Small LAN setup Question

[marcus]

Hiyas,

I need to set a PC in my network to a Static IP, however as soon as I do this I lose internet connectivity.

I have -

2 PCs - one connected via USB DSL modem to the net - LAN connection is set to -

IP Address - 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

It shares the internet connection via ICS which is set to DHCP.

My other pc accesses the net via this PC. I need to know how to set it to a static IP yet still be able to see the net, it only works when I have the second PC set to DHCP. I tried giving it an IP of 192.168.0.2 and default gateway of 192.168.0.1 (I then removed that, still no joy) however could not see the net, although I could see the other box.

Im not really sure why it works when given a IP address via DHCP, and not when its set manually..

[Ginger Tosser]

Dont know if its any help but,

When your PC with USB modem is connectted to the internet it will have been given an Gateway IP & DNS to route TCP/IP traffic through, when using DHCP the routing information may be automatically assigned to your second PC.

A Static entry may not do this (you can see the other pc because your on the same IP range). It could be a DNS problem, try ipconfig /all on both pc's to see what dns is set to, if its missing on PC2 add one.

To test where its falling over try a tracert to www.bbc.co.uk (if dns is present), this will tell you how far the request is getting.

Hope it helps

[Commander Marklar]

You can't use a static IP on the one connected to the internet, unless you get given one from your ISP. Simple as matey... you're given an IP by DHCP, if you don't use it then nobody outside can communicate with ya.

If you want to use a static IP, best thing to do is grab a cheap router/switch that will plug into the modem (USB though... not good really ) and then plug your PCs into that. Then, you can have whatever IP address you want, 'cos the router has got the Internet access and everything else is yours to do with as you please 8)

[marcus]

I thought that when you enable ICS it automaticaly assigns the PC connecting to the internet the address of 192.168.0.1? I follow what you are saying about the client PC though, presumably that is why it cannot resolve web addresses but can see my other PC without a problem. I guess router it is, although for what I want to do Imay have a workaround. Thanks guys

[Vaipon]

ICS is a simplified solution that does:

NAT routing

DHCP address leasing

DNS lookups

ICS uses a range of DHCP addresses that your clients *have* to use for them to be able to access the net through the gateway PC (the one with the 192.168.0.1 ip). If you install a server OS on your gateway PC (eg Windows 2000 Server), you have all the toys instead of having to use ICS (which is very restrictive). With Win2k Server, you can manually configure your routing to use whatever IPs you like, and you aren't forced to enable DHCP either. ICS is designed to solve the problem of internet connection sharing for a novice user, and it works well, but it's very limited in how it can be configured. If you have the time it's far better to configure a NAT connection manually through 2000 server or 2003 server.

Alternatively, you can splash out on a hardware NAT router which will do the job on it's own.