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BOOT CAMP 283 (15/07/03)
Wireless Networking part 3
In the past two episodes of Boot Camp we’ve looked at the
rudiments of wireless networking and the bits and pieces you will need to set up
your own home or small office ‘Wi-Fi’ network, so much for the theory, now it’s
time to get your hands dirty.
Networking – whether wirelessly, via cables or by telephone –
is unlike most of the other things that you do with your PC because it is not
centred on a single application or program. It’s a multi-layered process; each
layer is reasonably straightforward but because there are several of them
interacting with one another there’s plenty of opportunity for things to go
wrong so it is important to be methodical and take it one step at a time.
Network configuration used to be a bit of a black art but
nowadays many Wi-Fi products virtually install themselves, which is obviously a
good thing, but it can lead to problems since you won’t know where to start
looking if it doesn’t work or a fault develops.
If you are a networking novice I suggest you follow the manufacturer’s
installation instructions to the letter and stick with the auto installation
‘Wizards’ for the first two PCs in your network and then if that goes to plan
and you want to want to have a dabble, try manually configuring any subsequent
PCs.
Creating a wireless network can be broken down into three
simple stages: installing the hardware, installing networking software and
sharing your Internet connection and peripherals, like a printer.
Installing your wireless networking devices (see last week’s
Boot Camp) should be the easiest job and to connect the first two PCs in your
network you will need two or three items of hardware: the wireless router, a
Wi-Fi adaptor and possibly an Ethernet card. If the PC you have nominated as the
Server (the one that’s connected to the Internet) doesn’t have a 10/100 Ethernet
socket you will need to fit one, so start with that, (if it has one you can skip
the next paragraph).
The Ethernet port can be either a network interface card
(NIC) that fits into a spare PCI socket on your PC’s motherboard or a USB to
Ethernet adaptor. The latter simply plugs in to a spare USB socket on the Server
PC, Windows will ask you to load the driver disc, reboot and it’s done. Fitting a NIC is not difficult either but it
does entail poking around inside your PC, so observe the usual precautions, like
removing the mains plug from the socket and frequently touching the metalwork to
dissipate any static charges that may build up on your clothes or body. Once the
card has been fitted and the PC booted up Windows asks for the driver file
(usually on a floppy) and you may also be asked for your Windows installation
CD-ROM.
The next job is connect the wireless router to the Ethernet
socket on the Server PC, a suitable cable should be included with the router. If
your broadband modem also has an Ethernet connection it’s usually a good idea to
connect it directly to the router rather than the server PC as in most cases
this will mean the modem stays connected to the Internet, even when the Server
PC is switched off, so the other PCs in the network can continue to use the
Internet. Most wireless routers do not come with any installation or
configuration software, instead their setup menus are accessed from web browser
(Internet Explorer etc,) by entering an IP (Internet Protocol) address, (it
usually looks something like ‘http://192.168.0.1’), which will open a web type
page with the various setup options presented as underlined hyperlinks, but
we’ll come back to IP addresses in a moment.
The last step is to fit a wireless adaptor to your first
Client PC. This should be fairly straightforward but don’t try to second-guess
the installation procedure. With some wireless adaptors you have to install the
software before you plug it in or connect the hardware; on others types you fit
the hardware before installing the software. If you get it wrong you can spend
ages trying to undo the mess so read the instructions!
When that’s done you are ready to tackle the configuration
and this is usually the point in the proceedings where you can decide to do it
automatically or manually and from now on we’ll assume that you’ve chosen the
DIY route, so it’s time for a quick background briefing.
All the PCs in a network must use a common language and
follow rules governing the transfer of files; these are known as a ‘Protocols’.
Most simple networks use two Protocols, one for swapping data files and printer
sharing, usually either Netbeui or IPX/SPX; the other is TCP/IP and this is
mainly used for sharing your Internet connection.
Every PC in a network has to be assigned a unique ‘address’;
this works like a telephone number identifying the PC to the network and it
consists of four groups of three digits separated by full stops. It’s the same
kind of arrangement as the Internet Protocol or IP addresses that are allocated
to web sites and your PC when it is connected to the Internet. However, to avoid
confusion with regular Internet addresses blocks of ‘private’ IP addresses are
set aside for network use. The IP addresses we’ll be using will look like this:
192:168.000.xxx, where ‘xxx’ represents the last three digits, which you choose
to identify your PCs and can be anywhere between 000 and 255. It’s a good idea
to avoid using numbers between 000 and 100 as these are sometimes allocated to
other devices, like your router, which we looked at earlier, and Windows
utilities used for sharing an Internet connection. So for example, if you have
three PCs in your network the Server would be 192.168.000.101 and the Clients
are numbered 192.168.000.102, 192.168.000.103 and so on
The only other things you might be called upon to key in when
configuring your Wi-Fi setup manually is a name for your network, individual
names for each of the PCs and something called a Subnet Mask. This is another
numeric identity code, but one which all the PCs in your network will share,
(and for the record it’s usually 255.255.255.000). Armed with this information
you are now ready to finish setting up your network.
Next week – Wireless Networking, part 4
JARGON FILTER
ROUTER
Device in a network that transfers data between computers
SUBNET MASK
Part of a code used by network administrators to identify
sections of a network
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the common
language of the Internet that allows computer networks – even if they are
technically very different – to communicate with one another
TIP OF THE WEEK
If you’ve owned a PC and surfed the Internet for more than a
few months you’ve probably built up quite a list of passwords and PIN numbers
but short of writing them all down – not a very good idea – how can you keep
track of them all? Password Depot is a freeware password manager that can help
you to generate and backup your passwords, remind you when to change them, plus
several useful features like encrypting and shredding files. The freeware
edition is limited to 20 passwords – enough for most people - -and it can be
downloaded from: http://www.password-depot.com/
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