Web/Printer Sharing on Win2k Network

[L Steele]

Hello,

Our small office (5 PCs running Win2k Professional, laser printer) has ordered DSL service. It is being provided to us without static IP addresses. Is there a way, without installing Win2k server, to set up web and printer sharing within the network? We have a Netgear Fast Ethernet Switch at our disposal too.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Lock
lockhart.steele at consultmag dotcom

[Brett Beggs]

Are your client computers going to have a public address, or will they all be on a private network?

Does your printer connect directly to the LAN, or is it hooked up to a PC via a printer cable?

[Larry Davis_1]

you should purchase a small router (around $100)...nothing special will be needed...though it should be able to dynamically receive an IP from your ISP as well as assign DHCP IPs to users...then connect the switch to the routerl, bingo, bongo, you're done....basically

that's how i have it set up in my home lab with a small netgear router and netgear switch...let me know if you have any questions

[Bill Moore]

I have your situation exactly (except that I use cable instead of DSL). I have a LAN (NT4 PDC, NT4 BDC, 2 Win2K Pro, 1 Win 98, 1 Win ME with shared printers (peer-to-peer). I added cable by simply plugging Cable Modem (could be DSL modem) into Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL Router and downlink cable to Ethernet Hub. The Linksys Router interfaces with ISP and handles IP assignments to users on the LAN via DHCP which is user configurable. Additionally, you can use multiple hard addresses from ISP by entering them into router setup. The router also has DMZ capabilities. Lastly, the router that I use also has 4 10/100 ports, only 3 can be used if you use the downlink to your own hub, so it can be used as both router and switch.

I used a softswitch previously (WinGate) to do the same thing. It worked but required that one machine have to NIC's and ate cycles on that machine. It was also a single point of failure.

One last note, Linksys also has a version of my box which is wireless. It has all the capabilities above with the addition of wireless. There are also versions which have no ports, only the downlink to your hub.