Hi there

I would have to say i know quite a bit about computers, but networking is my
flaw!
Could you please help me out.

I have a network covering 2 buildings (at home).

In building one, there is my wireless router connected through wires to 1 pc
and my adsl modem.
The aerial connected to this is an external aerial allowing building 2 to
get the adsl signal.

Building 2, 250 meters away, also has an external aerial that plugs into pc
1 in a pci card slot.
I want to make a network in building 2 (through hardwire) cat 5.

Can i just install 2 network cards into pc1 to feed pc2 and laptop1? Will
pc1 be happy with this?
PC1 will always be on 24/7.

I need to spend exactly £0 on this to connect them (tight year), but i do
have network cards and cabling already on its way. (2xpci cards, 2x10m cat5e
cabling)

Any suggestions?

Happy new year.

Stuart

"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:y-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a network covering 2 buildings (at home).
>
> In building one, there is my wireless router connected through wires to
> 1 pc and my adsl modem.
> The aerial connected to this is an external aerial allowing building 2
> to get the adsl signal.
>
> Building 2, 250 meters away, also has an external aerial that plugs into
> pc 1 in a pci card slot.
> I want to make a network in building 2 (through hardwire) cat 5.
>
> Can i just install 2 network cards into pc1 to feed pc2 and laptop1?
> Will pc1 be happy with this?
> PC1 will always be on 24/7.

That's (part of) one possible solution. The other part is that you need to
configure PC 1 to bridge the interfaces, or configure routing on PC 1 and
your router. What operating system does PC 1 run, and what router do you
have? Also, what wireless card is in PC 1? IIRC there are some that cannot
work as part of a bridge.

A similar (but preferable) solution would be to use one network card and
connect both PCs and the laptop to a hub or switch. You would still need to
configure bridging/routing, but only for two interfaces.

A slight variation on the second solution, applicable if you don't need
access to the PC in building 1 from PC 2 or the laptop, is to use Internet
Connection Sharing (assuming you are using Windows). AFAIK, you can't do
this with three network interfaces (the wireless interface being one of the
three), as in the solution you proposed.

The ideal solution would be to use an access point (that can use the aerial
attached to PC 1) in "client mode" plus a hub/switch, and replace the
wireless adapter in PC 1 with a wired one. The access point would bridge the
networks, and the result is that most of the complexity and requirements of
the other solutions are eliminated. The greatest difficulty is finding the
right AP.

However...

> I need to spend exactly £0 on this to connect them (tight year),

....this represents a bit of a problem.

> but i do have network cards and cabling already on its way. (2xpci
> cards, 2x10m cat5e cabling)

Alex

yep, just fit another NIC card & away you go.

mike

"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:y-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I would have to say i know quite a bit about computers, but networking is
my
> flaw!
> Could you please help me out.
>
> I have a network covering 2 buildings (at home).
>
> In building one, there is my wireless router connected through wires to 1
pc
> and my adsl modem.
> The aerial connected to this is an external aerial allowing building 2 to
> get the adsl signal.
>
> Building 2, 250 meters away, also has an external aerial that plugs into
pc
> 1 in a pci card slot.
> I want to make a network in building 2 (through hardwire) cat 5.
>
> Can i just install 2 network cards into pc1 to feed pc2 and laptop1? Will
> pc1 be happy with this?
> PC1 will always be on 24/7.
>
> I need to spend exactly £0 on this to connect them (tight year), but i do
> have network cards and cabling already on its way. (2xpci cards, 2x10m
cat5e
> cabling)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Happy new year.
>
> Stuart
>
>

The wireless router i have is a dlink 624 revision c.

I will run XP pro on pc 1, do you recommend 2000 or 2003 for the purpose pc1
is required for??

How would i configure a pc to act as a router?

Also, i did used to have another dlink wireless router in building one on
the end of the aerial, so in a way, the routers were linked, but they never
talked to each other and internet connection was never made through it!

