Setting up a wired network

[whiz]

Hi all, some help required please. I have 2 PCs in my office connected by a wireless network. I need to connect another PC on the shopfloor (about 50m away) but I need it to be wired and on a separate network from the existing one. Is this as simple as running the network wizard and and only installing it on the new PC or by doing that will I lose the existing network ? The new PC will be connected to the server (My PC) through a wireless router, is there a way to deny the shopfloor PC access to the internet ?

All 3 PCs are running XP Pro SP2

[Saab Dastard]

I need it to be ... on a separate network from the existing one

The new PC will be connected to the server (My PC) through a wireless router

These are mutually exclusive!

If you want the shopfloor PC to connect to your PC (server), they must be on the same network.

If they are NOT on the same network you would need a router in place to connect the 2 networks.

Assuming you have a simple Cable or ADSL internet connection with a single wifi router providing the internet connection and all PCs connected to the wifi router, then all connected PCs will be on the same network, whether connected by wire or wireless.

You can probably limit internet access for the shopfloor PC by using the router setup program to block access for that specific IP address (or only allow access for the other 2, whichever way it is implemented). That works best with fixed IP addresses, rather than DHCP, and depends on the functionality of your router.

One thing occurs to me that might be worth trying:

Using fixed IP addresses, give the new PC a fixed IP address on a different network - e.g. 10.10.10.2, where the existing network is (say) 192.168.0.0 - and give the server network card a second fixed address of 10.10.10.1, in addition to its existing address (cannot be DHCP).

Now the two PCs will be able to "see" each other on the 10.10.10.0 network, but because the new PC is on a different network to the internet gateway, it cannot possibly reach the internet (neither can it reach the second existing PC).

You might need to tweak this by adding a static route on the server, but I don't think it would be necessary.

Having them all on the same network and using the wifi router to block internet access is probably much easier, though!

SD

[ORAC]

XP Pro supports multiple networks/network adapters. You can add a second wireless network adapter in the server and then set up a second network - see here. You can either add a second router for the second network and connect both PCs through it, or set up an ad-hoc network directly between the 2 PCs, though 50m sounds too far, I'd go for the second router which you can connect direct to the wired connection of your server.

[obgraham]

My Linksys "Wireless access point" connects my wireless network into my wired network, and it all works fine. The access point acts like a "sub-router".

[whiz]

Thanks guys, I went with the simple method of connecting it to the same network and used the router to restrict internet access as per Saabs post. I need some further help on file sharing. On the original network there were only 2 PCs and the file sharing security wasnt important. This has now changed as I dont want the shopfloor PC to have access to some documents. I have tried to alter the share on the critical files on PC2 to restrict it to PC1 access only but when I click on sharing and select permissions it doesnt give me the option to select PC1 only PC2 any ideas?

[Saab Dastard]

File Sharing and Security are managed on a per user basis, not per PC.

SD

[whiz]

Thanks Saab, user was the key .. job done