require special
software?
>
> The router is kind of special as it has 3 different firewalls hard wired
> on
> it and has a switch on the back end. It has a NAT firewall, D0S firewall,
> and an SPI firewall. It cost a little more then the routers that just had
> the NAT firewall on them. There was no installing anything on any puter
> for
> the router to work. Each puter can access the NET without any other puter
> being on. So I do not have ICS running as it is not needed. The router is
> configured to access the ISP and we are connected automatically during
> boot
> up and the router is connected 24/7 to the ISP
***
I don't know about the firewall(s) in my router but between it and my
software firewall Shields Up reports I am totally STEALTH mode to the world.
How would I determine what firewalls are in the router... guess I could go
check the manual or the website. I never even thought about configuring or
anything it... just plugged it all in and played.
> Quite frequently, we have three puters running at the same time and no
> noticeable slow down on any puter; even when I send a print job to her
> printer through the network to her puter.
***
Sometimes when downloading mail other tasks can be a bit bogged down even on
the 8300 with a 3 Gig processor and 512 DDR RAM. That's why it would be
nice to have the email server and let it virus scan the email coming and
going.
>
> Now about your mail server. Let me state up front, that I have never have
> dealt with a mail server program. Unless you want to play with a mail
> server, it seems to me that it is not really needed. The mail is being
> accessed twice, once by the mail server contacting the cable ISP mail
> server
> and once by the other puter accessing your mail server. I don't see an
> advantage here (guess I am missing something). Not ever having cable, I
> would not know if there is something that requires a mail server be
> installed on your end. It also seems to me that the mail server would have
> to be installed on the puter not connected to the KVM switch in order to
> have 24/7 access by all three puters or all three puters accessing the net
> if all three are on? (Hope that makes sense. It is getting late and
> passed
> my bed time)
I'll save the mail server for another time then. It is not a critical
requirement. Just a want to have, not a need to have.
>
> As soon as I got the router set up on the LAN, I started getting hit with
> DoS attacks.
Huh? Did I miss something? Or is that line just out of context? Maybe its
past your bedtime? <grin>
I'm saving all of our messages to reference to, so I can trim off the
excess. I hope that doesn't screw up your reading/replying process....
which, by the way, is VERY much appreciated.
Don
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