Stuart



"Alex Fraser" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:y-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I have a network covering 2 buildings (at home).
>>
>> In building one, there is my wireless router connected through wires to
>> 1 pc and my adsl modem.
>> The aerial connected to this is an external aerial allowing building 2
>> to get the adsl signal.
>>
>> Building 2, 250 meters away, also has an external aerial that plugs into
>> pc 1 in a pci card slot.
>> I want to make a network in building 2 (through hardwire) cat 5.
>>
>> Can i just install 2 network cards into pc1 to feed pc2 and laptop1?
>> Will pc1 be happy with this?
>> PC1 will always be on 24/7.
>
> That's (part of) one possible solution. The other part is that you need to
> configure PC 1 to bridge the interfaces, or configure routing on PC 1 and
> your router. What operating system does PC 1 run, and what router do you
> have? Also, what wireless card is in PC 1? IIRC there are some that cannot
> work as part of a bridge.
>
> A similar (but preferable) solution would be to use one network card and
> connect both PCs and the laptop to a hub or switch. You would still need
> to
> configure bridging/routing, but only for two interfaces.
>
> A slight variation on the second solution, applicable if you don't need
> access to the PC in building 1 from PC 2 or the laptop, is to use Internet
> Connection Sharing (assuming you are using Windows). AFAIK, you can't do
> this with three network interfaces (the wireless interface being one of
> the
> three), as in the solution you proposed.
>
> The ideal solution would be to use an access point (that can use the
> aerial
> attached to PC 1) in "client mode" plus a hub/switch, and replace the
> wireless adapter in PC 1 with a wired one. The access point would bridge
> the
> networks, and the result is that most of the complexity and requirements
> of
> the other solutions are eliminated. The greatest difficulty is finding the
> right AP.
>
> However...
>
>> I need to spend exactly £0 on this to connect them (tight year),
>
> ...this represents a bit of a problem.
>
>> but i do have network cards and cabling already on its way. (2xpci
>> cards, 2x10m cat5e cabling)
>
> Alex
>
>

"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:uPqdnRKy-(E-Mail Removed)...
> The wireless router i have is a dlink 624 revision c.

D-Link DI-624? I had a look at the manual and couldn't see any way of
configuring static routes.

> I will run XP pro on pc 1, do you recommend 2000 or 2003 for the purpose
> pc1 is required for??

XP Pro is fine.

> How would i configure a pc to act as a router?

Because the DI-624 doesn't appear to support custom static routes, the only
routed solution you can use is ICS. But since you have XP, I suggest you try
bridging first, and resort to ICS if you can't get bridging to work for some
reason.

Assuming you fit two network cards to PC1, you need to bridge both of them
plus the wireless interface together. In the Properties for the
newly-created bridge, select "Internet Protocol" and click Properties in
order to configure it to use DHCP. This is probably the default.

For more information on setting up the bridge, see the following page:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...workbridge.htm

In theory, everything should just work... PC2 and the laptop should be
configured to use DHCP, and pick up configuration from the router just as if
they were directly attached.

I was wrong about part of ICS; you can use it with two NICs plus the
wireless interface in PC1. It will bridge the two NICs together.

> Also, i did used to have another dlink wireless router in building one
> on the end of the aerial, so in a way, the routers were linked, but they
> never talked to each other and internet connection was never made
> through it!

I've not heard of any wireless router that can be configured to be a client
of another router, so unfortunately that's probably no help.

Alex

excellent, thanks for that!

I will hopefully have a look at this over the weekend!

Thanks for the info, it will come in very useful!!
Stuart


"Alex Fraser" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:uPqdnRKy-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> The wireless router i have is a dlink 624 revision c.
>
> D-Link DI-624? I had a look at the manual and couldn't see any way of
> configuring static routes.
>
>> I will run XP pro on pc 1, do you recommend 2000 or 2003 for the purpose
>> pc1 is required for??
>
> XP Pro is fine.
>
>> How would i configure a pc to act as a router?
>
> Because the DI-624 doesn't appear to support custom static routes, the
> only
> routed solution you can use is ICS. But since you have XP, I suggest you
> try
> bridging first, and resort to ICS if you can't get bridging to work for
> some
> reason.
>
> Assuming you fit two network cards to PC1, you need to bridge both of them
> plus the wireless interface together. In the Properties for the
> newly-created bridge, select "Internet Protocol" and click Properties in
> order to configure it to use DHCP. This is probably the default.
>
> For more information on setting up the bridge, see the following page:
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...workbridge.htm
>
> In theory, everything should just work... PC2 and the laptop should be
> configured to use DHCP, and pick up configuration from the router just as
> if
> they were directly attached.
>
> I was wrong about part of ICS; you can use it with two NICs plus the
> wireless interface in PC1. It will bridge the two NICs together.
>
>> Also, i did used to have another dlink wireless router in building one
>> on the end of the aerial, so in a way, the routers were linked, but they
>> never talked to each other and internet connection was never made
>> through it!
>
> I've not heard of any wireless router that can be configured to be a
> client
> of another router, so unfortunately that's probably no help.
>
> Alex
>
>

