In the early days of personal computers, the thought
of having more than a single PC in a household was probably as uncommon as
the idea of multiple televisions in households of the 1950's: it simply
didn't happen. But now, just as multiple TVs per home has become the rule
as opposed to the exception, so too has the multiple PC home become
commonplace. (To get tips on what to look for in a new computer, by the
way, check the "Computer
Shopping Tips" article available on this web site.) People have
found that, far from being an extravagance, owning multiple computers
(whether they're PCs or Macs or even both) is extraordinarily practical,
particularly for those households with multiple computer users, such as
just about anyone with kids….
With the growing importance of the Internet, the
dilemma now is figuring out how to get all those computers connected to
the online world. Some people with multiple PCs have chosen to sign up for
multiple online accounts, but in addition to being expensive, this can be
impractical because of all the additional hassles it entails: setting up
multiple phone lines, configuring multiple modems and so on. This is
particularly true for those homes who already have or are interested in
fast, "always on" (sometimes called broadband) connections to
the Internet, such as via cable modems, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line),
satellite and fixed wireles technologies.
As a result, there's a tremendous interest in
figuring out ways to share a single online connection among multiple
computers. Simply put, the best way is to create a home network and then
share the web connection through that network. Home networks offer many
other useful benefits for multiple computer homes-including the ability to
share printers and other peripherals, transfer files, play games and
more-but sharing a single internet connection is widely recognized as
being the "killer application."
Home networks will also be very important in the
future for other types of applications, such as connecting information
appliances and even consumer electronics devices, such as home stereo and
home theater components, to the Internet. Without a home network in a
place, you won’t really be able to take full advantage of some of the
cool new crossover products and technologies that are just starting to
become available.
Finding information on how to create a home network
and shared Internet connection isn't easy, however, and many of the
resources that are available aren't easy to understand. To address these
issues, I've written this article. It offers complete, but straightforward
explanations about both the concepts involved as well as the specific
steps required to create your own home network with a shared Internet
connection.
The Big
Picture
The first thing to understand about this process is
that there are two major steps involved. First, you have to create the
network itself by connecting the appropriate hardware, installing the
necessary software and setting up the computers to communicate with one
another. Once that's done, then you also have to create the shared
Internet connection, which can be done either with software or hardware.
Simply creating a network does not automatically give you a shared
Internet connection. Conversely, you cannot just install Internet
connection sharing software and expect success-you have to have some type
of network in place first.
Depending on the equipment and software you choose to
install, you may find that you can achieve both ends (that is, create a
network and share an Internet connection) with the same piece of hardware,
but that's only because the device is specifically designed to handle both
tasks. (Devices that offer this capability are sometimes referred to as
residential gateways and they are discussed in much more detail later in
this article.) In many cases, the process involves two or more separate
pieces of hardware and/or software. Be aware also that the exact equipment
you need and the procedures you’ll use to set them up vary depending on
what you're using and what you already have. In addition, it’s important
to know that there can be a lot of steps involved….
Getting Wired
(or Unwired)
The first step in creating a network, which is the
first part of the overall process, is figuring out how the machines will
be connected together. Traditionally, this has been done via wired
connections using specialized network cabling and a hardware device known
as a hub, which serves as the common connection point between machines.
Each computer uses (or needs to have installed) a network interface card
(sometimes referred to as an Ethernet card), and the cables are connected
from each PC's network/Ethernet card to the hub. Note that if your PC
already has a network interface card that was installed along with your
cable or DSL modem, you sometimes have to add a second network card to
create your home network.
In many cases, home networks also use this type of
arrangement, but it has one significant drawback. Traditional networks
like this require that new cables be run to the rooms in which the
computers are located. Not surprisingly, many homeowners (and renters)
have no desire to run more wiring throughout their house, especially if it
requires fishing wires through walls, climbing through attics or
crawlspaces and so on. As a result, the computer industry has come up with
several alternatives that are less intrusive or disruptive to the typical
home and, in addition, are simpler to set up.
The first alternative encompasses two choices that
are collectively referred to as "no new wires" techniques. As
the name suggests, these methods use wiring that already exists in all
homes: specifically, phone lines and the electrical lines. Products that
use phone lines conform to the Home Phoneline Networking Association (HPNA)
standard and allow you to network together two or more computers by
plugging them into available phone jacks. Similarly, power-line products
use your home's existing electrical outlets to connect together multiple
PCs. In the case of power-line based products, the standard is called
HomePlug, but it's being adopted very slowly and products that support
have just started to trickle out. Importantly, both phoneline
and power-line products work in such a way that they will not affect the
normal operation of your home's phones or electrical outlets. So, for
example, you can still make and receive calls on the phone lines while
using an HPNA-based phoneline network and you can still plug in and use
any device requiring electricity while using powerline-based networks. In
both cases, the products essentially take advantage of unused “space”
on the respective types of wires.
As appealing as these two options may be, there are
certain limitations. Both mechanisms, for example, are typically slower
than traditional wired network connections. Power-line connections, in
particular, tend to run much more slowly than other alternatives.
Similarly, phoneline products that conform to the HPNA 1.0 standard are
much slower than other options, although HPNA 2.0-compliant products offer
much better performance. To put it into numerical perspective, traditional
wired Ethernet networks commonly run at 10 Megabits per second, or 10
Mbps. (The Mbps number refers to how much data, measured in bits, can be
transferred across the network in a given amount of time.) In addition,
100 Mbps Ethernet, 1 Gigabit (Gbps, or 1,000 Mbps) Ethernet and even faster options are available with traditional
network wiring. Some power-line networks, on the other hand, work at less
than 1 Mbps, while HPNA 1.0 devices run at 1 Mbps and HPNA 2.0 devices
offer up to 10 Mbps.
Other limitations are even more confounding. HPNA
products, for example, must all connect to jacks that use the same phone
number. If you happen to have multiple phone lines and, for example, only
have jacks for the second line in one of the rooms in which your PCs are
located (such as if you set up a dedicated phone line for dial-up Internet
access), you could end having to wire your house with another phone line
(or at least manually rewiring a phone jack) in order to get HPNA products
to work. As far as I'm concerned, this completely defeats the purpose of
HPNA in the first place because it doesn't live up to the promise of
"no new wires." Thankfully, there are some solutions around this
problem in some situations, but it can still be frustrating. Plus, it is
very poorly and, in fact, very rarely, documented.
Power-line products, on the other hand, don't often
work well with the electrical filtering found in power strips, which are
otherwise usually recommended for use with your computer equipment. As a
result, you'll have to be sure you attach power-line networking products
straight to the wall or via a non-filtered outlet. Also, until more HomePlug-compatible products become available, all of the powerline
products are proprietary and won't work with products from other vendors.
The second major alternative to wired networks are
wireless products. Early wireless products were slow and more expensive
than any wired alternatives, but current wireless products offer speeds up to
11 Mbps, in addition to the flexibility and ease of setup provided by a
wireless connection. Cost-wise, however, they still are more expensive
than the other options. Unfortunately, there are several different
wireless alternatives and they are not compatible with each other, so you
need to be careful if you're considering a wireless network. The two
primary standards are Home RF (short for Radio Frequency) and IEEE
802.11b,
which is used in Apple's AirPoint product and Lucent’s Orinoco RG-1000
among others. 802.11b has
been standardized by many major computer and networking vendors and is now
often referred to as Wi-Fi (short for Wireless Fidelity).
As long as all the products you use for your network
conform to one of the two wireless standards you should be OK-even if you
mix and match products from different companies-but to be safe, you should
always check first to make sure that different wireless products can
interoperate with one another. (One other potential future point of
confusion is that neither of these wireless protocols work directly with
another type of wireless networking technology called Bluetooth that's
expected to be available in PDAs, cell phones, notebooks and other types
of devices in the near future.)
Speaking of interconnections-or interoperability, as
folks in the computer business like to say-it is sometimes possible to
connect different kinds of network types together. So, for example, with
the help of a hardware device that's generically referred to as a bridge
(because it "bridges" or connects together two types of
networks), you could have a home network that uses HPNA and Wi-Fi, or
HomePlug and HomeRF or many other possible combinations. Certainly it's
easier (and probably less expensive) if you stick with one main type of
network connection, but be aware that there are
"adapters" available that let multiple different network types
connect together.
