How To Configure Peer To Peer Workgroup Network Step By Step Guide

Transcript

How to configure peer to peer workgroup network step by step Guide      Workgroup networking is the most m ost essentials part of computer networking. From our tutorials on workgroup networking in this article we would set up a practice workgroup network in lab environment. For this practice you need 4 computers, internet connection, printer and installation media of XP professional and Vista. You could use Vmware or any other virtual pc software to simulate the computers if you are doing this practice on a single pc. I personally prefer Vmware. If you are setting up this network in real life environment like cyber café or any small office consider the following approach before taking any final decision on workgroup network Determine your requirements Choose between wired and wireless media Map your physical network Map your logical network Create a utilization plan I assume that you have gone through these steps and come up with a plan to use 4 computers with star topology for this network. Computers 4 With any descriptive Name Operating system windows XP professional and vista vista Topology Star Printer One Modem One Workgroup Name SOFTWARE Now it's time to implement our workgroup network Install XP professional on three systems and Vista on one system. During the installation process computer and workgroup name are automatically generated. You could use these names but it would be better to have a good and descriptive name. To change computer and workgroup name Right-click on My Computer and select Properties, or open the System applet from Control Panel. Select the Computer Name tab ==> click Change to open the Computer Name Changes dialog box. Follow this guideline while choosing name for computer and workgroup  Computer name should be unique in a workgroup.  Workgroup name should be same for all computer.   Workgroup name may be up to 15 characters long and may contain any alphanumeric (a-z and 0-9) characters, as well as special characters except for ; : " < > * + = \ | ?. Computer name can be up to 15 characters long and have the same naming restrictions as workgroup. In addition, the computer name cannot be the same as the workgroup name. Enter a new computer name in the Computer Name field and new workgroup name in Workgroup field and click OK. Select the Computer Name tab ==> click Change to open the Computer Name Changes dialog box. Follow this guideline while choosing name for computer and workgroup  Computer name should be unique in a workgroup.  Workgroup name should be same for all computer.   Workgroup name may be up to 15 characters long and may contain any alphanumeric (a-z and 0-9) characters, as well as special characters except for ; : " < > * + = \ | ?. Computer name can be up to 15 characters long and have the same naming restrictions as workgroup. In addition, the computer name cannot be the same as the workgroup name. Enter a new computer name in the Computer Name field and new workgroup name in Workgroup field and click OK. You will be prompted to restart your computer to complete the name change. Click yes to restart your computer. We have completed our first necessary step. Now its time to configure LAN card. Configure LAN card First check LAN card driver  Right Click on My Computer ==> properties ==> Hardware ==> Device manager ==> Network Adaptor ==> Check here (also check under the other devices tag) Situation:- Showing Description:- Installed and working properly Situation:-Showing with Yellow sign Description:- LAN card driver is corrupted Solution:- Install lan card driver. Situation:- Showing with Red Cross Description:- Either cable is unplugged or LAN card is disabled Solution:- My network places ==> properties ==> local area connection ==> right click ==> Enable (Follow only if Lan card is disable ) Check whether network cable is plugged or not Situation:-Not Showing Description:- LAN card is not detected yet ( Check for physical installation) Solution:- Open the cabinet and check f or physical detection Check Bios ==> On bord Lan Option should be enable Checking LAN card in Network place How to show my network place on Desktop? Right click on the free space of desktop ==>Customize desktop ==>check mark on My network places ==> Apply ==> Ok My network place ==> properties ==>local area connection Situation:- Showing Description:- Installed and working properly Situation:-Showing with Red Cross Description:-cable is unplugged Solution:-Check whether network cable is plugged or not Situation:-Showing with Yellow sign Description:-LAN is working on Automatic private IP. Solution:- assign manually IP address Situation:-Showing with disable Description:-LAN is disabled Solution:-My network places ==> Local area connection ==> Right click ==> Enable (Follow only if Lan card is disable ) Situation:-Showing with firewall Description:-LAN is firewall protected Solution:-There is no need to on firewall unless you are connecting with internet. To turn off firewall My network place ==> properties ==>local area connection ==> properties ==>Aadvanced ==>Settings Genral==> Off Next step is to check 4 necessary configuration in LAN card properties     LAN cards drives Client for Microsoft network File and printer sharing services Internet protocols (TCP/IP) If you don't found any of these here and than install that by using install button before going further Once you have completed these steps than go to our next article How to configure peer to peer workgroup network step by step Guide PartII In our previous article we have completed the perquisite of peer to peer workgroup network. In this article we would configure IP address and Run Set up a home or small office Network Wizard. Configure IP address Select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. You will be presented with the following dialog box: Use the following IP address or choose the IP address you have been assigned by your company PC1-LAN1 PC1-LAN2 PC2 PC3 PC4 IP address 192.168.1.2 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.5 192.168.1.6 Subnet mask 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 Preferred DNS server 202.56.224.153 202.56.224.153 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3  Alternate DNS server ----------- ----------- 202.56.230.6 202.56.230.6 ----------- In our previous article we have completed the perquisite of peer to peer workgroup network. In this article we would configure IP address and Run Set up a home or small office Network Wizard. Configure IP address Select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. You will be presented with the following dialog box: Use the following IP address or choose the IP address you have been assigned by your company PC1-LAN1 PC1-LAN2 PC2 PC3 PC4 IP address 192.168.1.2 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.5 192.168.1.6 Subnet mask 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 Preferred DNS server 202.56.224.153 202.56.224.153 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3 192.168.1.3  Alternate DNS server ----------- ----------- 202.56.230.6 202.56.230.6 ----------- Next Step:- Run Set up a home or small office Network Wizard XP have a nice feature to make your tasks much easier called set up a home or small office network wizard. By This wizard you can share internet connection, set up widows firewall. Share printer, share file and folder. To Run this wizard My Network Place ==> Properties ==> Set up a home or small office network wizard ==> Click on Next Here your are asked to check all necessary components In this step select the statement that meet your internet requirement You should choose first option when your computer is directly connected to internet as shown in figure You should choose second option when your computer is connected to internet via other computer as shown in figure In this step you can change computer name ( Not recommended, for this use my computer’s properties ) Now set correct workgroup name (Default will be MSHOME) This is the summary of options you have selected if you have made any mistake go back and correct Wizard is setting up your workgroup Choose last option to finish this wizard Click on finish  As the system setting has changed you should be prompt for restart Click on yes How to configure peer to peer workgroup network step by step Guide part-III In our previous articles we have configured workgroup networking for XP. In this article we would configure Vista to join our workgroup network. Vista does not have any inbuilt wizard to configure workgroup networking automatically. You need to make these setting in vista manually. On Vista Follow these Steps On Desktop ==> Select My Computer ==> Right Click ==> Select properties Select Change Setting ( administrative permission will be require ) Click on Change Change Computer name and workgroup name as per guideline given in previous article . Save the change ( Reboot will require)  After Reboot ==> Right Click on My Network Place ==> Properties Now trun on Network discovery, File sharing, Printer Sharing Click on Manage network connections Select Local Area Connection ==> Properties ( all possible sitution of LAN card will be same as XP ) By Default vista will include More options used for IPv6 ( Just uncheck these options ) select Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) ==> properties now give the IP address ==> ok ==> ok Now open My network place ==> Click to change Select Turn on network discovery and file sharing If you could see all computers in my network place than its times to cheers you have successfully configured workgroup Share files folder devices printers in peer to peer workgroup network We have configured workgroup network. Now in this article we would share file, folder and printer in workgroup network. In Window XP home edition we only have Simple File Sharing option which does not allow us to password protect the shared resources. In Window XP professional we could use advance file sharing to password protect the shared resources. Enable Simple File Sharing