Setting up a P2P WIFI link

[tickmike]

Hi All.

Because I do not live far from school (about 150 Mts. LOS) I'm setting up a WIFI link from school to home to run the network etc. (I hope with maybe some help from you guy's)

I plan to use two USB WIFI adaptors and two old satellite dishes at a total cost of about £35.

With one dish with one USB adaptor at the focal point mounted on my house, I have done some tests to pick the signal up at school by just holding the other adaptor in my hand and pointing it at my house ( That looked ok and will be better when I put up the other dish).

 

Now to the test set up at home .

 

I have two old computers linked with a good WIFI signal .

They are set up P2P.

I can ping each way on the fixed IP numbers (not dhcp) .

call it computer 1 . I can look in a test shared folder on computer 2 from 1.. no problem, add to it etc.

but from computer 2 to one I get 'There are no logon servers to service the logon request' I have both computers with the same name and passwords and with administrators setting.

Any idea's please.

 

Michael.

[ITWombat]

Let me just get back into my chair ...

 

 

Obvious to check: is the computer that doesn't respond XP SP2 or does have any form of software firewall

 

Is the server service also running?

[tickmike]

Two computers w2k adv. server. with all updates.

Zone alarm firewall with the ip add. set up. on both.

Note they have two NIC's in each computer.

 

Re. Is the server service also running? .....do not understand.?

Michael

[ITWombat]

The question about the firewall is because the firewall has to have an exception for file sharing either for the specific IP of the computer acting as the client.

 

The server service is background process which implements file sharing on the computer hosting the share.

 

If you're using the WIFI link for remote admin, I hope the link is encryted.

[tickmike]

Thanks for your help .

Both computers are set up the same.

so why can I access the shared folder one way and not the other ?. Disabled the firewall for this test .. still no good and I get the same message up.

Re.. "If you're using the WIFI link for remote admin, I hope the link is encrypted". yes It is.

[ITWombat]

Are you sharing using the computer names or their IP addresses?

[tickmike]

Hi.

I still need help I'm stuck.!.

The folders on each computer are shared with full security for everyone.

on computer 2 . I can look at the internet via the wifi link ok .

 

As I said earlier these computers are part of my test set up and have RRA,DNS,IIS,Indexing Service set up on them both. and are set up as the same domain.

domain server ip 192.168.0.10 sm 255.255.255.0 dg 192.168.0.10 dns 192.168.0.10

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

smoothwall box ip 192.168.0.1 sm 255.255.255.0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

computer 1 with usb wifi adaptor ip 192.168.100.1 sm 255.255.255.0 dg 192.168.100.2 dns 192.168.100.1

 

second lan card (nic) ip 192.168.0.11 sm 255.255.255.0 dg 192.168.0.1 dns 192.168.0.10

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

computer 2 with usb wifi adaptor ip 192.168.100.2 sm 255.255.255.0 dg 192.168.100.1 dns 192.168.100.2

 

second lan card (nic) ip 192.168.1.1 sm 255.255.255.0 dg 192.168.0.10 dns 192.168.0.10 nothing pluged in this at the moment

 

On properties of the USB network adapter :-

client for ms networks

load balance

file and printer sharing

AEGIS protocol

network monitor driver

TCP/IP....

All ticked.

 

Michael

[MkII]

DNS problem - have you set it up on either?

 

There is an ancient thread hereabouts where someone used a directional antenna - a bit further away I seem to recall.

 

Check threads on security too - WPA at least I think is the recommendation.

[ITWombat]

As it's P2P either use the IP addresses directly or add the names in the HOSTS file of ech machine.

[MkII]

Can you ping the machine names [quick check if DNS working]

 

What about we get together now on chat somewhere as we're all here together guys?

[MkII]

Your wifi adaptors on different IP range to the domain server and smoothwall box Mike? With a mask of 255.255.255.0 surely that shouldn't work?

[tickmike]

Hi.

RE.. "DNS problem - have you set it up on either?" you may be right, on computer 2 dns is running but on computer 1 its NOT set up.!

Do you think that's the problem ?.

Do the above ip addresses etc. look ok I'm not very good at setting them up .?.

Have looked at some of the old threads.

 

I will look into the security of the wifi link at another time. "land of nod time soon" it was 4am last night so got to make an effort to night !!!.

 

 

 

Michael

[MkII]

Should only have 1 DNS server set up Mike - didn't see your setup post 'till after I posted that.

 

The subnet mask should be 255.255.0.0 if your 3rd octet is going to be different.

 

DNS is by far the most likely cause yes.

[tickmike]

Hi. computer 1 and 2 are set up as routers with NAT and DHCP relay agent . to hopefully separate school network and my home network.

computer 1 ping name for 2 ...failed ... it thinks the other NIC 192.168.1.1 is what it should be talking to ?.

computer 2 ping name for 1 that's ok

 

Michael ...ps What's 'chat' not used that.

[ITWombat]

It looks like both computer 1 and 2 are using their own WiFi IPs are their DNS and default gateway.

 

As the IPs are statically set they will not be known to the DNS server whether is is on the DC or the SmoothWall box.

 

Either use the IP address UNC

 

e.g. NET USE \\192.168.100.1\ShareName$

 

or put entry

192.168.100.2                Computer1

in the HOSTS file of the Computer2 i.e.

 

C:\WINNT\System32\drivers\ETC\HOSTS

[ITWombat]

If there is a DNS entry for Computer2 in the DNS server used by Computer1 then that's why the ping fails because it's looking for Computer2 in the 192.16.1.0 subnet.