I have got 2 x ethernet ports on PC1, I will also install the wifi pci card
into this pc as well.

Just wanted to know, could I also bridge a USB wifi dongle into the ethernet
bridge as well so I can access the internet? (This is to enable my PDA
access wirelessly to the internet)

So there would be 2x ethernet ports and a wifi adapter all connecting
through this pc to gain internet through the PCI wifi adapter.

Stuart

"Alex Fraser" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:uPqdnRKy-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> The wireless router i have is a dlink 624 revision c.
>
> D-Link DI-624? I had a look at the manual and couldn't see any way of
> configuring static routes.
>
>> I will run XP pro on pc 1, do you recommend 2000 or 2003 for the purpose
>> pc1 is required for??
>
> XP Pro is fine.
>
>> How would i configure a pc to act as a router?
>
> Because the DI-624 doesn't appear to support custom static routes, the
> only
> routed solution you can use is ICS. But since you have XP, I suggest you
> try
> bridging first, and resort to ICS if you can't get bridging to work for
> some
> reason.
>
> Assuming you fit two network cards to PC1, you need to bridge both of them
> plus the wireless interface together. In the Properties for the
> newly-created bridge, select "Internet Protocol" and click Properties in
> order to configure it to use DHCP. This is probably the default.
>
> For more information on setting up the bridge, see the following page:
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...workbridge.htm
>
> In theory, everything should just work... PC2 and the laptop should be
> configured to use DHCP, and pick up configuration from the router just as
> if
> they were directly attached.
>
> I was wrong about part of ICS; you can use it with two NICs plus the
> wireless interface in PC1. It will bridge the two NICs together.
>
>> Also, i did used to have another dlink wireless router in building one
>> on the end of the aerial, so in a way, the routers were linked, but they
>> never talked to each other and internet connection was never made
>> through it!
>
> I've not heard of any wireless router that can be configured to be a
> client
> of another router, so unfortunately that's probably no help.
>
> Alex
>
>

"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Just wanted to know, could I also bridge a USB wifi dongle into the
> ethernet bridge as well so I can access the internet? (This is to enable
> my PDA access wirelessly to the internet)

Yes, you should be able to bridge any number of interfaces together.

Alex

In MsgID<(E-Mail Removed)> within uk.comp.home-networking,
'Alex Fraser' wrote:

>"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Just wanted to know, could I also bridge a USB wifi dongle into the
>> ethernet bridge as well so I can access the internet? (This is to enable
>> my PDA access wirelessly to the internet)
>
>Yes, you should be able to bridge any number of interfaces together.

I'd formed the idea there was something unusual about USB interfaces,
after discovering that a friend's USB modem couldn't be bridged to his
ethernet nic. I found that puzzling, as I thought a USB modem driver
'pretended' to be a network interface.

--
Dave Johnson - (E-Mail Removed)

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, "Dave J"
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> In MsgID<(E-Mail Removed)> within uk.comp.home-networking,
> 'Alex Fraser' wrote:
>
> >"Stuart Turrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> Just wanted to know, could I also bridge a USB wifi dongle into the
> >> ethernet bridge as well so I can access the internet? (This is to enable
> >> my PDA access wirelessly to the internet)
> >
> >Yes, you should be able to bridge any number of interfaces together.
>
> I'd formed the idea there was something unusual about USB interfaces,
> after discovering that a friend's USB modem couldn't be bridged to his
> ethernet nic. I found that puzzling, as I thought a USB modem driver
> 'pretended' to be a network interface.
>
A modem is a WAN interface. You can't bridge LAN to WAN, that needs
a router.