network

[najmi]

helo every body i am a kind of new here trying to solve a networking prob if any one could help me.
i'm a network admin and have to share the internet connection to about 30 hosts i am trying to find a solution without using a proxy sever or a router.
The problem is i have got a dsl internet connection of 1MB.Whenever I try to give all hosts static ip addresses the internet explorer doesn't open the desired page and if i set the host to 'dhcp' enabled
the internet explorer requires a wizard to run, but after running the wizard it connects to the internet while any other disconnects.plz help me if any one can.thanks

[AboveTheLogic]

you need to use a router that will support NAT in order to share your internet connection (any home router will do this)

[najmi]

sorry but as I mentioned I don't want to use any router or purchase an ip address

[wimiadmin]

Why don't you want to use a router?

[najmi]

Originally Posted by wimiadmin

Why don't you want to use a router?

because this is restriction from my company where I work

[wimiadmin]

That's a stupid restriction and could be very costly if you get hacked.

Your only other choice might be to run the internet connection straight to your server. SCARY! Then have a second NIC card in the server that feeds a switch which feeds every other computer in the company.

Or, you can get a Linux box which can act as a firewall, hook your connection straight to that, then feed your server, then from the second nic on the server feed a switch. BUT, in this case, the Linux box is doing the same thing really as a router by controlling the incoming traffic.

Do the people that make the decisions know about IT Security? I'm guessing they don't.

[najmi]

actually they r trying to save money costing on any router but the solution u r telling,I'm afraid, is more costly than a router and I guess, they also think that using a router is more harmful according to the security point of veiw. I'm not sure how to convince them to use any routers.Any ways please tell me the whole procedure of using a router,configuring/enabling NAT on it.
I must remind the scenario:
A network of 30 nodes.
One of them has win server 2003 running on it.
All of them are dhcp enabled.
No DNS installed on the server machine means that it is a workgroup.
The problem is
1-how to use and share DSL internet on all the nodes including the server.
2-what steps i'll have to take to install DNS and active directory on the server while not affecting on the internet usage of all nodes.
3-should I install dhcp server on the server machine in this scenario or not.If yes should I give the static IP addresses on all the nodes because I think windows require static IP addresses for installing DNS, but of what use DHSP server if I give all the nodes static IPs.
4-how to share folders and printer to all the nodes which is actually on the server.

[wimiadmin]

This router will work wrt54gl and it's less than $50 US. I've got that exact router handling traffic for over 150 users and it's been rock solid.

A router blocks all incoming traffic...sort of....unless you port forward certain requests. So it really acts as a firewall in simple terms.

You can connect your DSL to the router, then connect the router to the switch(es) to feed all of the other computers in the office.

The router can handle DHCP, but it's not as flexible as 2k3 server DHCP. The router can also hand DNS which it will get from your DSL.

Always assign your server(s) static IPs. The other PCs can get their IP from the router or you assign them statically as well. Static is sometimes better becuase if you're getting network errors and you use a sniffer to detect where the problem is coming from, if you assign static IPs, you can go right to the source without having to dig through log files.

Installing AD is pretty straight forward and sharing folders is very simple. Once AD is set up, you'll need to create Groups if you only want to share certain folders with certain users.

[AboveTheLogic]

Originally Posted by najmi

they also think that using a router is more harmful according to the security point of veiw.

unfortunately for them (and maybe you), they are absolutely wrong with that point of view

unless they are worried about an unsecure wireless network but you can always get a basic router without wireless if you are that paranoid

even if you use a server, it is STILL acting as a router, so I stand behind my original statement--- you need to use a router, whether it is an appliance or a PC/server

[najmi]

Thanks alot.
I've got wrt54gl router and now I wanna set this up
could u plz guide me through the steps
1-what ip addresses should i set for the hosts and server.
2-what default gateway and dns server ips should i set for the internet access ie local or isp's.