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Connecting Windows NT machine to a Novell Server, configuring WinProxy, installing Ethernet card drivers, IPAT, NAT and everything in between

In my office I have installed Novell 4.11 server on the network and a printer is connected to the network. I have now bought a new PC with an Ethernet card. Please let me know about:

1) The protocols to be set for connecting the Windows NT machine to Novell server.

2) The process or configuration to be made on the Windows NT machine to be able to use the printer connected to the Novell server.

You can use IPX/SPX protocol to connect your Windows NT machine to the existing Novell Server.

To install a network printer one that can be directly connected to the network-such as HP's JetDirect series, you need to make sure that the correct network protocol is installed and configured before proceeding with NT printer configuration. Please refer to your printer documentation to determine what network protocol you need.

The HP network-attached printers require the DLC protocol. To install DLC,

Click Start.
Go to Settings - Control Panel.
Double click on the Network icon.
Click the Protocols tab and click Add.
Select the DLC protocol and click OK.
Type the path to your Windows NT Server CD-ROM and click OK.
Close the wizard and restart your system.

Please follow the steps given below to install a printer on Windows NT

Click on Start - Settings - Printers to display the Printers folder.
Double click the Add Printer icon. You'll see the Add Printer dialog box.
If you are connected to a printer shared on the network, choose Network printer server. Click Next.
In the Connect to Printer dialog box, type or select the shared printer to which you want to connect. If you already have a printer installed, click Yes or No, depending on whether you want this printer to be the default printer for your Windows applications. Click Next and Finish.
A new printer icon appears in the Printers folder. Double click on it to view and manage the printer.

want to configure 7 nodes on Windows proxy, with one server based on NT. How do I go about doing it?

Before installing WinProxy on your client/server machines you need to configure the client/server systems with different IP addresses.

(E.g.192.123.0.1 for server and 192.123.0.2 to 192.123.0.8 as clients)

Install WinProxy on the Windows NT Server. Configure the client systems (each system) accordingly:

Select Internet option in Control panel.
Select Connect tab, go to Proxy Server option and click the Check box.
Click Advanced button and key-in the NT Server IP address.
The default port for HTTP is 1080 and for FTP is 21.

Change the above settings for all your seven nodes to work on WinProxy.

Now that you've added TCP/IP to all your computers, let's run a test to determine if Network Neighborhood is up and running properly. If it is, you'll know that the hub and cables are working correctly. We'll use Ping for our test. It's a simple tool included in Windows 95/98 and NT that allows easy checking of TCP/IP connectivity.

Firstly, open a DOS window (Start - Program - MS-DOS Prompt under Windows 95/98, and Start - Program - Command Prompt under Windows NT) and type the word Ping. You'll see a list of commands and command syntax. If you're on, say, client machine 192.123.0.1 you can check your

connectivity to the WinProxy machine by typing in its IP address (192.123.0.3) after you type the word ping. If TCP/IP is properly set up on both machines you'll get several lines that say Reply from 192.123.0.1…, If you get no reply, something is wrong with the protocol installation of the IP address on one (or both) machines.

Please verify the IP addresses if you find any problem.

How to install drivers for the Ethernet card?

Follow the steps given below to reinstall drivers for your network/ Ethernet card:

Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel and then double-click System.
Click the Device Manager tab.
Click the Network Adapter branch to expand it, select Network card drivers.
Click Remove.
Insert the driver CD into the CD-ROM drive and click on Refresh.
When prompted to "Specify the location for the driver", point to the driver file in the CD.
Click Finish to complete the installation of the drivers.
Restart the computer.

In order to install TCP/IP and NetBEUI protocols try the steps

given below:

Right click Network Neighborhood icon on your desktop, and select the Properties option.
From the Network dialog box, select the Configuration tab.
In the Configuration tab click the Add button.
From the Select Network Component Type dialog box, select Protocol and click the Add button.
From the Select Network Protocol dialog box, under the Manufacturers list select Microsoft. Under the Network Protocols list select NetBEUI and TCP/IP protocols.
Click OK to finish the procedure.

