College of the management, economics and information technology

Department of Information systems

Fall Semester, academic Year 2015/2016

Lab03: Creating a LAN using two computers

Introduction

A collection of two or more computers interconnected by the telephone lines, co-axial cable, satellite links, radio and microwave transmission and some other communication techniques. A computer network is a group of computers that are connected together and that communicate with one another for a common purpose.

Although the computer industry is young compared to anther industries (e.g., automobiles air transportation), computer have made spectacular progress in a short time. During the first two decades of their extrinsic, computer system highly centralized, usually a single large room. A medium size company or university might have had one or two computers, while large instructions had at most a few dozen. The idea that within 20 years equally powerful computers smaller than postage stamps would be mass produced by the millions was pure science fiction.

The merging of computers & communications has had a profound influence on the way computer systems are organized. The concept of the computer center as a room with a large computer to which users bring their work for processing is now totally obsolete. The old model of single computer serving all of the organizations computational needs has been replaced by one in which a large number of separate but interconnected computers do the job. These systems are called computer networks.

Recommended Equipment

  • Two computers
  • UTP Crossover cable

Network Diagram

Figure.1: two computers connected using direct cable

Section 01: How to Connect Two Computers Together with an Ethernet Cable.

Introduction

If you lack access to a network, and need to transfer files or establish a connection between two computers, you can connect the computers to one another using a crossover Ethernet cable. After connecting your computers together with an Ethernet cable, you will be required to modify the network settings on one of the computers to establish the cable connection. You will then have the ability to transfer or share files, and play network games between both computers.

Connect two computers together

Step 1: Crossover cable:

Verify that you have a crossover Ethernet cable. A crossover Ethernet cable is required to connect computers with Windows OS; whereas a standard Ethernet cable will only establish a connection between a computer and router.

Examine the wire color patterns at each end of the Ethernet cable to determine whether or not the colors match up. A crossover Ethernet cable will have color patterns that do not match up; whereas on standard cables, the color patterns will match up to one another identically on each end

Figure.2: Crossover cable

Step 2: Plug each end of the Ethernet cable into an Ethernet network port on each computer to connect the computers together with the cable.

Figure.3: Connect the cross over cable

Step 3: change the computer name and workgroup

For PC01:

  • Go to My Computer > Properties > Computer Name.
  • Change the computer name to A and workgroup name to ABC, and click OK to save changes.

For PC02:

  • Go to My Computer > Properties > Computer Name.
  • Change the computer name to B and workgroup name to ABC, and click OK to save changes.

Step 4:Go to any one of your computers, and click on the "Start" menu.The "Start" menu often resembles the Microsoft Windows logo on computers running Windows

If you're connecting a Windows 7 and Windows Vista computer together, use Windows 7 to perform these tasks.

  1. Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel. In the search box, type "network," and then click on Network and Sharing Center

Figure.4: Network and sharing center

  • Step 5: Go to the connections “Local Area Connection. You will receive the Figure below

Figure.5Local Area Connection

  • Press Proprieties button

Figure.6: Local Area connection properties (TCP/IP4)

  • Choose the Internet Protocol version 4, and then properties, you will get the following screen.

Figure.7: TCP/ IP properties

Step 6: Change the IP address as follow:

Click on “Use the following IP address” and change it as below:

For PC01:

IP Address - 192.168.0.1

Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0

For PC02:

IP Address - 192.168.0.2

Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0

Leave the other fields blank and click OK to save changes.

Step 7: Change the computer name and workgroup name

  1. ClickStart, right-clickMy Computer, and then selectProperties.
  1. Click theComputer Nametab and click theChangebutton.
  2. Enter a name that describes the PC in the Computer Description field. Write PC01, PC02 …etc
  3. Enter the workgroup name for your network. NETLAB Use the same workgroup name for all PCs on the network. Spelling is important in this step.
  4. Repeat these steps for each PC on the network.

Figure.8: Computer name

Figure.9: Computer Workgroup

  1. Wait two minutes after Windows opens on all PCs, and then double-click theNetwork Neighborhoodicon on the desktop. If all went well, you should see all the PC names on the network when files and folders are being shared. If you do not see them, pressF5to refresh the screen.
  2. If, after refreshing the network window, the other PCs still do not appear, check the firewallsettings that may be interfering with the communication. For more information, refer to the HP support documentUsing the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) in Windows XP. For other firewall software products, please refer the help system for that product.

Step8: Test the connection

  • After the connections and settings have been saved, both the PCs should be connected by LAN. You may need to restart both the PCs.
  • You can check if the connection is working by pinging one PC from the other.

For PC-1, Start > Run > CMD > ping 192.168.0.2
For PC-2, Start > Run > CMD > ping 192.168.0.1

  • You can view the PCs in My Network Places. You can now use this LAN connection to play multiplayer games or share files. You can also map a drive on another PC to a local drive by using My Computer > Tools > Map Network Drive > Select Drive Letter and network path of the shared folder on the other PC.
  • Now go to another computer on the network, open My Computer, and click onMy Network Places.
  • Now click onView workgroup computersto get a list of all the computers in the workgroup. If youcan’t see any other computers in My Network Places, read my previous post for solutions.
  • You should see the name of the computer you setup the shared folder on. Go ahead and double-click on it and you should see the shared folder!

Figure.10: Network Places

  • Type the administrator password for the computer if prompted to do so, and then press "Enter" on your keyboard.Both of your computers will now be visible in the Network and Sharing Center window, and you will have the ability to share files and other resources.

Figure.11: Network and sharing center window

Section 2: Enable File and printer sharing

Introduction

File sharing is the public or private sharing of computerdataor space in anetworkwith various levels ofaccessprivilege. Whilefiles can easily be shared outside a network (for example, simply by handing or mailing someone your file on a diskette), the termfile sharing almost always means sharing files in a network, even if in a small local area network. File sharing allows a number of people to use the same file or file by some combination of being able to read or view it, write to or modify it, copy it, or print it. Typically, a file sharing system has one or more administrators. Users may all have the same or may have different levels of access privilege. File sharing can also mean having an allocated amount of personal file storage in a common file system.

File sharing has been a feature ofmainframeand multi-user computer systems for many years. With the advent of the Internet, a file transfer system called the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) has become widely-used. FTP can be used to access (read and possibly write to) files shared among a particular set of users with a password to gain access to files shared from an FTP server site. Many FTP sites offer public file sharing or at least the ability to view or copy files by downloading them, using a public password (which happens to be "anonymous"). Most Web site developers use FTP to upload new or revised Web files to a Web server, and indeed the World Wide Web itself can be thought of as large-scale file sharing in which requested pages or files are constantly being downloaded or copied down to the Web user.

More usually, however, file sharing implies a system in which users write to as well as read files or in which users are allotted some amount of space for personal files on a common server, giving access to other users as they see fit. The latter kind of file sharing is common in schools and universities. File sharing can be viewed as part of file systems and their management.

Enable File and Printer sharing

Step 1: Share a document between PCs.

  • Once both computers are in the same domain or workgroup, you can now setup file sharing. Go to the folder that you want to share in Explorer, right-click on it and chooseProperties. Now click on theSharingtab.

Figure.12: Sharing Folder Properties

  • Now you need to click on “If you understand the security risks but want to share files without running the wizard, click here”. Now just chooseJust enable file sharingwhen given the two options.

Figure.13: Enable File Sharing

  • The wizard will jut enable the firewall, but all SP2 and SP3 XP installs automatically have the firewall activated, so you don’t need to worry about that. Now you should see a check box calledShare this folder on the network. Go ahead and check that and check the box below if you want others to be able to edit it.

Figure.14: Logs Properties

  • To open the folder double clicks on the computer name in Figure.11.

Step 7: Extra Step in case the system is not working

If you're still having trouble sharing files or a printer on a network, make sure Windows Firewall is not blocking File and Printer Sharing. Here's how:

  1. Open Windows Firewall by clicking theStartbutton, clickingControl Panel, clickingSecurity, and then clickingWindows Firewall.
  2. ClickAllow a program through Windows Firewall.If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
  3. In theProgram or portlist, make sure theFile and Printer Sharingcheck box is selected, and then clickOK.

That’s about it! If you have any issues like “Access is denied” or “You do not have permission”, make sure thatFile and Printer Sharingis added as an exception in the Windows Firewall.

Figure.15: Firewall Properties

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Post-Lab:

  1. Returning to the figure.2 how can you determine the type of the cable?
  1. If network discovery and file sharing is turned off can the computers share the data and the files. Explain.
  1. Write the steps how to change the IP address for your computer.
  1. Is it important to change the compute workgroup name?For exam if two computers have two workgroups can they see each other?
  1. It’s important to change the name of the computers in the network. Explain your answer.
  1. What is the job of the firewall in the network?
  1. Why we need to add exception for sharing the folders.
  1. Why we need IP address ion the network.
  1. Define the purpose of using the File sharing/Printer Sharing.
  1. What is the job of the DHCP server?
  1. What is the job of DNS server?
  1. What is TCP/IP and why we need it in the computer network.
  1. Explain how to create a network by using a switch and two computers. Explain and you’re your topology.

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