Wifi router behind switch in LAN

Totally new to this, I would like to have a wifi router *in* my LAN so that I can use my laptop wireless but still access shared drives inside my LAN. So I bought an SMC wifi router and placed it behind a switch in my LAN. Works great in that I can access internet this way with my laptop but I cannot access shared drives. I figure file-sharing is blocked ?? Accesssing the router's settings is overwhelming yet I can't seem to find deliberate file-sharing disabled so I'm not sure ? Any ideas on this ?

Also, as I want things to be secure (e.g. no other people in my LAN) I set WPA protection with a passphrase. That was the first thing I got to work, almost immediately so that itself looks good but is this safe enough ? And if so do you recommend I protect things differently ?

As for you being unable to access your shared drives, you might want to check the settings on software firewall. That is usually the culprit. You will probably have to make your laptop part of the firewall's trusted zone. As for enabling encryption with WPA, that is always a plus. Even if you didn't have WPA, but only had WEP, enabling encryption is always a positive thing. Protecting your data is primary. All traffic, via the airwaves, can be sniffed, but deciphering the traffic takes time. Therefore, I recommend that you use a long nonsense passphrase. For example:

cXI-rkGKZT8i9SBMloPcY23KhMaZBdGu0QeLDAxj3OR9Az2mD5MqxB-DuNjHRIE or

470304548342620537315623658097631058648389665325357964052645365e MAC address filtering as another layer that a mischievous hacker must bypass. All in all, changing the default SSID, enabling encryption, MAC Address filtering, frequent review of your logs and common sense internet surfing should provide more than enough security. One other thing, I don't recommend that you share an entire hard drive. Create a folder for sharing and put everything you'd like to share in it. Anyway, I hope I was helpful. Take care.

You can also enab

"Peter" wrote in news:WImqe.116018$ snipped-for-privacy@phobos.telenet-ops.be:

To each their but why is the router connected to a switch? Why is the swicth not connected to the router? Why is the router not the gateway device for the LAN and WAN? What is the gateway device, which I must assume is a computer ruuning ICS?

I don't think you have things setup right or for some reason you decided not to do it, IMHO. If the router were the gateway device for the WAN and LAN even with the switch connected to it and machines conncectd to the switch, the machines wire or wireless using the NAT router as the gateway device would have no problems sharing resouces if the O/S(s) on the machines were configured to share resources. The router being the gateway device the machines would have better potection from attacks from the Internet.

If you were using the router correctly as it being the gateway device for the WAN and WAN and the router had logging capabilities, then you would be able to enhance your secuirty by using a logviwer such as Wallwatcher or others to review traffic to and from your network to make sure nothing is dubious with connections to remoter IP(s).

Duane :)

Forgive me for my typos. I've discovered that I have a defect of some sort in my laptop's keyboard. For instance, I can be typing something on the fifth line, then all of a sudden, I'm back to typing something on the third line. My wife will not like it, but I'll use this minor inconvenience as a way of purchasing a new laptop. Us guys must keep our toys up to date (smile). Anyway, I apologize again for the typos.

smile ... Not that your wife needs to know but ... I think this happens to more people, I too have it once in a while. Sometimes you're not aware that you move your thumb over the touchpad and that then causes the cursor to jump to another location. I used to have that often with my Dell, now with my Acer I haven't experienced it yet.

Thanks I will look into that.

Correct, a computer configured with Win2K and a software firewall running on that computer

If I put the wifi router between the modem and the LAN, and I connect with my laptop via the wifi router ... can I, with my laptop, then onto the LAN ?? That's why I did what I did, I think/thought that was the online possible setup to be able to access shares from the LAN.

Peter

Yes, connect your wireless router to the cable / DSL modem via the WAN port. Your LAN is protected and is behind the firewall. The wireless router will then be the gateway for all of your PCs to access the internet. In the meantime, you may have to list the IP and / or MAC addresses of each PC in the trusted zone of your software firewall. This includes your wireless device. If everything is set up correctly, you will be able to share files and printers with each of your PCs safely behind the router's firewall (provided you have file and print sharing enabled) as well as access the internet. Again, I hope this information is useful. Take care.

The other poster has answered your questions. If you need anymore help you can post back.

