-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Home network
- From: "Bashful Bob" <Bashfulbob@xxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 01:01:43 -0500
Hi Don
OK here is the topology that I understand you want to end up with. Please
correct me if I am wrong.
You want all three puters to connect to the router directly.
Puter 8300 and L466c will be connected to the KVM switch. The printer you
want will be connected to the L466c.
Now for the what ifs.
Lets say all 3 puters are on. OK here is a big question I have and the
assumption I am making. Now both computers (L466c and 8300) that you will
be using the KVM switch on, will be active and accessible form the net and
through the router at any time. Is that correct?????
The one puter that is NOT being used with the keyboard, but on, can be or
could be accessed by the other two puters if all 3 are in a network
workgroup. Is this correct???
There is one thing I need to know. Now I am assuming here that both puters
connected to the switch are active. So lets say that one of those computers
collect the mail from your ISP, the mail program (assuming OE) is set up to
download email from your mail box automatically every 5 minutes. If this
computer can do the accessing of the mail box with out you being connected
to it through the KVM switch then it does not make a difference which put
gets the mail. If this can be done then I would install the email server on
the puter that will NOT be used the most. I am assuming that both of you are
getting your email from one email box and that is the reason you want an
email server. It is intuitively obvious that the email server puter would
have to allow access to it from all 3 puters (with or without a workgroup
set up) to function as you want. Now whether a network of your 3 puters
would have to be set up to accomplish this, (but you are going to need a
network set up any way to access each others files and the printer) I do not
know since I have never been involved in setting up an email server.
What I would suggest for you to consider is getting another email box at
your ISP and have it for the other person. Some ISP's will not charge for a
second box some do. This way, you will not need an email server and each can
access their own mail box and each emails remain private. You still can have
one puter on the KVM switch, but not using the keyboard, access and download
your email. Then when you want to read your email, just throw the switch.
Now for the network.
You can set up a work group through Network Neighborhood for all 3 puters
without having ICS. Here is where XP PRO will want to be boss over the other
OS's you have and will be using. That is ok. You just have to follow the set
up instructions for it. Then you will have to set up a file and printer
sharing. In the file sharing part, you can set up permissions for read,
write, and deleting files for those files you want to share. I suggest you
use passwords to protect the files from unauthorized sources.
Printer
Assuming the printer is installed on one of the puters on the KVM switch and
that computer can be access by the other two puters when that puter is NOT
connected to the KVM switch, I suggest you install it on the putter that
will be used the least. Can the printer be on 24/7 or is their a feature on
it that it will turn its self off after a certain amount of time has
elapsed? You will not be able to hook up the printer to the router since it
is not a network printer.
Alternate scenario
Now if the puter that is not being used through the KVM switch can NOT be
accessed when the switch is not set to work with it, then you will have to
set up the mail server and printer on the third computer so any puter can
access them at any time since it is going to be on 24/7. Here I think this
puter should be the fastest one. You still could use the 2 mailbox scenario
here if you choose and the workgroup too.
Hope I understand (finally) how you want things and that this is of some
benefit to you.
Life is what happens in between plans.
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Don" <dsw32952@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 5:21 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Home network
>
> ----- 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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