After you've decided on the technology you intend to
use to create your home network, you'll need to plug everything in and get
the computers connected. With traditional wired networks, the process
typically entails plugging in an Ethernet-based network card (or taking
advantage of the Ethernet jack built into many of today's PCs and Macs)
and plugging each of the machines into a device called a network hub using
Category 5, or Cat5 cabling. Many companies sell home networking kits that
bundle together everything you need, including the network cards
(sometimes also called network or Ethernet adapters), the hub and the
cable. If you want to, however, you can also purchase the pieces
individually.
With most phoneline, powerline and wireless products,
the process is somewhat similar, although most of the alternatives don't
require a hub and they use different type of cabling (or no cabling at
all!) to make the connections. HPNA products, for example, often come in
the form of a plug-in card that you install inside an open slot within
your PC. Some newer PCs come with HPNA adapters pre-installed and you can
also get external HPNA adapters that attach via your computer's USB
(Universal Serial Bus) ports. Whatever form the adapter takes, all you
have to do is connect it to an available phone jack and you've completed
the physical installation.
Similarly, powerline products install or connect to
your PC and then attach to an available electrical outlet. Wireless
products in some instances are stand-alone devices that plug into an
available expansion slot inside your computer while in others, they are
external and must attach to either a USB port or an Ethernet card or
connector on your computer. In the case of notebook computers, the
wireless products are sometimes built directly into the computer and, in
other cases, are added via a PC Card slot or via some other internal
connector. (If you run into problems installing the
necessary network hardware, you may also want to investigate the "PC
Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" and "Mac
Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" articles that are also available
on this web site.)
In all cases, including traditional wired and the
other alternatives, the next step is to install the required software.
Most hardware devices require the installation of driver software, which
is system-level software that communicates between the operating system
and the device. In addition, in order for computers to communicate, they
have to use an agreed upon "language," which in the case of
computer networks is called a protocol. Several protocols are used on
computer networks but the most common is called TCP/IP, which stands for
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. As its name explains,
TCP/IP is also the language used to communicate between computers on the
Internet. Other protocols used for simple networks include NetBEUI for
Windows-based networks and AppleTalk for Mac-based networks.
The final two pieces of software required to make a
network "work" are network clients, which essentially look for
and talk to other computers connected to the network, and network
services, which is software that allows you to do things such as share
files and printers across the network.
Thankfully, you don't usually need to worry about
manually installing all these different software components because the
software installation process that you go through when installing network
hardware virtually always takes care of it for you. So, for example, when
you attach an Ethernet or HPNA or Wi-Fi card into your PC or your
notebook's PC Card slot, you'll typically be asked to install the
accompanying software. When you do, the installation process usually
installs not only the driver software for the new device, but also the
appropriate networking software pieces.
In some instances, however, you do have to install
these pieces manually (and even if you don't, it's good to know what
exactly is involved in case you need to troubleshoot your network later
on). Should you need to manually install the network clients, adapter
drivers, protocols and services on a Windows 95/98/ME machine, you can do so via
the Networking control panel. (You don't have to worry about this for
Windows NT or 2000 because they presume a network connection and therefore
don't offer a Network Control Panel.) Just open the control panel, click on the
Add… button, select the Network Component Type (such as Protocol) you need from the list,
click Add… again, and choose from the available options. Note that you
may need to have your Windows CD nearby in order to complete the
installation. Also, in almost all cases (except for adapters), you should
select Microsoft from the list of vendors that appears on the left side of
the dialog boxes that appear during this installation process and then
choose from the options that appear on the right.
Be aware that you can mix and match computers with
different versions of Windows on a network. So, for example, you could
network together a desktop with Windows 95, a notebook with Windows 98 or
XP and another desktop with Windows 2000, without any problems. They do
not have to all be running the same versions of Windows.
