A very basic kind of HOW TO question!

[Sanjay_13]

I have one Linksys DSL router, couple of PCs and on C-200 HP Workstation with HP 10.2 running. I want to establish a network connection between them and also want to start internet on HP. Currently both PCs are sharing internet and also can map directories on each other. How to include this new member in my workgroup? Please, help me with some simple steps, I went to SAM and could not figure out what to do, as it says that it is running BIND or something of that sort. I am new and very curious, plese guide me with some simple instructions or redirect me to some basic type of url.
Thanks.

[Mike Hassell]

Sinjay,

The first step is to get the C-200 HP-UX workstation on the network. This requires a little background info, so you can gain an understanding of what each step is accomplishing.

1. The Linksys DSL router is your gateway/router to the internet and it provides the basic network functions. By default it's configuration uses certain network addresses that are used for internal networks. It also users a DHCP server by default that will be used for obtaining the proper address for the HP-UX workstation.

2. Chances are the PCs are running some form of Windows, which acts slightly different on the network than the HP-UX workstation will. They will both be running TCP/IP (type of language), however they will share files and printers differently.

The first step is to configure the HP-UX workstation with the proper network configuration. To do this you'll need to edit the "netconf" file. If the workstation is running CDE or some other form of Xwindows, you'll probably want to use the text editor included, otherwise vi will work. Edit the following file:

/etc/rc.config.d/netconf

You'll want to change the DHCP configuration paramter to 1, for enable. If you find this route to be a bit confusing, you can do the same in SAM. In SAM find the network devices and change the properties so DHCP is enabled.

Once you have completed this, reboot the HP-UX workstation and see if it picks up a new IP address from the Linksys router. To determine this, issue the following command:

ifconfig lan0

where lan0 is your primary network card. If it isn't try using:

lanscan

to determine which network card you are using.

You should see an address such as 192.168.x.x.

This address is only the first part, as you'll also need to ensure that the Linksys passed the proper DNS servers to your HP-UX box as well. Check the following file:

/etc/resolv.conf

This should get you on the network and provide a route to the internet. You may need to get a new web browser, Netscape for example:

ftp -i ftp.netscape.com

look for the latest version of communicator for HP-UX and install it.

As for making it a part of your "workgroup" you'll need a product called Samba, which can be downloaded from:

http://www.samba.org

This makes your HP-UX workstation act as a Windows machine and will give you the ability to share files between the machines.

You'll want to disable BIND on the HP-UX workstation, until you gain a better understanding of name resolution as it is a DNS server itself. You may want to look into setting up a "cahcing only" nameserver on the HP-UX box as that will help your network performance.

Also remember that google is your friend when working with something like this, be sure to try:

http://groups.google.com

Hope that helps you get started.

-Mike