on Window W indows s XP Professiona Professionall Simple file sharing is the only available a vailable option in XP home edition and its also selected as default option in professional edition. So we would use simple file sharing in our example. On Xp professional you could check simple file sharing status by going to the Tools menu in Windows Explorer and selecting Folder Options. Select the View tab and scroll to the bottom of the options. Check the b ox next to Use Simple File Sharing Recommended. Trick :- how can we use special file sharing permission in workgroup ? Ans. Just uncheck this option Share file and folder in workgroup network Right click on the folder which you want to share and select Sharing and Security You may get following window if file sharing is not enabled yet. Click on "If you understand the security risks but want to share files without running the wizard, click here." For security reason it would prompt you to use Network Setup Wizard to enable file and sharing. See our previous article if you would like to use Network Setup Wizard. Select Just Enable File Sharing Default sharing mode is read only. In read only mode users can see the shared files and folders but they would not allow to modify them. Click on the check box next to Allow Network Users To Change My Files. and click on ok.  A hand would appear just under the folder once it is shared. To view this shared folder on other workgroup computer open my network. In my network place you would see all computers of workgroup network. Open the computer from which you have just shared the folder . How to share printer in workgroup network   Local printer  is the printer that is attached with system directly. Network printer  is the printer that is attached with other system and use local printer via network. Installing Local printer Local printer is required before you share it on network. To install local printer connect it with system. And check it in printer and fax. Start ==> Setting ==> printer and faxes If you did not see any printer here it means system has not detected the printer yet. You need to install it manually. Click on add a printer This will launch add printer wizard Select Local printer  attached to this computer Select the port on which you have attached the printer Select the manufacturer and model of your printer. if you have printer driver CD then use have disk options give any name to your printer for example OfficePrinter, LabPrinter, any thing that is close to your specification If you want to print test page then choose Yes otherwise select No Click on Finish to complete the Wizard Before sharing on network it's best practice to test the printer. Do some printing. Share Printer in workgroup network Sharing a printer is similar to sharing the folder. Right-click on the printer and select Sharing. You will see the following dialog box. Click on If you understand the security risks................. Select Share This Printer. Provide a name for the shared printer and Click OK sharing hand will appear under your printer Installing Network printer Network printer will be installed on all other computers. To install a network printer Start ==> Setting ==> printer and faxes ==> Add a printer ==> Select Network printer If you know the exact path of printer than type it otherwise Select Browse for a printer  Select the printer  If you want to print test page than choose Yes otherwise select No Click on Finish to complete the Wizard Click on finish. Now you have installed the network printer. You could make it default printer. Right click on printer and select make it default. How to configure Remote Desktop RDP Step By Step Guide RDP remote desktop protocol is a nice feature of XP professional. It is not available in XP home edition. RDP allow you to share the desktop. With RDP you could access desktop from any computers. You need to enable it before use. To enable it follow these steps: Start ==> Control Panel ==> Select Add Or Remove Programs ==> Select Add/Remove Windows Components ==> Select Internet Information Services ==> Click the Details button ==> Select World Wide Web Service ==> Click the Details button ==> Check the Remote Desktop Web Connection checkbox ==> Click OK ==>Click Next ==> Click Finish to complete the wizard To make this update either restart the computer or follow these steps Click Start ==> Select Run ==> Enter Net Stop w3svc ==> click the OK button or press Enter. Click Start ==> Select All Programs ==> Select Microsoft Update ==>Select Scan For Updates ==> Install all critical updates on the host system. Click Start ==> Select Run ==> Enter  Net Start w3svc ==> click the OK button.    