Resolved Trying to set up a home network... but failing

Hello community. I am trying to set up a home network for all 3 of my computers so that they can all share files and use the printer connected to the main computer. However, I am having difficulties doing so.

Here's my computers:

1. The main desktop computer. Hooked via. Ethernet to 2Wire router. Printer is hooked via. USB into this computer. Computer runs Windows Vista. Firewall is COMODO.

-This computer uses a public IP address because it runs a website.

2. A new Samsung laptop. Hooked wirelessly to 2Wire router. Computer runs Windows 7. Firewall is McAfee.

-Private IP address

3. An Acer mini. Hooked wirelessly to 2Wire router. Computer runs Windows XP. Firewall is Windows Firewall.

-Private IP address


Here's what I've done:

*I've configured all firewalls to trust the network and to allow inbound and outbound connections from all computers on the network.

*I've made sure all computers have the same Subnet Mask.

*I've enabled NetBIOS through the firewall of the router.

*I've PINGed the computers on the network to see if they'll communicate with the main computer. Here are the results:

Main computer > Samsung computer : Passes and Fails
Samsung computer > Main computer : Passes all the time
Main computer > Acer computer : Failed
Acer computer > Main computer : Passes all the time

I realize there's a communication problem where the Main computer has trouble communicating with the other computers. Is there a way to fix this?

 

Best solution is to set up a router with the external IP address that you are currently using for your web site PC.

Then set up all the PC with private IP address - the web one should be static, but the others can be dynamic.

Then set up port forwarding on the router to forward all port 80 (HTTP) traffic to your web PC. If you also use HTTPS on your web site, you will also have to forward port 443.

That will make networking internally easier and will also make it easier to secure your web PC.

 

Thanks for the advice, but there's some disadvantages:

*My website PC has to have the same IP address as the router in order for the website to work (a public IP); my router does not support port forwarding.

*Because my ISP is dynamic IP, so is my website. It has to be like this... my ISP does not allow static IP addresses. But My Domain Name server supports dynamic IP addresses.

 

That wont work. Just get another router.

Dynamic Public IP is not a problem if you setup an account with a service like Dyndns.com The Dyndns service will keep track of your IP.

 

Network is online, but website is off.

Thanks for your help. I have successfully got all of my computers to be linked on the network, and can access one another.


But now my website will not work since I switched to a private IP address on my PC (because my router has a different, public IP address). Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks for all your help.

 

Yes,
Replace your router with one that has Port Forwarding (Never saw one that didn't)
What is the model of your router?

 

It's a 2Wire 2701HG-B Gateway.

 

Its in there under Firewall.

http://www.2wire.com/pages/pdfs/5100-000326-000.Rev.A.pdf

Page 44

 

I've already enabled the web server on the firewall. I even used an open port checking tool and it detects that port 80 is open.

I've attempted a website analyzer tool and it can successfully connect to my website. But I can't access my website from my webserver computer. I've had this problem before, where the website is truly online but can't connect to it on the same computer as hosting the website, but I have forgotten how to fix this issue.

 

2wire settings

if you use page 47 of the .pdf or page 42 of the book, you should try to enable the DMZplus feature. I have the same modem/router combo and that is how I had to use it to allow proper network traffic. I also have used it to direct traffic to another router in the chain to allow all PC's to utilize the same sub-net ie: 10.14.12.__ or whatever you set-up your netowrk to be and the IP redirect to the router can then allow access to all devices or a single PC/Host as you see fit.
Hope this helps

 

Thank you. I'm sorry but I have already figured out the problem and the problem was the host file. But it is fixed and now everything is working quite well on the network. Although just recently I started having an internet problem, and it's not my router or my web browser. I think it's my computer. I will talk about it in a different thread if not already exists.