Crossing the
Chasm
If you happen to have both Macs and PC (or a Mac and
a PC), you can also connect them together in a network, although there are
a few other considerations to bear in mind. Most importantly, you need to
install additional software either on the Mac or the PC (but not both) in
order to allow it to fully communicate with the other. That is, unless
you're using MacOS X.1 or later, which includes built-in support for PC
file and printer and sharing. All previous versions of the MacOS,
including the original release of OS X, do not.
If you aren't yet running MacOS X.1 or later want to
connect a single Mac to a PC network, I would recommend Thursby Systems' DAVE
software, which lets Macs talk to PC networks. If, on the other hand,
you're attaching a lone PC to a Mac network, check out Miramar Systems PC
MacLan, which you install onto a PC in order to let it speak the
language of Mac networks. If you have one Mac and one PC, you can go
either way, but you'll have to choose one option or the other if you want
to share files and printers. (Note that you don’t need any software if
all you want to do is share an Internet between a Mac and a PC. In that
case, you can just use a piece of hardware called either a gateway or
router and connect each of the computers to that device via standard
Ethernet cables. I’ll provide more info on this a bit later in the
article.)
In addition to getting the Macs and PCs speaking
together over the network, you may need file translation software in order
to open Mac files on a PC or PC files on a Mac. Thankfully, versions of
Microsoft Office 98 and later on the Mac and Office 97 and later on the PC
can directly read each other’s files without the need for any
translation. If you have other translation requirements in either
direction, you should visit the Dataviz
web site, where you can get either MacLinkPlus
to install on the Mac or Conversions
Plus to install on the PC. Both programs enable you to translate
between Mac and PC files (such as AppleWorks on a Mac to Word or
WordPerfect on a PC).
Testing the
Connections
Once all the software is successfully installed,
you'll need to reboot your machine to try your network out. Before you do
that, however, make sure that inside the Network control panel of any
Windows-equipped PCs you have connected together, that you give the same
Workgroup name to each computer. You’ll find Workgroup name under the
Identification tab of the Network control panel. For Windows 2000, you can
check for and/or change the Workgroup name through the System Control
Panel and then the Network Identification tab and finally the Properties
button. You can call each
computer by any name you want (each machine must be different), as long as
it’s limited to about 15 characters.
One potential hassle you may run into very quickly is
that, in most cases, when you have a network you'll have to create and a
use a password to log onto Windows. Passwords aren't required for single
computers, but they are for a network, so either get used to it, or
download and install Microsoft's handy TweakUI
control panel (the newly updated version I’ve linked to here works
with every type of Windows from 95 on, despite the fact that this link
comes from a Windows NT section of the Microsoft web site), which lets you
"save" a password and automatically log on whenever you turn on
your Windows-based PC. In the case of Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you can
also tell the system that it can always presume the same user is going to
be logging into the system so that the operating system does it for you
automatically.
To check your network connections, double-click on
the Network Neighborhood or My Network Places icon on your desktop and you should the see other
PCs on your network. (You might need to click on the Entire Network icon
first.) If you do, congratulations, you're now a networking guru! If not,
double check all your hardware connections, ensure that all the necessary
software is installed, double-check your workgroup names and then reboot
your system and try again. (If you want help with software-related
problems, you can also check out the "PC
Software Troubleshooting Tips" and "Mac
Software Troubleshooting Tips" articles that are also available
on this web site.) Windows 98 SE, Windows ME and Windows XP include help files on
Home Networking, by the way, so if you have one of those operating systems
installed on any one of your networked PCs, you can just select Help off
the Start menu and search for home networking support. The help files in
Windows XP are particularly useful.
Once everything is working, you may want to turn file
and print-sharing on if you want to be able to transfer files from one
computer to another on the network or you want to share printers. To do so
in Windows 95/98/ME, double-click on the Network control panel and the click on the File
and Print Sharing… button and select the appropriate check boxes. As I
will discuss later in this article, however, there are some important
security-related issues that may arise when you turn on file sharing,
particularly if you have a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection to the
Internet, so be careful. If you do turn on file sharing, you can get
access to files on the other computer(s) by double-clicking on one of them
in Network Neighborhood or My Network Places. What you'll actually be doing is viewing their
hard drives. Once you have another computer open, you can copy files or
move files over from the machine on which you're working.