Installing Remote Desktop connection on non-XP systems  As I previously said RDP is a feature of XP Professional. But good thing about it is you could install it on other platform also. On other system you need to install it separately form the CD of XP Professional . To install the RDP follow these steps: Insert Windows XP Professional CD in CD or DVD drive. On Welcome To Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks. Click Setup Remote Desktop Connection from the What Do You Want To Do Screen. The InstallShield Wizard will open; click Next on the Welcome To The InstallShield Wizard for Remote Desktop Connection. Read and accept the license agreement and click Next. Enter the customer name and organization, and specify whether the desktop connection is to be available to all users or only the logged in user and click Next. Click Install. Click Finish. Once RDP is install you could access it by clicking Start ==> Programs ==> Accessories ==> Communications ==> Remote Desktop Connection or b y opening a command prompt and typing mstsc.         Firewall settings Window firewall must be open for RDP before you start working with RDP. You could either turn off the firewall or configure it to allow the RDP. If you are using RDP only in local network with trusted computers than you could turn off the window firewall. But if you are using RDP over the un-trusted network its better to use firewall. To configure windows firewall follow these steps : Click Start. Click Control Panel.  Access the Windows Firewall menu (by clicking Windows Firewall using Control Panel's Category View or by clickingSecurity Center and selecting Windows Firewall using the Classic Vew). Click the Exceptions tab. Confirm the Remote Desktop checkbox is checked and isn't overridden by a group policy. When working with other firewalls, it's usually best that port 3389 (and port 80) be opened to enable Terminal Services traffic (and the connection to the Remote Desktop application). This is especially true when attempting to connect to Small Business Server 2003 desktops.      Enabling user access Create an user account with administrative privilege. Click Start. Click Control Panel. Click User accounts    Click on Create a new account Enter the name for new account Now create password for this account By default remote access is disabled. We need to enable it from my computer properties Right click on My Computer and select properties Click the Remote tab. Checked the Allow Users To Connect Remotely To This Computer. Click the Select Remote Users button     Click the Add button. Now click on advance Now we need to add our user in Remote desktop users group which by default have permission to access system remotely. Click OK to close the Select Users window. Click OK to close the Remote Desktop Users window By default, any members of the Administrators group can connect to the system, even if they're not specifically authorized using the Remote Desktop Users window.   Connecting with Remote Desktop from other computer We have successfully configured RDP. Now go on other computer and follow these steps to access that computer remotely Click on Start. Select Run. Typing mstsc and click OK. Alternatively, one can: Click Start. Click All Programs. Click Accessories. Click Communications. Click Remote Desktop Connection.         Type the ip address of the computer where we have configured RDP Give the user name and password Now you can access computer when you have finished you can disconnects the session. start ==> Disconnects How to configure Share My Dial Up Internet Connection step by step Guides In this article we would share dial up internet connection. We have configured workgroup and shared folder and printer in our previous article. Sharing internet connection is the next logical step in getting everybody online. If you have installed an Internet gateway, chances are that you are already online. Windows XP Internet Connection Sharing allows your computer to function as an Internet gateway. In this article we would use window xp as internet gateway. How to make dial up connection in XP? To connect with internet via dial-up follow these steps:Physically attach the modem and install driver My network place ==> properties Click on Create a new connection Click on Next Choose Connect to the internet Now choose Connect using a dial-up modem Select Set up my connection manually Fill your ISP's name Now fill the number provided by your ISP Check mark the Add a shortcut to this connection to my desktop Now you can dial from your desktop directly Double click on short-cut Give your user name and password ( will be provided by your ISP's) Now you can see dialing process In few seconds you would be connected with internet How to share the dial up connections? My network places ==> properties ==> Right-click your Internet connection and select Properties. Click the Advanced tab and you will see the following dialog box. Click “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection. Internet connection sharing will change ip address to 192.169.0.1 and enable a simple DHCP server. On all other computers of workgroup network you only need to set ip address to obtain ip address automatically. How to configure ccproxy proxey server step by step Guides In our previous article we have shared dial up connection. In this article we would share internet connection trough proxy server. W e would use CCProxy server in