Setting up a LAN problem

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LeChuck

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Hi there! I have to setup an entire network (over 20 computers, running WinXP), and I don't quite know where to start. There is a router running Linux, which I don't know; someone told me to install Windows 2000. Through the router I get Internet access to all computers.

The problem is that I don't have access to all computer in both ways: with one central computer I can access all the others, but the others can't access each other... I don't know how to setup all those "access rights" and stuff, I looked through the Administrative Tools, but :dead: .

I'm realy waiting for some help! :angel:
 
What exectly do you need to do? "set up" is not a very detailed description now, is it?
What exactly have you done? What works?
What exactly does not work?
 
Oyyy where to start...

For windows xp you should setup your network using the network wizard get a floppy ready and make a network setup disk as this will lower the settings you have to make on each computer. The type of connection is the second option (this computer connects to the internet through another computer), the computer name should be unique for every computer and if you do alot of file sharing I recommend making a rememberable name for each. Computer discription is anything you want to describe the computer (ie. prozak's computer), and the network name is default ed to MSHOME but you can change this to what ever you want provided all the computers you want to share files with have the same name. At this point you are prompted to make a setup disk, exit, etc.. Reboot and you should be able to see your network.. Go to network places then on the right side you will see a spot for Mircosoft Windows Network which will show all of the computers under the network name.

Other things
Is this a domain or is it a Private network?
Is this a LDAP setup?
How do users logon?
What is the Network used for besides internet (are users connecting to a server or each other)?
 
Ah mate sounds like you have to setup an entire office network ... why are you attempting it if you dont know what you're doing?! Only way to learn I guess ... good luck with that!

DNS server should be set-up & if its not, in server goto control panel/add remove programs & click on add/remove components on the left. Then click on Network & install DNS & anything else you might need.
Simpler way (so I found) if thats too much for you is goto start/run & type dcpromo. This will run active directory & it also should prompt you to do the DNS is its not already done.
But to add users & accounts n that its all done through active directory. In administrative tools there should be (after dcpromo or check if its there already) something about users & groups (sorry but im at work at the mo!). But seriously mate dont attempt to setup user accounts, passwords or general networking things (especially at work!) without knowing what you are doing. You will only cause problems. & what if it stuffs up? Im not having a go at you ... just from your msg you sound clueless as to what to do ... & all of the above is really basic need-to-know WIN Server stuff.

Good luck mate ... post back if you encounter problems :grinthumb
 
1) I need to be able to access all the computers from any computer.

2) This is a private network

3) I don't know what LDAP means, I'm not realy a network guy :)

4) Users logon at startup usually as Guests (they must not have rights to access system resources, modify software or hardware settings) and they use a folder named "Shared Documents" to comunicate with each other. I've called every computer Station1, Station2, ... From Station26 (this was just setup as a control center, but I don't think is a server or something) I can see all other Shared Documents folders on other computers, but not directly, I have to use the Run dialog box, e.g.: \\Station1\SharedDocs. (SharedDocs is the share name). But from, let's say, Station1 I can access \\Station26\SharedDocs only from the administrator account; for guests I get "The file does not have a program associated with it..."; and I would realy like to do that from Windows Explorer, not from the command line...

From My Network Places I can only see the computers in the network only on the View Workgroup Computers, but when I access them I get, e.g "\\Station26 is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource..."

I hope this will make things more clear :approve:
 
In XP the Guest account does not belong in the Everyone group so it cannot access shares that are allowed for Everyone..

Go to Local Security Settings under Administrative tools. Local Policies->Security Options and enable "Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users". You might want to play with other anonymous user settings there too.

Or just add the anonymous users group to the share permissions.

As for setting up the internet access.. Most likely the Linux box is already set up to do everything (or you have to do some trivial config - read the manual) and you can set the Windows clients to get their configuration automatically.
 
Someone correct me if I'm wrong

LDAP- Lightweight Database Access Protocol - Basically it is a centralized authentication server, meaning you set up a server to store all of the passwords on a network. The good thing about this, one location for all passwords, you don't have to store multiple login names and passwords on each computer. Bad thing is if that server goes down so does the authention, but you can setup backup servers. You ca also centralize all home directories, this is a great service to setup especially if users switch computers at all.

NIS- Network Information Server - Pretty much the same thing as LDAP

What I would do in your situation is leave linux on your router computer and research setting up a SAMBA share (windows file sharing), and setting up OPEN LDAP on the linux box. The reason I suggest doing this, the Linux os was built from the ground up as a multiuser operating system mainly for servers. Windows 2000 although it is better than previous versions as far as multiuser and networking services, its expensive and not as efficient as linux at serving.

I have been using windows xp file sharing ever since the os came out in 2002 and recently setup a samba share on my one of my linux boxes to see what it could do.. Let me just say I have never seen files come up that fast, nor have I been so pleased with the ability to customize shares for different users and or computers. LDAP I do not have too much experience with but I have been looking into installing it on my linux router as I am getting tired of reentering passwords on each of my machines. From what I read it is pretty straight forward, about the same as samba as far as setting up. Pretty much just need to edit a few text documents, start the service, and run a few commands. You could even setup a FTP server to allow files to be served to remote computers with the correct user and password.

Linux is also a great alternative to Windows as far as the desktop is concerned, you should deffinitly check it out. You can't beat the price (FREE), but right now I feel more like a preacher then a Tech. so I will stop with the Linux is great speach.