In order to install "Clients

for Microsoft network" try the following steps:

Right click on the Network Neighborhood icon, from the short cut menu select the Properties option.
From the Network dialog box, select the Configuration tab.
In the Configuration tab click Add.
From the Select Network component type dialog box, select Client and click the Add button.
From the Select Network protocol dialog box, under the Manufacturers list select Microsoft. Under the Network clients list select Clients for Microsoft Networks.
Click OK.

In order to install printer-sharing Microsoft Network follow the steps given below:

Right click Network Neighborhood, and select the Properties option.
From the Network dialog box, click the Configuration tab.
In the Configuration tab click the Add button.
From the Select Network component type dialog box, select Service and click the Add button.
From the Select Network services dialog box, under the Models list select File and printer sharing for Microsoft network.

What is Internet Connection Sharing over a network?
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) is a new feature that comes with Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000. It allows two or more networked computers to share a single Internet connection. The problem is that the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard that comes with Windows 98 Second Edition doesn't work very well, and in some cases, can break your existing Internet connection. The good news is that it's not that hard to set up, as long as you do it properly.

Internet Connection Sharing technology provides home and small-business PC users who have networked computers the ability to share a single connection to the Internet. For a family with multiple PCs and other Internet devices, Internet Connection Sharing allows one person to send e-mail, another to play an online game, and yet another to browse the Web. Parents can access their corporate e-mail accounts from a client machine, while the rest of the home network cannot access the corporate network.

What are IPAT and NAT?
IPAT (IP Address Takeover) feature is available on many commercial clusters. This feature protects an installation against failures of the Network Interface Cards (NICs). In order to make this mechanism work, installations must have two NICs for each IP address assigned to a server. Both the NICs must be connected to the same physical network. One NIC is always active while the other is in a standby mode. The moment the system detects a problem with the main adapter, it immediately fails over to the standby NIC. Ongoing TCP/IP connections are not disturbed and as a result clients do not notice any downtime on the server.

Network Address Translation (NAT) is a vitally important Internet
technology for a variety of reasons. It can provide load balancing for parallel processing, it can provide several types of strong access security, and it can provide fault-tolerance and high-availability. Finally, it can simplify some basic network administration functions.

What is Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)?
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a protocol tightly integrated with IP. ICMP messages, delivered in IP packets, are used for out-of-band messages related to network operation or mis-operation. Of course, since ICMP uses IP, ICMP packet delivery is unreliable, so hosts can't count on receiving ICMP packets for any network problem. Some of ICMP's functions are to:

Announce network errors such as a host or entire portion of the network being unreachable due to some type of failure. A TCP or UDP packet directed at a port number with no receiver attached is also reported via ICMP.
Announce network congestion. When a router begins buffering too many packets due to an inability to transmit them as fast as they are being received, it will generate ICMP Source Quench messages. Directed at the sender, these messages should cause the rate of packet transmission to be slowed down. Of course, generating too many Source Quench messages would cause even more network congestion, so they are used sparingly.
Assist Troubleshooting. ICMP supports an Echo function, which just sends a packet on a round trip between two hosts. Ping, a common network management tool, is based on this feature. Ping will transmit a series of packets, measuring average round trip times and computing loss percentages.

I have a Windows NT server and two Windows 95 domains. From the server I am able to connect to both the domains and vise versa. But from one domain I am unable to connect to another domain. I cannot see the name of one domain in others' Network Neighborhood. What should I do to configure it?

Assuming that your network is connected via a Hub, follow the steps to resolve the problem:

Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel and double click the Network icon.
Under the Configuration tab, select File and Print Sharing.
Check the two options I want to be able to give others access to my files and I want to be able to allow others to print to my printer(s) and click OK.
Select the TCP/IP Protocol for NIC card installed in the same tab and click the Properties button.
Check the option File and printer sharing for Microsoft networks under the Bindings tab.
Click OK.

All responses have been provided by Qsupport Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, a 24x7, e-services company offering online advice and solutions for any Internet or computing usage problems.

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