Connecting LAN with a HUB

Hello:
I have 2 computers connected and now need a third one connected to Internet. I have one computer connected with a cross cable to the other. Now I have a hub and would like to connect the third. Does anyone have any tutorials on how to connect them.

Thanks in advance for anyone who helps.

That isnt secure unless you are making the computer that is connected to the internet a firewall, which would have 2 Nic cards - one to the internet and one to your other pc.

You might look into getting a router instead of a hub. Most have firewall's built into them - and I am talking about those cheap hardware boxes you can get from LinkSys or D-Link.

*edit - so the simplest way is to use a DHCP configuration which you probably already use. If you plug in a router you can create your own Ip's within the network using any of these designated LAN Ips: 192.68.*.* or 172.16.*.* or 10.0.*.*. If you only have a few computers you might want to use 192.68.0.1 as your router which would probably be DHCP, then set your LAN pc's for 172.16.0.* - each would get their own las number (ie 172.16.23.1, 172.16.23.2, like this.) I have been told to never use your router IP and your LAN ip's the same series. ie 192.68.0.1 , 192.68.0.2, etc like this.
The Subnet mask would be something like this: 255.255.0.0 if you used 172.16.23.1 type of IP (where the last two numbers changed.) Your DNS would be from your ISP - you can get those numbers by RUn --> CMD --> ipconfig /all at the dos prompt - if you are using WIn2k or XP.

If its 98 I think it is winipcfg at the command prompt. But just hooking up a hub to the internet is slower and very hacker friendly. A router will direct proper packets to their IP, where as a hub will just send all packets to all computers. So if you are planning on having more than one computer on the net at the same time it slows it down with a hub. You may not really notice with just a few computers - but a hub is basically a splitter, and if its powered it has an amplifier as well.

I will have to look into what you need to configure to get two Nics to route on one pc in windows. I cant remember how to do that. But I can look it up later. So tell me what OS(s) you are running.

Thanks for such a complete answer. Well I have win98 with the 2 net cards with the cross over cable to a winxp. Now I just upgraded it to winxp. So I have 2 xps and 1 win98 se. I usually use the disk that creates the workgoup.
But now with the hub or router I`m not sure how to install them.
I have seen on some computers still work with the 2 netcards -> 1 with internet and the other going into the hub. And there it gives internet. he installed a firewall and from there configured it so the other computers got internet.
The other way is splitting internet from the hub. Not sure how to do it from there.

Which one do you recommend?

Other question.. -> The other day I was checking a win98 se with 2 netcards connected to a winxp. Both saw each other but winxp didn`t have access to internet. It had a proxy program and configured it through port 80. On xp I know there is a way to check a box and share internet but is there anyway to do that through win98 se?

I usually use the disk that creates the workgoup

You are creating a peer-to-peer network so each computer will act as a server/client. You can set up one workgroup and just share between the two computers, I am not sure what disc you are refering to. It is a part of the OS to create workgroups (that is what win2k and XP are - peer to peer networking Os's). One hint of advice - dont use the default workgroup, which is "Workgroup" (might be different on Xp?). Make up your own.

You can do 2 things:

1. Use the win98 computer as a router/firewall. and then use a hub to split the signal to the other 2 computers, or

2. Buy a router of some sort (it will have 4 ports to connect to.) and just use that between your computers and your internet. You can buy several Nic cards and then route to each pc via the win98 computer. Just a word of caution - Windows is notoriously easy to hack and full of lots of holes. If someone scans your router and sees a windows 98SE computer as your router, then make sure you have all the holes plugged.

Yes you will use windows or 3rd party software for Proxy and NAT.
Here is a little doodle on it - just search a bit and you can find all the info you need on Google:

http://duxcw.com/faq/ics/waysshare.htm

As far as your other question I am not sure what you are refering to. Port 80 is the default ftp port.

It is hard to say why you couldnt access the internet - use the ping command in dos prompt:
1. run --> cmd --> ping (The IP of your networked computer) - without the parenthesis. eg c:\ping 172.16.6.127
2. ping your IP - use IPCONFIG to find it if you dont know.
3. ping 127.0.0.1 - which is a loopback ping for tcp/ip.

This is a way to check where the error is occuring.

Some basic things to check for security. (note this is on your router computer if its windows.)

Make sure File and Print sharing is uninstalled on your router.
Get rid of NetBIOS - and dont install NetBEUIS.
Make sure Telnet is disabled.

Password the administrator with one that falls into the Windows Password Complexity.

Change the name of the Administrator to something besides Administrator.

Dont allow any sharing - only person able to logon or change anything is your new administrator (note - make 2 unique administrators.)

But also please note I havent used windows 98SE in a few years so I cant remember if you can do any of this or not.... =\ I know with win2K and XP you can configure all this stuff via the mmc console. Its in the Administrative tools, but Win98 isnt a true networking OS, so I cant remember what it has.

I will probably think of something else later.

*edit - The router or hub you can get as a hardware device that is its own little box. They are usually small and now inexpensive. A hub doesnt route, switch, or have any protection. Its merely a splitter that usually amplifies the signal. A consumer level router will have some sort of firewall protection. That would be my suggestion - just get a router. D-Link or LinSys are cheap. or there is this new device that is getting a lot of reviews:
Alpha shield - http://www.bctia.org/members/Alpha_Shield.asp
It is a little bit more, but not much. But it has only one port in and one port out.

Cofiguring these things is like making coffee in the morning - brainless. You just tcp/ip into them and set them with some generic settings you will see in the manual and then Voila! internet security.

Thanks for such a complete answer. A few minutes ago I came up with this, maybe it`ll help someone else.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics

there's a really easy way to do this...
take your internet router, and your hub, and your cross over cable.
now plug the cross over cable in the router and then in to the hub. presto internet sharing.
just make sure you disable "auto detect" in internet options/lan

Your cross over cable is only needed if you are connecting 2 computers to each other without a router or hub. Unless i am not understanding what you are saying....

If you honestly want to use a computer as a router and firewall, the most secure you will ever get is using unix - which has a rock solid and tight OS that has been around a long time. There are 2 popular ones - OpenBSD and FreeBSD, which are free to download. You would download the Boot ISO and ftp the install.

** Just a side note - If you connect a hub to a modem and share several computers on it, your ISP will notice right away and start charging you for each additional IP. With a router they wouldnt be able to tell what you have on the other side. Just dont tell them. K... back to unix.

I dont know if anyone on this board has messed with Unix, but if you type in OpenBSD + Firewall + Router in Google you will get some incredible simple and easy to understand documentation on how to set this up. If you arent in a hurry I am waiting on a few more computers in the next month and plan on taking out my hardware router and setting up a BSD router, which I know nothing about, other than I researched how to do it, I may have some helpful advice then. Anyway, imo I would be sketched out on using win98 as a router.

Your cross over cable is only needed if you are connecting 2 computers to each other without a router or hub. Unless i am not understanding what you are saying....

I upgraded from 2 to three computers and are not using the cross over cable no more.
That was before.

You need a cross over cable between 2 computers unless your have a hub or router. Because if you use a regular lan cable you would be connecting the output to the output.... etc. In your case I would just buy a router (under $100) and connect your modem to that. and then you can connect 4 computers to it, no problem.