Keep in mind if you change the guest permissions, this means anyone can get access to the share that has access to the computer (and if a cracker gets on to your VPN oooyyy). It also means if you have many users modifying documents, if someone screws something up you can't identify who accessed it last (it will always show up as guest). Personally I always disable the guest account, but I am paranoid about security of my files.

Many small companies setup their network like this:

wan
(internet)-----Router/Firewall----Switch-----Clients
|
Server (databases, webpages, storage)

You can combine the server and router/firewall if you want do this depending on how much traffic you have going to the shares.

Asscessing all computers from any computer?? You mean accessing the share folder of every computer?? Trust me you will save alot of time and make the network alot more productive if you setup a centralized share folder.

It is really up to you but I am lazy, I would only want to make 1 mapped drive instead of 26. Making a map of the drive will put in the my computer folder and makes it extremly easy for non-experienced user to access shares.
 
If you set-up everyones user accounts you can manually configure each one & give them different access rights & whatever. So if you set your account up as Administrator rights, then at each pc on the LAN you could log-on with admin rights.

& yeah mapping a drive much much much better way to do it! :grinthumb
 
Thank you all, I've managed to do some things:

1) I can access the share folder of each computer from any computer, but only as administrator;
2) I like the ideea of one global share folder, but how exactly can I do that?
3) I gave permission to guests at the "Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users" line but nothing happens, I will also try to add anonymous group to the share list...
4) Internet access is ok, just needed to setup a few IPs;
5) I can also access the other computers through the Remote Desktop stuff, but I don't like that that computer log off when I do that (I guess this can't be changed)

Theory is good, but if you can give me more practical details that will be great; at the end, I will print this thread so I can use it as a small guide... :bounce:
 
USe AD its easier

Sorry to be pedantic :eek: but its Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. MSs Active Directory is a good example of this, have you researched this avenue? You'd need to invest in a Win Server 2003 license, but I think the benefits would far out weigh the costs.

I think the MS solution is much more accessible than current linux distros, simply cos it does everything for you. Don't get me wrong I'm a great fan of linux (Fedora Core rules). BUt MS has wizards for everything; DNS setup as mentioned earlier (an integral part of any AD domain), DHCP and the entire TCP/IP protocol. As well as wizards for settting up app servers and published shares. Of course it may seem you're putting all your eggs in one basket but there are facilities builtin to fail over to a BDC(backup domain controller) should you're pdc (Primary Domain Controller) die.

You'll be able to manage user accounts, computer accounts and share accesss all from one console. From within AD you can define roles and lock down each workstation according to assigned roles. If you're really adventurous you can loook at login scripts, which would automatically map your users to the appropriate file/print shares. This would mean that you would never have to leave your desk ( barring network or HW failures). I realise this all sounds a bit daunting at the moment. BUt give it a months solid research just trawling the net, and it#ll definitley pay off.

In the short term the reason why your users are getting logged of when you rdp to is cos they're runnning XP, you can set up a terminal server in 2003 wherby multiple users can rdp to the same box, but XP doesn't suport this featrure ( I think).

Anyway if you want to remotely control a pc aacross a network have a look at VNC (Virtual Network COnnection), its quite similar to remote desktop, but you can see the same desktop as the user sat in front of the workstation, and remotely control it. The best thing is its free!

Hope that was at least slightly helpful
 
Ok well sorry for the late response,

First you need to determine if your share will be on a windows computer or on the linux box.

If it is on the Linux box you are going to need samba (windows file sharing) and a cup of coffee, if there is an uncommon grounds near by your in luck..

Ok for samba setup you need to goto /etc/samba and look for a text file called smb.conf now open this with a text editor such as gedit or vi, (if you have to do this by command line use:
cd /etc/samba
vi smb.conf

the text can have many different lines but if all you want is a central share use this:

========Global Settings======
[global]
workgroup = MSHOME ##this is your work group name
netbios name = File Sever ##the name of the computer on the network
encrypt passwords = yes ##windows 98 and newer use encrypted password

[share]
path = /opt/share ##this is the path to the share on linux it can be any path aslong as it exists
browseable = yes ##shows the directory
public = yes
readonly = no ##by default this is yes so you need this line

save this document
(for vi in terminal use i to modify document and the escape to get to command :w to save and :q to quit)
then run:
services smb start
chkconfig smb on

this will turn on samba and set it to start everytime linux boots

For Windows you just need to right click on a folder or drive and go to sharing and security and its pretty much straight forward.

If your budget will allow you to get a windows server operating system it will be alot easier to setup a share. However if you do a little research into linux yuo will find most if not all of the windows features are accounted for, as well as more features. Windows gets really expensive if you buy everything legit, windows server 2003 is anywhere from $300 to $800 for the standard edition. Everything is there in Linux you just have to find it, by the way which distro do you use and who loaded it?
 
Again, thank you all for the new informations. :approve:
- about the Linux stuff: I'm sorry but I never really have contact with the Linux operation system, I don't know much about it. The router that is using Linux seems to do its job, so I left it alone. It doesn't have a graphical interface so I would have to know a lot of console commands: I don't have the time nor the will to learn that... If something goes wrong I will use your indications or even install that Win Server stuff... I mean I read about Linux and it seems to be great (and free!) but I don't know, it just seems like another planet for me, I'm too used to the Microsoft software...
- I've managed to create that global shared folder and every computer sees it (through a simple mapped network drive), but not all computers can connect to it at the same time, it says that the target computer (the one who hosts the folder) cannot accept any more connections (or something like that). How can I increase the number of allowed conections for that machine?
 
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