[AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of)

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
>



More information about the AccessD mailing list