One important caveat that I discuss in more detail
later is that if you have a software-based firewall installed on at least
one PC on your network, you may not be able to "see" that
computer or any printers attached to it. While this can be both
frustrating and annoying, it's actually a good thing because it means the
firewall is doing its job of "hiding" that PC from the outside
world. You can quickly get around this limitation by temporarily disabling
the firewall when you need to print or share a file, but just remember to
turn it back on (or "re-enable" it) after you're done. The
specific method for enabling and disabling a firewall varies from program
to program, but all of them should offer an easy, straightforward way to
do so.
Cool Network
Stuff
Before we get into how to share an Internet
connection, I want to spend a few moments discussing the great things you
can now do with your new network. Foremost among these new opportunities
is the ability to share peripherals across the network. Let's say, for
example, that you just bought a nice new color inkjet and connected it to
one of your PCs, but you also have an older laser printer or multifunction
device that you like to print to or fax from as well. What you can do with
a network is attach one device to each computer on the network and then
print to either one from either computer.
All you have to do to make this happen (in addition
to turning on Printer Sharing, that is) is install the appropriate printer
driver software onto each machine. (Simply having a printer attached to a
networked computer will not make it automatically show up on all the other
networked computers, unfortunately.) To network-enable your printers, go
to the Printers Folder and see which printers are already installed.
Ideally, you should just have the one directly connected printer available
to each machine. (If you have the other printer's software already
installed, go ahead and delete it. We're going to re-install it as a
network printer in just a moment.)
Double-click on the Add Printer Wizard and on the
second screen of the wizard, select Network Printer. The only tricky part
of this process comes on the next screen, when you have to type in or
browse for the location of the network printer. All you have to do is
select browse, find the computer on the network to which the printer you
want to use is attached, double click it, and then you should be able to
see and select the printer you want to use. The
final step involves installing the actual printer driver software on the
networked computer. Make sure you're ready by having the CD or floppy disk
that came with the printer with you so that you can insert it at the
appropriate point in the installation process.
Once all the installations are complete, you'll be
able to print to any printer from any computer on the network, which is
really nice. Just remember to choose the printer you want from the Print
dialog box that appears when you go to print from an application. Again,
also remember that if you are using a software firewall--which I highly
recommend you do--you may not be able to "see" any shared
printers unless you temporarily disable the firewall.
Other fun things you can conceivably do with a
network is share a CD- or DVD-ROM drive so that, for example, you could
access a CD or DVD from a computer that doesn't have one. This can be very
handy if, for example, you have a notebook that doesn't have a CD- or DVD-ROM
drive and you want to install some CD-based software onto the notebook
from your desktop computer's CD- or DVD-ROM drive. You can also share
scanners and other peripherals as well as do fun stuff like play networked
games.
Sharing the
Web
OK, now that the network is complete we're finally
ready to talk about sharing your Internet connection (I told you there was
a lot to this….) Before diving into the specifics, I need to explain
conceptually what's involved so that you can understand how the different
mechanisms work and why some are better suited for some applications than
others.
The critical issue is that in order for a computer to
communicate with any other computer on the Internet it needs to have an IP
(Internet Protocol) address. These addresses, which are assigned to
computers either manually or automatically depending on the type of
connection you have to the Internet, are what enable you to, for example,
type in the address of a particular web site and have that web site send
back the contents of its page to your specific computer. Without an IP
address, a request sent to a web site would go unanswered because the site
wouldn't know where to send the information. IP addresses take the form of
four separate numbers (ranging from 0-255) separated by periods. An
example would be 207.30.37.115, which happens to be the IP address of the
web server hosting this web site.
On most types of Internet connections involving a
single computer, IP addresses aren't an issue you would have had to worry
about because they're typically assigned to your computer automatically
when you go to make a connection. What happens is a device at your ISP
(Internet Service Provider) uses a standard called DHCP (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol) to automatically assign an IP address to your PC.
