Sharing Data and Devices on a Wireless Network
While much of today's wireless technology has become plug-and-play simple, complexity rears its ugly head once the user tries to set up networking capabilities, such as sharing printers or file folders. Here is where system builders can come to the rescue with knowledge, assistance, and billable services. In this TechBuilder recipe, I'll show you how to get these more advanced functions working on a wireless network.
But before you get started, first make sure the network you're working on has a good foundation. Range, speed, and reliability are the key factors. security comes into play, too.
Specifically, your users and clients should be using the latest 802.11g multiple-in, multiple-out (MiMo) technology. MiMo extends the range and throughput of a wireless network by using multiple antennas and dividing the wireless signal across them. The upside is a potential five-fold increase in range and throughput. The downside is that all wireless devices on the network must support MiMo to realize that potential. That said, MiMo-based devices are backward compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b, so compatibility should not be a problem. Plus, your customer will experience the best performance and range by standardizing on MiMo across their network.
On the security front, most Wi-Fi implementations start with a wireless router, a device that connects the broadband wide-area network (WAN) with the internal local-area network (LAN) for both wired and wireless connections. The router also protects the local network against external intrusions.
But security doesn&'t end with the router; in fact, that's just the beginning. A secure network also uses encryption on the wireless signal. Otherwise, anyone in range of the wireless network would be able to access the network's equipment and shared files. Happily, today&'s wireless routers support various levels of encryption, ranging from 64-bit WEP (wired equivalency protocol) to WPA (WiFi Protected Access).
With the basics out of the way, let&'s set up our wireless network. Our aim is to allow three computers to share an Internet connection, printer, folders on a storage device, and folders on the hard drives. Network Layout and the Router
For the purposes of this TechBuilder recipe, I'll assume a wireless network with desktop systems, notebooks, a network attached storage (NAS) box, printer, wireless router, and a cable modem connection to the Internet. The PC OS should be Windows XP SP2. The following diagram shows our basic network layout:
First, set up the network router. Most wireless routers are plug-and-play readied, which means you simply plug it in and start using it. Still, there are settings dictated by best practices. For example, though you'll start with the default settings, you should change the default password on the router to prevent unwanted access to the device.
The following screen-shot shows why you want a router as opposed to an access point or just plugging directly into the Internet. It&'s all about security. With so many hackers trolling the Internet for open doors, the router closes that door. Just look at how many external access attempts were prevented, and how frequent those attempts were:
You should also set up DHCP (short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), which automatically assigns IP addresses to to PCs on the network. It eliminates the need to set those computers' addresses by hand.
Tuning the Wireless Network
With the router basics out of the way, now it's time to get the wireless portion of the network up and running. For this recipe, I used a D-Link Wireless Access Point as opposed to a combination Access Point/Router. There is very little difference between manually combining a router and access point, as opposed to using a combination device. An installation Wizard is available that will take you through the device's basic setup.
In the following screen shot, I've set up the name of the wireless network (or SSID). I made "MAGNUM_G" the SSID for the network, and I used the default channel of 11. Since the SSID identifies a wireless network signal for client systems trying to attach, be sure to use a meaningful name to identify the network. Channel 11 is the default channel for most wireless networks, and it should work fine for most networks. You can change the channel if something else interferes with connecting to the network wirelessly.
You can also choose a different channel if you get any interference or a weak signal. WiFi devices offer a range of channels, and it may take some experimentation to find out what works best for a given network.
Next, be sure to set up wireless encryption. It's a wonder that everyone doesn&'t take this simple step to protect their network. Another important security step is to change the default password. Again, this is a simple and powerful way to protect the network.
Now that you have a basic wireless network up and running, let's connect some devices. Windows XP SP2 makes connecting to a wireless network a simple task. Just select the SSID from the list, and connect. If it is an encrypted signal, you&'ll be prompted for the key. The trick here is to make sure all of the PCs are on the network; once that's done, you can start to share capabilities. Sharing Resources Wirelessly
With the infrastructure portion of our setup out of the way, you can now teach Windows XP to share devices and files. The first step is to make the PCs aware that they are part of a network. This step is done from the control panel applet "network setup wizard." This process takes you through everything you'll need for sharing a folder or device.
As the following screen shot illustrates, you don&'t want to go with the recommend setting. Instead, tell WinXP that you're connected to the network through a router. WinXP falsely assumes that you have a direct connection to the Internet; if you get this setting wrong, you won&'t be able to connect.
Next, to connect to a router on the network, select "This computer connects to the Internet through a residential gateway...", as shown here:
Next, give the system a name and a description. This is how you'll "find" the system on your network. Use a meaningful name for the system, something along the lines of "John's IBM." The description can go into further detail. This will help you find a system on the network list and know what that system does, who the user is, and even where that system is located. Remember, each PC must have a unique individual name, or you won&'t be able to connect. Here's a screen shot in which I name a computer "IBM T42."
Next, you must name your network, which, in Microsoft terminology, is called a "workgroup." Make sure the workgroup name is the same on all of the PCs on the network. In the following screen-shot, I've named the network "Magnum."
Now it's time to turn on sharing. This instructs WinXP to let other PCs access a system's files and printers. (You do have granular control here to set up who can do what on each machine, but more on that later.) This step, as shown in the following screen shot, lets the PC to share folders and printers with other PCs on the network.
Finally, a Network Setup Wizard summary screen labeled "Ready to apply network settings..." will comes up. This screen shows you all of the settings before finalizing the networking. To apply the settings, click on Next. A reboot may be required after this step.
Defining Resources
With the computers on the network set up to share information, you must now define what devices and data can be shared, and how it can be shared. In this way, users will be able to attach to the shared resources, and you can control how much access they have. While this may sound complicated, WinXP makes this a straightforward process.
First, hit Start, then go to My Computer. Navigate to the resource you want to share. In this case, double-click on the C:\ drive icon to get to the local folders. On my test system, I have a directory/folder named DATA. I will set up that folder to be shared.
To do so, I right-click on the data folder and define it as a shared resource, as shown in the following screen shot. Note the "Security and Sharing" option on the menu; this will come into play in the next step.
Selecting the "Security and Sharing" option brings up a dialog, shown in the screen shot below. Here you can define how to share and who has access. In this case I'm sharing the folder "Data" with other users on the network, and I'm allowing those users to change the contents of the folder. Note where I've made checkmarks:
Just hit "apply," and the folder can now be shared.
Basically, the same process is used for sharing printers. From the Start menu, select te "Printers and Faxes" applet. It brings up a list of available output devices. For this recipe, I selected the OKI C7350 printer, as shown next:
Next, right-click on the printer. This will bring up a dialog where you can select the "sharing" option, as shown here:
After you've selected the sharing option, you'll be allowed to set up your sharing options, as depicted here:
Finally, a simple click of the apply button makes the share available to others on the network. Accessing Shared Resources
Now let's set up the other system on the network to access the shared resources we just defined. This is another task that WinXP makes ultra-simple. Turn to the My Network Places applet. If you've done everything correctly, your shared resources should show up here, as they do in this next screen shot:
For this Recipe, I wanted to access the "shareddocs" folder on the network. There's a quick ways to do this: I simply double-clicked on the folder, and a window opened, listing the contents, as shown here:
Now you can access any of the files on that share. Accessing printers follows the same methodology: just double-click on a listed printer, and that printer then becomes available. There you have it: a simple network with security and no wires attached!
CAROL ANN MUFF is the operations manager for Magnum Computer Consulting, a New York-based systems integrator specializing in custom accounting solutions for the small-business market.