Author: Neftaly Malatjie

1. A Network Operating System is a computer operating system designed to manage and support workstations, personal computers and servers normally connected to a Local Area Network. The list of network operating systems includes Artisoft’s LANtastic, Banyan VINES, Novell’s NetWare and Microsoft’s LAN Manager. Some of the main functions of a network operating system are printer sharing, common file systems, database sharing, application sharing, managing network name directory and the ability to do housekeeping for the network’s system.

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1. On completion of this section you will be able to the installation ensures that the LAN system software and application software performs accordingly. 

2. 1. The installation ensures that the LAN system software and application software operates according to manufacturer`s and installation specification. 
   2. The installation ensures that the LAN system software and application software is configured and customised according to installation specification. 
   3. The installation ensures that the LAN system software and application software performs according to manufacturer`s and installation specification. 

1. Gather your network hardware.To create a LAN, you’ll need a router or switch, which will act as the hub of your network. These devices route information to the correct computers.

• A routerwill automatically handle assigning IP addresses to each device on the network, and is necessary if you intend to share your internet connection with all the connected devices. It is highly recommended that you build your network with a router, even if you’re not sharing an internet connection.
• A network switchis like a simpler version of a router. It will allow connected devices to talk to each other, but will not automatically assign IP addresses and will not share an internet connection. Switches are best used to expand the number of LAN ports available on the network, as they can be connected to the router.
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1. Set up your router.You don’t need to do much to set up a router for a basic LAN. Just plug it into a power source, preferably close to your modem if you plan on sharing the internet connection through it.

1. Connect your modem to your router (if necessary).If you’re sharing the internet connection from your modem, connect the modem to the WAN/INTERNET port on the router. This is usually a different colour from the other ports.
2. Connect your switch to your router (if necessary).If you’re using a switch to expand the number of ports available on the router, plug an Ethernet cable into any LAN port on the router and any LAN port on the switch. This will expand the network to the rest of the LAN ports on the switch.
3. Connect your computers to open LAN ports.Use Ethernet cables to connect each computer to an open LAN port on your router or switch. It doesn’t matter what order the ports are connected in.Ethernet cables cannot reliably transfer data at lengths larger than 100m (328 ft).
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5. 1. Setup one PC as a DHCP server if you’re just using a switch.If you’re only using a switch as your network hub, setting up one computer as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server will allow all of the connected computers to easily obtain IP addresses.
   • You can quickly create a DHCP server on one of your computers by installing a third-party utility.
   • The rest of the computers on the network will obtain IP addresses automatically once the server is running, as long as they are set to do so.

    

6. Verify the network connection on each computer.After each computer obtains an IP address, they’ll be able to talk to each other on the network. If you’re using a router to share your internet connection, each computer will be able to access the internet.
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8. 1. Set up file and printer sharing.Once your network is up, you won’t see anything on other computers unless that computer has shared files. You can designate files, folders, drives, printers, and other devices as shared so that anyone on the network, or just specific users, can access them.

   
   

The previous steps let you connect the various machines. However, to be able to fully use the network, you need to define an IP addressing for the network’s machines and set up a certain number of services (web server, shared files, internet connection sharing, etc.).

For this type of network, it is necessary to use a private IP address. There are address ranges reserved to that effect, in this case 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 will be sufficient (or 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.255 if you already have a local network with the previous addressing).

If one of the computers on the ad hoc network already has an internet access it wants to share with the network’s other computers, it is usually named 192.168.0.1 (or 192.168.1.1), but this is just a convention. The other machines will take addresses from the same address range: 192.168.0.2, etc.

To configure the machine, simply right-click the icon corresponding to the wireless network connection, then choose “properties“:

Then, in the list of protocols, select “Internet protocol (TCP/IP)” and click “Properties“:

Enter each machine’s IP address, making sure not to enter the same IP address twice, 255.255.255.0 as subnet mask and possibly the IP address of the machine sharing the internet access (default gateway, with the address 192.168.0.1 by convention).

In the fields concerning the DNS, enter the IP addresses of the name servers corresponding to the connected machine’s service provider. To find them out, you can just enter the following command for example (Start/Run) on the machine that’s connected to the internet:

cmd /k ipconfig /all

All that’s left is to test the connection between the machines on the ad hoc network.

If the icon on the taskbar shows a small cross, it means that the computer is not connected to the wireless network; you should check the following points:

• In the list of available wireless networks (single click theWireless network connection icon on the taskbar), the ad hoc network’s SSID should appear. Double click its name to connect
• If it does not appear, open the properties of the wireless network connection (Wireless network configuration), clickAdvanced and make sure the computer is not configured to Networks with access point only (infrastructure)
• If it still doesn’t work, temporarily disable your personal firewalls (including the Windows XP firewall), to reduce the number of causes that could be creating the failure