The process occurs by setting certain parameters in software. Importantly,
the IP address that is given to your computer through this dynamic
addressing process, as it's sometimes referred, lasts only the length that
you are online. If you disconnect and then reconnect, your machine will
have a different IP address assigned to it.
Some broadband Internet connections provide (or at
least, used to provide) fixed IP addresses in which you are/were given a
specific IP address that you assigned to your machine by typing it in the
TCP/IP protocol section of the Networking Control Panel. The benefit of a
fixed IP is that you always know what it's going to be. This turns out to
be helpful when it comes to sharing an Internet connection, as you'll
soon see. Many broadband ISPs have begun switching to
dynamic IP addressing, however, as with traditional modem dial-up accounts, and
require you to use a "dialing" program in order to connect to
the Internet. In many cases, ISPs who have this type of arrangement are
using what's called PPPOE (Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet) in order
to implement it. While this isn't necessarily a huge problem for single
computer connections, it can make sharing an Internet connection across a
home network a bit more confusing when you first set up your network. (In
particular, you have to make sure that any hardware or software you use to
share your Internet connection supports PPPOE. Thankfully, nowadays, most
do.)
When it comes to networks, IP addressing issues can become more complicated.
Nevertheless, they are something
you'll have to deal with (or at least know something about), so it's worth
spending some time discussing the basic issues. Again, each
computer on a network has to have an IP address assigned to it in order to
access the Internet. Logically, the easiest way to do this is to give each
computer its own unique IP address. The problem is that most ISPs only
provide you with a single IP address (fixed or dynamic) and charge extra
for additional addresses. With PacBell's DSL service, for example, the
monthly charge is $39 for a single IP address but $79 for an upgraded
service that includes 5 unique addresses.
In order to avoid these additional costs, several
different ways have been developed to "share" a single IP
address across multiple machines on a home network. One of the most common
is to assign an IP address to a single computer on the network that acts
as a proxy for the other computers and through which they make their
Internet connections. With this proxy server method, software running on
the machine that's actually connected to the Internet (called proxy server
software, appropriately enough) takes all the Internet-bound messages
coming from the different PCs on the network and then routes it to the
appropriate location on the web. When it receives data back, this proxy
server software keeps track of which PC sent which request and routes the
appropriate page back to each computer. Practically speaking, what this
means is multiple people on the network can be connecting to different web
sites at the same time and the proxy server software will make sure each
person receives the right stuff.
Several companies make proxy server software, include
Sybergen's Sygate,
Deerfield's WinGate and Ositis
Software's WinProxy, all of which
work with Windows-based PCs. For the Macintosh, there's Sustainable
Networks' IPNetRouter
and VicomSoft's SurfDoubler.
If you want to connect a Mac and PC to a shared Internet account, your
best (and perhaps only) options are VicomSoft's SurfDoubler
or Internet
Gateway,
two cross-platform packages that let you use either the Mac or PC as the
machine that connects to the Internet. (Note that if you have a hardware
router-see below for more-you can share a Mac and a PC connection
without any special software. These products are for sharing without a
router.)
In most cases, there is a small charge for the
software but you may also be able to find shareware or even freeware proxy
servers out on the Internet. Most proxy servers do more than just handle
the juggling of IP addresses, by the way. Many, for example, include basic
firewall security features. One potential drawback with a proxy server
that you need to be aware of is that some Internet plug-ins or helper
applications that work along with your browser need to be specially
configured in order to work properly with a proxy server. (Some proxy
server packages take care of most of this for you.) So, if after you
install a proxy server you notice that you can't hear or see some types of
streaming media, for example, look into making some adjustments to the
plug-in's settings.
Unfortunately, as nice a solution as proxy servers
may be, some of them don't work with PPPOE-based dynamic IP addressing
schemes. In other words, depending on the type of account you have with
your ISP, they might not work.
If you have Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), Windows Millennium Edition
(ME) or Windows XP, another option you have is the Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS) software built into those operating systems.
