LAN Problems

[Dash800]

I just put together my own network and got it running with filesharing etc, a 10bt Network. Anyway I got a cable modem installed, hooked it up to my hub, all good so far, Both computers can use it, but thats where things get screwy. Where before in network neighborhood i could see the computer im on, and my other one if its on. Now i SOMETIMES see the one im on, always see 1 or 2 other @home customers (as expected), but i can never get either computer to see the other computer when both are on? The Filesharing is very important to me, im almost thinking about wiping both the computers and starting over

[goldboyd]

Never added a cable modem to a network, yet, but i'm scheduled to do 2 next week, and i've done some reading on the subject. From what i've read, if you just connect the cable modem to the hub, all machines get internet access, but no file sharing, as you said. If you want all the machines to get internet and file sharing, you have to put 2 NIC's in one machine and run a proxy on that machine. So you would connect the cable modem to one nic in your server. And then connect the other nic to the hub.

Once again, thats just second hand knowledge, but hopefully it should help. Good luck

[Dash800]

Well, the guy who installed it (prolly dont know what he was talking about), said i could reinstall filesharing after he was done and itd work fine, apparently it didnt..., and the 2 nics would be not good, because i dont want to have to have one computer on to use the others internet.

[BBA]

With a cable modem, you have to run DHCP unless your ISP has provided you a static ip, and you would know it if thats the case.

With a single cable modem issuing a DHCP address, all machines attached to the modem thru the hub will be issued the same IP at any given lease period. Do you follow? I mean the ip issued will not change for say 24 hours. So, when you turn on the other PC one of 2 things happen:

1. It requests a new ip, and the other machine will recieve a ip error message.

2. Both machines will have the same ip issued and this will be a conflict, so they wont be able to communicate with each other, and teh modems thru-put will be terrible.

So, if you want to use 2 PC's networked to a cable modem, you will have to use one connected directly to the modem thru a NIC running DHCP and have another NIC connecting to the other pc using an assigned static ip and gateway.

With my ISP, my cable modem will only work if it is directly connected to a nic whose mac address matches the address it is assigned to from the isp. This means it wont work thru a hub, so it avoids the DHCP problem you have and I have to call the ISP to reconfigure the modems authentication database if I want to change my Nic.

I use 2 Nic's in my server, and run SYGATE 2.0 as a DHCP/Proxy for the clients. Everyone sees everyone else in network neighborhood this way and It provides a built in firewall because of the proxy/gateway/ip change that happens in the server.

BBA

[Dash800]

Well, i would do that, except both computers have seperate IPs, they should not conflict, i am going to put a linux server up soon so maybe ill just make a firewall with it and do it that way