Duane :)

At the moment I have a PC (Win2K) connected to the modem. On that PC I run a firewall and I have disabled file-sharing on the network card going to the modem as an extra protection. The second network card in that system goes to the switches and connects all PCs together in a LAN. This PC runs the DHCP services etc. making it possible for the PCs to obtain an IP and connect to the internet etc. The reason is that this same PC contains *all* my data on a shared drive. So that, no matter what PC I start, I can always access all my important documents, pictures, outlook express database etc.

What you suggest would mean that I disable the firewall on that Win2K system ? Is that correct ? And set file-sharing on on the WAN netwerk card, correct ?

Somehow I feel not very comfortable with that ? How trustable is the firewall in my wifi router etc. ... ?

Sir, if you are using a router of some sort, it should have at least a NAT and /or SPI firewall included. By connecting the router to the cable/dsl modem you are separating the WAN (internet) from your LAN. The router will provide each of your networked PCs with a "private" IP address that is differnet from the assigned IP address provided to you by your ISP. No one on the WAN side of your router's firewall will have access to the data within your network unless you provide them access. So you see, unless you have more than 4 networked PCs, you really don't need your independent switch or second network card. If your router, like most, comes with 4 LAN ports, those ports will act as your switch. In short, your router will protect your network from inbound traffic. Many people use software firewalls to monitor outbound traffic. Your network will be protected. As I indicated in an earlier post, it is not recommended that you share an entire drive. Create a shared folder and place everything you'd like to share in it. As a safety precaution from determined hackers, what is not shared cannot be accessed.

"Peter" wrote in news:3dWqe.118851$ snipped-for-privacy@phobos.telenet-ops.be:

I think the NAT router is a better protection solution for you as the gateway device than the Win 2K machine.

Malware if it reaches the machine and can be executed can take down a host based FW running at the machine level and expose your entire LAN.

The NAT router is a border device that is standalone and malware cannot take it down and all machines set behind the NAT router are protected from inbound threats.

If you have that Win2k machine as the gateway for the network with a personal FW solution trying to protected it by *hardening* the O/S to attack.

You should take note on using Authenticated User Group on *shares*. I even do it on my Win XP pro machines that are sitting behind the gateway FW appliance.

Duane :)

Thanks D & D ;-)

I did what you suggested. The router is now inbetween my modem and my PCs. I have also enabled MAC address protection as an extra protection layer. It all appears to work.

One more question. Because of the various shares (sensitive data I WANT accessible on all PCs at all time) I thought I could maye set a password on the shares as an extra. For when a friend visits with his laptop and wants to go online (after I add his MAC address), but then can't access the various shares because he doesn't have the password ... However, I didn't find in the "Share" tab of properties an option to set a password ? I remember with Win98 you could do that (I think) ? Or am I missing something ?

The Win 2K O/S is based on user accounts with a root administrator account that has full access rights and other lessor access rights user accounts that can be created by an Administrator user account. There are no password protected directories or files on a NT based O/S. Furthermore, to implement any user access rights for directories or files the NT file system (NTFS) must be implemented and the proper access rights must be given to a user-account.

I suggest you that you find out what the Convert command is about if the file system is FAT or FAT32 using Google or Dogpile.com. how to set-up user accounts on the NT based O/S with proper access rights, or set the account up on the machine for the user you want to access a share and use the Authenticated User Group account on shares, which means you created a user account, you have removed all accounts off of the share and *added* the Authenticated User Group account and the O/S will check the user-id in the list of user accounts you have created on the Win 2K machine and will grant access to the share because the O/S authenticated the user-id given and did or didn't grant access to the share.

I also suggest you read some of the information in that link I provided on how to secure a Win 2K O/S.

You most likely could since it's a root based O/S with no security and needed a psw to protect a share.

Win NT based O/S(s) such as NT 4.0, Win 2K, Win XP, Win 2K3 as opposed to the Win 9'x and ME series are two different O/S(s) technologies.

There is a Win 2K Resource Kit book you can most likely check out at the public library.

Duane :)

It's been awhile since I've used W2k, but if I'm not mistaken, your friend

*might* be able to access your shares by logging in as a guest. If that is indeed the case, I recommend that you password the guest account.

As an added note, I recommend that you visit

to check your router's defenses and to see whether or not you unknowingly have any open ports. Anyway, I'm glad you're up and running and comfortable with your setup. Take care.

First thing I did when I had the router installed ;-))