Rocky Smolin - Beach Access Software
bchacc at san.rr.com
Fri Oct 31 09:18:54 CST 2003
Jim: Thanks. That may give me a lead as to why not all the machines can see all the other machines. I think I'll study ancient Aramaic. Seems easier. Rocky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Dettman" <jimdettman at earthlink.net> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 6:52 AM Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of) > Rocky, > > Some FYI stuff: > > <<I heard that you can daisy chain hubs off one of the ports on your router > to > get more ports and that you can go up to 255 devices from one router this > way. Seems to easy and cheap, though.>> > > Yes you can do that but you should not go more then 3 levels deep. If you > do, the latency will become too high (time it takes for a packet to flow > through the network). In a home network, that would never happen, but it > can in a business and is something you need to watch out for, because it can > happen easily. Especially with employees who install WAP (wireless access > points) on their own. > > <<I've also found that when creating a new network it sometimes takes a few > minutes for the different shared devices to 'see' each other - especially on > the wireless. So I'll whang around frustrated trying to get the network to > work and then have the same experience you had - after a few minutes, > suddenly the other machines are in my network neighborhood. Go figure.>> > > That's because of the way LAN manager and NETBIOS works (Win 9x and NT > networking). When a PC boots up, it broadcasts it workgroup name and > computer name. One PC on the network acts as a "browse master", which keeps > a list of what's on the network. Other PC's then need to contact the browse > master to get the list for network neighborhood. The browse master is > usually the first PC booted on the network. If it can't see a browse master > already on the network, then it elects itself to becomes one. Often, this > causes problem when (for whatever reason) it can now talk to another PC > which thinks it is a browse master. They have to go through an arbitration > process to figure out who should get the job. This involves a considerable > amount of overhead. > > Because of all of the above, the net result is that it can take 10 or 15 > minutes for a workgroup or computer to show up in network neighborhood. In > a large network, it can take even longer (sometimes 30 - 45 minutes). > > You can circumvent all this in a home network if you keep one station on > all the time by setting that PC to always be the browse master. You do that > through network properties, File and Print sharing For Microsoft Networks, > and changing the Browse Master setting from automatic to enabled or > disabled as appropriate (only one station should be enabled for the entire > network). > > Last, you can often clear up problems without rebooting by dropping to the > command prompt and doing: nbtstat -R , which forces a reload of the name > cache. You can see what's in the current cache by doing nbtstat -c. The > net view command also shows you the network in a non-graphical format > (Network neighborhood is built on top of that command). > > HTH, > Jim Dettman > President, > Online Computer Services of WNY, Inc. > (315) 699-3443 > jimdettman at earthlink.net > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Rocky Smolin - > Beach Access Software > Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 8:33 AM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of) > > > John: > > I heard that you can daisy chain hubs off one of the ports on your router to > get more ports and that you can go up to 255 devices from one router this > way. Seems to easy and cheap, though. > > I've also found that when creating a new network it sometimes takes a few > minutes for the different shared devices to 'see' each other - especially on > the wireless. So I'll whang around frustrated trying to get the network to > work and then have the same experience you had - after a few minutes, > suddenly the other machines are in my network neighborhood. Go figure. > > Rocky > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Colby" <jcolby at colbyconsulting.com> > To: "Database Advisors Inc. (Tech)" <Dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com>; > "AccessD" <AccessD at databaseadvisors.com> > Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 5:39 PM > Subject: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of) > > > > I ordered a Netgear MR814v2 Wireless router a couple of weeks ago. I > needed > > to expand my 4 port router (I had 5 things I kept needing to plug in) and > > the Netgear was on sale at www.Newegg.com at the time. I then tried and > > failed to install a linksys WPC11v2.5 I had laying around, so I ordered a > > dlink dwl-650 that was on sale (rebate) at www.newegg.com. Long story > > short, it didn't work. Long story a little longer, a very long call to > > dlink tech support, did not solve the problem. > > > > Or maaaaaybe it did. After failing to figure anything out, they > recommended > > that I upgrade my laptop bios. It's an ancient (now) 233mhz PII Toshiba > > Satellite 4000 that I bought with my first paycheck from my trip to work > for > > Mr. Breen in Dublin Ireland back in hmmm..... November 1997? Getting a > bit > > long in the tooth, truth be told. > > > > The bios upgrade and also the old "turn off NAV before installing etc. > And > > "oh by the way, our card requires at least a 300 mhz processor. So I > > uninstalled, upgraded to the latest bios (May 2000?), turned off NAV, > > reinstalled the drivers and re-installed the card. Still no joy. The > site > > survey showed no transmitters, and dlink tech support assured me that if > > there was a transmitter I would see it regardless. > > > > Ignorant liars! > > > > Went back in and reconfigured the card in the laptop for channel 11 (it > > defaulted to 3 and the router was on 11), played around with a couple of > > other things and boom, I see a transmitter. Went in to the router config > > page and changed the SSID and sure enough the thing I'm seeing on the > laptop > > changes to match! Still no connection though. > > > > Rebooted, played around some more and suddenly (no clear idea why) I have > a > > wireless connection, can browse my network and see the web. Yeaaaaa. > > > > Moral of the story, tech support generally sucks, play around, don't quit, > > and eventually the gods will reward you. Or not. > > > > Now, I need to know what to do to tighten this thing up so that others > can't > > see my network. I'm a bit afraid to touch anything since I don't really > > know what I did to finally get it running. > > > > Can anyone walk me through tightening this up? > > > > John W. Colby > > www.colbyconsulting.com > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >