Is this network setup possible...

Here's the scenario...

I have a small office network (with router) that connects some computers to the main server, however there is no shared internet connection. The server OS is WinNT 4.0. The other computers' OS is Win98 SE.

My plan is to provide internet access only to a few of the Win98 SE computers by going wireless. Since each of the other computers have ethernet cables going into their respective NIC cards, I was planning to accomplish the wireless internet connections through the USB ports.

I will have a SBC DSL modem and I will plug a Linksys Wireless Router/AP into that. I know this setup sounds strange, but I prefer not to touch the existing network/hub.

My questions are:

1) Since the Win98 computers have already been assigned IP's for the existing network, will there be any conflicts by having another IP address assigned by the wireless router/AP?

2) If this setup won't work, would I have to upgrade each computer to WinXP to make it work?

A quick suggestion to avoid a needless headache. On most dsl routers, you have the option to exclude local ip's from access the internet. The second benefit besides simplifiying this situation is also this brings your cost down tremendously since you don't have to buy wireless equipment or upgrade existing computers.

98se and two nics? World of pain.

Just use the existing network connections and as cjk says, deny access to those who don't need it. If the router does not have the ability to block certain ips, there are a bunch of other ways to do this.

The simple way would be to plug the dsl modem into the router and you can allow wireless access to those computers that have no connection by plugging the ap into the router as well.

I know you don't want to hear this advice.... I cannot think of a could reason why you would not want to use the existing infrastructure - the way you are proposing is likely to cause more problems with the existing network than it can possibly solve.

Hook up another NIC on the server, install a program that does NAT, filter specific IP's to allow/disallow NAT. Or you can set a proxy and have control over what websites they visit and maybe get reports on surfing habbits during working hours.

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Originally Posted by NooNoo

98se and two nics? World of pain.

Just use the existing network connections and as cjk says, deny access to those who don't need it. If the router does not have the ability to block certain ips, there are a bunch of other ways to do this.

The simple way would be to plug the dsl modem into the router and you can allow wireless access to those computers that have no connection by plugging the ap into the router as well.

I know you don't want to hear this advice.... I cannot think of a could reason why you would not want to use the existing infrastructure - the way you are proposing is likely to cause more problems with the existing network than it can possibly solve.

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Thanks for the feedback. However, one of the problems I face is that the Server computer is so far away from the DSL modem connection, that I would prefer not to run a cable and hook up the DSL modem into the router. This is one of my reasons for keeping the DSL modem and Server separate.

Also, since I'm plugging a wireless receiver into the USB port of the Win98 SE computer, is that still considered a NIC?

I'll try my scenario and let you know how it works. Thanks for the help!

Looking again at your setup, the easiest/safest would be as follows:
-plug one of the LAN ports of the router in your existing switch/hub (you might have to use a crossover cable).
-configure the router in gateway mode and match the local IP with the existing network/subnet
-disable the DHCP server on the router
-configure DHCP on the server to provide your router's LOCAL IP as a gateway for your clients. At this point it would be smart to enable the DNS server too and provide your server's IP as DNS instead of your ISP's DNS.
-use MAC filtering on your router to allow/disallow internet access for specific clients.

usb or pci, yes it's a nic... it has a mac address and needs an ip.

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Originally Posted by nelsonpc

Thanks for the feedback. However, one of the problems I face is that the Server computer is so far away from the DSL modem connection, that I would prefer not to run a cable and hook up the DSL modem into the router. This is one of my reasons for keeping the DSL modem and Server separate.

Also, since I'm plugging a wireless receiver into the USB port of the Win98 SE computer, is that still considered a NIC?

I'll try my scenario and let you know how it works. Thanks for the help!

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just a quick note, if the server and the client pc's are connected by ethernet, then it doesn't matter how far apart they are. Plug a regular wired router into the DSL modem, then plug that into your switch (what you called a router) and it will provide everything for your network. The only caveat is to make sure the disable either the DHCP server on the server or the router (you can't have to running). Most linksys routers allow client specific filtering by mac address so you should be ableto disallow the pc's you don't want to have net access (that's how I control my daughter's net access at home). Noonoo is right, save yourself alot of headache and keep 1 nic in the 98 pc, the OS will put you through a world of pain if you try it with 2 (specially if one of them is USB).