I have 2 puters running win2k and one external dsl modem, all hooked up individually to an El Cheapo 4-port hub. My DSL is dynamic IP, and I have to use the EnterNet 300 program to login/establish service. I don’t have any other software/hardware that relates to this issue. U use the network for backup and file sharing purposes. Puter #1 is a Dell desktop with an internal network adapter. Puter #2 is an HP laptop with a PCMCIA network card.
By some miracle, I can run the EnterNet software on puter #1 and browse the web on puter #2. However, puter #2 will not do certain things, like download from Windows Update. If I close the connection on puter #1 and loging on puter #2, everything works just fine.
How the heck is puter #2 going through puter #1 to get to the Net? I didn’t think it was possible to have to puters connected using one dynamic IP…
Why won’t downloads from IE work on puter #2 unless it is logged in?
You need to set up a proxy server on #1. The reason you cannot download is due to the fact that the remote machine does not know where to send the data.
Pardon my ignorance; if the remote machine does not know where to send the data, how is data flowing currently? I’m able to download HTML pages, etc. on both computers as currently configured.
What’s happening now is your first computer is acting as an HTTP proxy – it receives the port 80 request from computer #2 and retransmits it over the DSL connection, then receives the data back from the remote web site and kicks it back to computer #2.
However, downloads that use something other than HTTP – like Windows Update, which I think uses FTP – are stymied by this, since computer #1 doesn’t listen for computer #2’s FTP requests. You’d similarly be out of luck trying to run IRC or ICQ on computer #2.
What you need on computer #1 is not just a web proxy server, but a socks proxy server. This would allow all sorts of traffic to be routed through computer #1.
I use MS Backoffice and Proxy Server 2.0 at home, on an NET Server for computer #1, and several different computers in the rest of the house, and it works like a champ. However, it is not free, and I don’t know of a solution that’s free and works under Win2K. Not to say there isn’t one, just that I don’t know.
Well, not a free solution, but if you have $100 go buy yourself a Linksys Cable/DSL router. It can be set up for the PPPoE protocol on the front-end. This is what your EtherNet300 program is using to get an IP address, so the router replaces that. It also acts as a DHCP server on the back-end, so you can have as many local IP addresses as you want. It also serves as a firewall.
Just plug it between the DSL modem and the hub and set up the PPPoE to your username and password for logging into the ISP.
I think that would be your best solution, if you have the hundred bucks to put into it.