ICS is not typically installed by default, however, so may have to add it
by going to the Add/Remove Software control panel, selecting the Windows
Setup Tab, double-clicking on Internet Tools and then installing it (be
sure to have your Windows CD ready). In addition to installing ICS on the
main computer connected to the Internet, you'll also need to install the
ICS "client" on each of the other computers on the network.
Thankfully, Windows 98 SE, ME and XP include a wizard that creates a
floppy disk with all the files you need. Simply create that floppy disk
and then walk around to the other machines on the network and install the
necessary files.
ICS essentially works by "fooling" the
Internet connection into thinking that all the requests for information
from different computers on the network are coming from a single machine.
Conceptually, this is similar to how proxy servers work, but because of
differences in the technical implementation of how the addresses are
shared, ICS often does work even with PPPOE-type broadband connections.
Technically, the process that ICS uses is called Network Address
Translation or NAT.
The technical details of how to set up each of these
different proxy servers vary, but the concepts are similar. If you want to
find out more, I have links to several excellent web sites on the Troubleshooting
Resources page of this web site. One particularly good resource is Practically
Networked.
One important point to remember in all of this is that you’ll need to
find or have access to the parameters and settings that your ISP gives you
when you sign up for Internet service. Specifically, you’ll need to know
the IP addresses of the gateway and DNS server addresses in addition to any
possible fixed IP address information (which again, the vast majority of
people do not have).
The Hardware
Alternative
If you don't want to deal with the difficulties of
setting up these software-based systems and/or you don't want to always
have to leave the Internet connected PC turned on--which you have to do
with the software-based systems I've just described in order for the other
computers on your home network to connect through it to the
Internet--you're a great candidate for a hardware-based solution. In other
words, you might want to spend a few more bucks and purchase a dedicated
piece of equipment that you can set up once and then have your entire home
connect through to the Internet. These dedicated routers or
"residential gateways," as they're starting to be referred to,
are one of the hottest areas in home technology.
Once again, there are several different choices
available. Right now, products such as the Linksys EtherFast
Cable/DSL Router
and others like it essentially act as intermediaries between your home
network and your Internet connection. In the case of the Linksys routers,
for example, you attach it directly to your cable or DSL modem (or analog
one, if that's all you've got) and then to the rest of your network. The
company sells one unit with a built-in hub (if you don't already have one)
and another one without the hub (if you do). If you have a hub, you
connect all your PCs to the hub and then you also connect the router to
the hub. They, and other companies, also sell similar units that integrate
support for the 802.11b wireless network standard so that you can combine
both wired and wireless connections in a single network.
One of the primary benefits of this approach is that
you don't need to always leave one computer on-instead you simply leave
this device on and whenever any computer on your network requires an
Internet connection, it handles the connection (in conjunction with your
DSL or cable modem). In addition, having a hardware connection like this
saves you from having to install two networks cards into the main computer
that connects to the Internet.
Another important aspect of these residential gateway
devices is that they can automate (or even eliminate) the often tedious
process or assigning IP addresses to each of your computers. As mentioned
earlier, in order for computer and other devices to talk to other
computers on the Internet, they have to be assigned an IP address of some
kind. What happens with residential gateways is that most of these devices
incorporate a mini-DHCP server inside the box, which means that they can
take care of automatically generating and assigning IP addresses to each
device on your home network that connects to them. The gateway itself has
an IP address—either the automatically assigned IP address from your ISP
via its DHCP server or, if you have one, the fixed IP address from your
ISP. Then the gateway, in turn, assigns IP addresses to your connected
computers. When you first set up a gateway, you need to enter all your ISP
connection settings for it (IP, gateway, DNS addresses, etc.), just as you
did when you first connected your computer to the Internet.
To get your computers to work with the gateway, all
you have to do is tell them to “Obtain an IP address automatically” in
the TCP/IP section of Windows’ Network control panel. In other words,
once you’ve set this option up (and it is the default, by the way, so
you may not even need to take this step) the configuration happens
automatically, which is great—and much, much easier. In case you’re
wondering, the difference between the DHCP server that your gateway might
“listen” to from your ISP (if you don’t have a fixed IP address) and
the DHCP server inside the gateway is that the DHCP server at the ISP
assigns publicly available IP addresses which can be used on the Internet,
whereas the mini-DHCP server inside the residential gateway/router assigns
private IP addresses to your connected computer and these addresses can
only be used on a private network (and won’t work directly on the
Internet—only through the public IP address assigned to the gateway).