 

Mark is right you should define your subnets more carefully. Use for the school 192.168.0.0 and 172.16.0.0 for the WIFI link. That way it' s easier to see where the packet data to be sent depending on whether each machine is talking to its own LAN or across the WIFi link.

 

Set the IPs on the WiFI cards to eb something like Computer 1 172.16.1.1 sm (255.255.255.0) and Computer 172.16.1.2 same sm

[tickmike]

Hi. Mark .ITWombat

So do I use ONE.. DNS server on the DC 192.168.0.10 and all the dns ip box's on the NIC properties are set to that one address ?.even that I'm going to have two networks joined together with a wifi link through the two routers.

All the above on post at 10.40 pm are Static ip addresses .

 

I have never run any script before ! ? !

 

As you can see in my signature this is new to me . what I will try to do tomorrow night is to set up all the ip addresses on this test network as I will have to get it sorted before I set it up at school.

I Thank you for your help tonight .

 

Regards Michael.

[contink]

Reading back through and noting that ZoneAlarm *cue: screaming into the hills* is involved you might want to check these settings...

 

Firewall > Main > Trusted Zone Security

 

If the setting is "High" then you can't share folders on the machine.. You need to drop it to "Med."

 

 

You should also check that you do have the correct IP in the Zones and set to "Trusted".

 

 

Finally, re: the DNS, you could always get the MAC address for your different NIC's and set up reservations in your DHCP service so they get the same IP each time. That way, gateway/DNS settings, etc.. are definitely correct.

 

Just a thought in all of this so feel free to ignore if you've already triple checked this lot..

[tickmike]

Hi contink .

Looking at the two test computers 1&2 , I was mistaken they do Not have zonealarm on them, Its my other test workstations that have it on And yes I found out the hard way years ago about the settings on it.

 

Just going back, what I want to do is :-

 

1..connect the School network (it will be on a domain with a HP netserver 2000 [not yet set up] ) it will have about 30 workstations and computer 1 (that is used for part of my wifi link from school set up as a router ).

 

2..wifi link.

 

3..At home I will have computer 2 (that is used for part of my wifi link from home set up as a router ).and will have a work station at home to access the school network and the rest of my home network.

 

Questions.

 

A...From the threads last night I must only have one Dns server ? Set up on the school server ? what about my home net work will that then use the school one or do I still need one on home network ?.

 

B... On the DHCP set up do I just want it set up on the school server ?. and what about my home network ?.

 

Regards.

[tickmike]

Hello all . Help.

If someone could give me some answers also for the previous post of mine I would be grateful.

 

Just an update on what I have done to this test set up.

 

I have set all the nic's properties DNS setting's to the DC 192.168.0.10 that has DNS enabled .

And turned off any other DNS servers.

I can access both the computer 1 ( ip = 176.16.1.1) & computer 2 (ip = 176.16.1.2) each way . so far so good. I can access the internet on computer 2 across the link ok.

 

If now on computer 2, I plug in a workstation [ws1]( to represent my home network), It will not set an ip address from DHCP server that's on the DC ( but that's on an different ip range !!!).

So I tried turning on DHCP on computer 2 that did not work.

I then set up the ip addresses on the workstation [ws1] and it made the connection , But,

.. could only see computer 2 .

..could not see any computers across the link.

.. could not use the internet across the link via computer 2.

 

I'm in a mess to what to set all the default gateways settings.

 

From Michael.

[Ric_]

If the machines are in different subnets they won't be able to talk without a router or a route telling them how to find each other.

 

Set computer A to 192.168.0.10 and computer B to 192.168.0.11 and turn off any firewalls for testing purposes.

 

If you are testing Windows Networking, make sure both machines are in the same workgroup and the admin login credentials are identical.

 

To get your net connection you need to share the Internet connection on the net-connected machine or have a router on the same subnet.

[tickmike]

Hi Ric.

Because it's getting hard to explain is it possible if I draw a diagram I can paste it onto this forum.?.

 

This is a small test set up to represent the school and my home network joined by a wifi link so I can run the school network from home..

 

Computer 1 will be on the school network 192. 168.etc.

Computer 2 will be on my home network 176.16. etc.

 

with a WIFI link in-between them ( school to my house) They are Both set up as 'routers' with nat,relay agent. too my best ability ! I'm learning fast .

 

all same domain ,same log in details etc.

 

internet comes from a 'smoothwall' box . 192.168.0.1

 

Regards.

[tickmike]

Hi. can any body help please on my post .

 

Need to understand about setting up the default gateways up.

also on my computer 2 ip = 176.16.1.2 (router) does a router need two different ip ranges to work ? if so can someone suggest my second one to use and d.g..

 

Michael.

[Ric_]

Draw a pretty pic in Visio or the like and attach the JPG to your post... this will help us answer your question.

 

You need a 'route' from the 176.16.x.x subnet to the 192.168.x.x subnet. A simple way to do this would be to install two NICs in your PC (one on each subnet). The computer will figure out your routes for you automagically and any traffic to the 192.168.x.x subnet will use the card with an address on that range.

 

NB: If you do this, make sure that the 176.16.x.x NIC has NO default gateway.

[NetworkGeezer]

There should be three subnets

 

Home network computer 2 connected via PCI LAN card

Wifi card to wifi card

School domain computer 1 connected via PCI LAND card

 

 

The two wifi cards need to be on the same subnet IP range.

A different number scheme should be used for the wifi link as using 192.168.*.* (as per original post) causes confusion with school subnet.

 

Computer2 id not setup to forward DHCP requests

ws1 needs to be statically addressed.

Computer 2 should be gateway for ip addresses on school network.

You can have school DNS server as additional entries in TCP/IP config on ws1

 

You may need to manually add a entry in the schoool DNS server for WS1