this article. The special point is CCProxy provides 3-user free version of proxy server software. You could download it form here. http://www.youngzsoft.net/ccproxy/    The server is the computer that can access the Internet directly in our Example it is PC1 . Make sure that all clients within LAN are able to access the Server. Suppose the server IP in the LAN is 192.168.1.3, and then 192.168.1.2 is the proxy server address. Run ccproxysetup.exe Click on Next Select the destination path and Click on Ne xt this will install CCProxy Click on finish to lanch CCProxy  Add client's IP into CCProxy Choose one computer in the LAN that needs to access the Internet. Suppose the IP address of the computer is 192.168.1.4 Open CCProxy main window, click "Account" button, then popup "Account Manager" dialog box. Select "Permit Only" in "Permit Category" and select "IP Address" in "Auth Type". Click "New" button, fill"192.168.1.4" in the "IP Address/IP Range", click "Save" and "OK" button CCProxy Server Configuration We will explain the functions of CCProxy in this section. As proxy server software, CCProxy has many useful functions. It's not only Internet connection sharing software, but also Internet access control software. Below we will introduce all functions of CCProxy. Toolbar Zone         Start: To start CCProxy. Stop: To stop CCProxy. Options: To open the options dialog box. Account: To open the account dialog box. Register: To enter registration code. Monitor: To open the online logging monitor . Hide: To hide the interface. Help: Get help document. Online Information Zone    Yellow curve: the current amount of bandwidth. Green curve: the current number of connections. Product Logo Zone  Display the product logo. System Information Zone    U: Double click this option to check for upgrade information. If there is a new version, it will open the upgrade dialog box. 0/0: To display the number of online connections and accounts. The left number is the amount of online connections. The right number is the number of online accounts. Time: To display the server time. Options Dialog Box                   Mail: To start mail proxy service. DNS: To start DNS proxy service. Web Cached: If checked, the HTTP proxy will load and store web pages to the proxy cache. Remote Dial-up: To enable remote dial-up from clients. Auto Startup: If checked, CCProxy interface will start automatically when W indows starts up. Port Map: To start port map service. You can click the "E" button to add or edit the port map rules. HTTP/RTSP: To start HTTP and RTSP proxy service and set proxy port. Secure: To start secure (HTTPS, SSL) proxy service and set proxy port. FTP (Web): To start web ftp proxy service and set proxy port. Gopher: To start gopher proxy service and set proxy port. SOCKS/MMS: To start SOCKS and MMS proxy service and set proxy port. FTP: To start FTP proxy service and set proxy port. Telnet: To start Telnet proxy service and set proxy port. News: To start News and NNTP proxy service and set proxy port. Notes: FTP (Web) proxy service is different from FTP proxy service. FTP (Web) is used in IE browser. IE access FTP site via FTP (W eb) proxy service, and FTP proxy service is used on FTP client software such as CuteFTP, W S-FTP and etc. Local IP Address: To display and set local IP address. If you check "Auto Detect", CCProxy will auto detect which IP is the local IP address and display it in the combox list. If you find that the result is incorrect, you need to uncheck "Auto Detect" and choose the correct local IP address from the list. You can select multiple IP addresses as the local IP address. When you choose one local IP address, you need to check the checkbox beside it. NT Service: If this is checked, CCProxy will be run as Windows service. Advanced: To open the advanced options dialog box.        Dial-up: To configure the dial-up service. Cache: To configure the web-cached function, i.e. cache size, cache update time. Cascading: To configure the cascading proxy, also called parent proxy, service. Log: To configure the proxy logging service, i.e. log size, log type, etc. Mail: To configure the mail proxy service. You can change the mail proxy ports here. Network: To configure the proxy network settings such as server IP address binding, socket idle timeout, etc. Others: To configure the other proxy settings such as interface language, remote admin, etc. Configure IE at client Go to client computer and Right Click on Internet Explorer select properties. Select "Connections", click "LAN Settings" button and open the "Local Area Network(LAN) Settings" dialog box. Check "Use a proxy server for your LAN", Fill "192.168.1.3" in "Address" and "808" in "Port". Click "OK" button in"Local Area Network (LAN) Settings" and "Internet Options" dialog boxes. How to configure web proxy settings in Firefox? Open Firefox Click on Tools and Select Options Advanced==> General ==> Connections Settings: Select "Manual proxy configuration", SOCKS Host:192.168.1.3, Port:1080 and select "SOCKS v5". The other editboxes leave blank.