Public and private IP address issues can be confusing, but the
gateway/router should take care of this stuff automatically.
In the future, these residential or personal gateway
devices will probably integrate the functions of and take the place of
your cable or DSL modem and hub, which will simplify the setup process. In
other words, instead of having three boxes (e.g., a cable/DSL modem, a
residential gateway/router, and a hub), you might only need one. So, for
example, when you sign up for a high-speed Internet account you might get
a residential gateway box into which you plug in all your home's
PCs--again
perhaps via phoneline networking connections, regular Ethernet
connections, powerline connections, wireless connections or some
combination of them all--and it will take care of everything else for you.
It will serve as a network hub, it will serve as a high-speed modem and it
will serve as bridging device for connecting all the different types of
networking products together. Unfortunately, we're not quite there yet….
In the mean time, you can piece together the equivalent of this dream
solution with several different components, as I've described. By the way,
most residential gateways do not care what type of network they are
attached to. So, they will work with a standard Ethernet network, an HPNA-based
network, an 802.11b-based wireless network and various combinations
thereof.
If you add other devices to your home network, such
as an Internet appliance, wireless web pad, Internet-enabled MP3 music
player, or any other type of Internet-enabled consumer electronics device
you may also have to deal with IP address issues. In most cases, all you
have to do is plug in the device to the network and, by default, it will
search for a DHCP to automatically assign it an IP address. In that case,
with a residential gateway box that has a built-in DHCP server (as most
all do) everything will just work, which is how it should be. If it
doesn’t, however, you can apply the same principles to these devices as
you do with PCs and make the appropriate IP address adjustments in the
device’s settings.
Security
Concerns
In these days of rampant computer viruses and
never-ending hacker attacks I would be remiss if I didn't discuss two
additional issues that all home networks should deal with, but
particularly those with high-speed always-on connections such as DSL
and/or cable modems: anti-virus software and security software. The
anti-virus issue is simple: you need to have anti-virus installed and
running on every computer on your home network. Period. Just putting it on
one isn’t good enough.
If you don't have some type of anti-virus app on
every connected PC, then there's a good chance that at some point, one of
your PCs will be infected and you could lose valuable files. And don't
forget to update the program's virus definitions. Note that this doesn't
mean you have to buy all the latest upgrades to the program, but you do
need to install and maintain the virus updates, which are typically
provided at little or no cost. Many anti-virus applications are designed
to automatically check for, download and install these updates files and I
highly recommend that you use this capability. At the very least, have
these updates occur once a month, but even once a week wouldn't be
extraordinary.
In addition to anti-virus software, you need to keep
your system secure. Network security (and home network security) is an
enormous subject unto itself (see Steve Gibson's great Shields
Up site for more security-related information) and I won't attempt to address all these
issues here, but I will say this: home networks with high-speed Internet
connections are at a much greater risk for security problems than those
with dial-up modem connections. As a result, it is possible that
unscrupulous hackers could break into your home computers and do all sorts
of nefarious things, such as copying and or deleting files, spreading
viruses and more. The easiest way to address this problem is to install
one of several new personal firewall programs that have appeared on the
market recently. Products such as the free ZoneAlarm
from ZoneLabs or commercial packages such as Black
Ice Defender, Norton's
Internet Security 2001, or Open Door's Software's DoorStop
for the Mac all provide important protections that can keep your
computer data safe. Windows XP also incorporates a basic firewall into the
operating system itself. As with anti-virus software, you should have a
personal firewall installed on each computer in your home network. A
properly installed personal firewall will prevent security problems even
if you share files and folders on your home network.
The End
Well, OK, not quite. But now that everything is
connected, the software is installed, you can access the Internet from any
computer in your home, and you've secured your home network, there's only
one thing left to do. Enjoy it!
©2001 O'Donnell Enterprises
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