Internet Connection Sharing

[Robone]

I hope this hasn't already been covered here previously. I have looked. Promise.
I have 2 computers running on a microsoft network (windows 2000) and they were using Internet Connection sharing via a dial up modem, and every thing was working fine.
Two days ago, I got the MyWireless modem and installed it(128kb), and it works great - on the host, however, I cannot get the client computer to use the MyWireless modem properly. I have managed to get it to access the modem, but the bytes coming through on the client computer are non existant, and then it times out.
After trying to resolve it myself, I downloaded a few network managing programs with out any better results.
So...if someone has got it working and could send me details of their setup...(IP address etc.), I would appreciate it, because I am becoming sleep deprived trying to sort this out:)

[Icon]

I'm having same problem got my modem on monday.... I can share my dail up connection from my comp but when i share the sentech it just doesn't send data to other pc's :/

[Jhbgirl]

Urgh, I sure hopes it works because I'm getting my cable later today.

[gripen]

Try Kerio Winroute Firewall (www.kerio.com) or something like Sygate Home/Office Network.

I recommend going to tucows.is.co.za then looking under "Internet" for "Modem sharing" or "Proxy server".

Its a bit of a mission getting it all working since you need to open ports on the firewall etc. but Kerio has PPPoE and all the stuff you need. It should work.

I havent used it with Sentech as I have no Sentech modem yet. I am planning on using Kerio at first..

If you need help with setting it up let me know

[silversurfer]

ICS is not the most trusted way of doing things, get something like winroute to manage your home network. (ICS) should work tho.

[Robone]

I have tried wingate and sygate home/office network. Still a problem. Sygate is a lot easier to use, and I am probably going to continue using it.
What I think I will do is re-install MyWireless software again and see what happens.

[gripen]

Like I said, try Kerio. It is the best IMHO. you can email me for details/help etc. I have used it quite successfully.. as far as i know, the others dont support (well) PPPoE which is used by the sentech modem

[Icon]

okay I tried this Kerio winRoute software...and all I can say is ****!!! this thing is hard to setup how about someone write up a howto on it?
Please :)

[SkUnK_BuRnEr]

yep having the saaaammmmeee problem, spent 3-4 nights trying to figure it out no luck, it just doesnt send any data, mk well it sends a little then stops, ive tried XP prof, XP home, winME nothing!, tried different modems, played with every setting possible, same prob but funnily enought it works on my mothers laptop which is running XP home? wierd... anyway gonna try this router story

er...

[vangend]

You can try Analog x proxyhttp://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/proxy.htm

It does not have that many features but is very easy to setup under windows.

[Claymore]

I have no hassles with ICS and Win XP Pro. Set it up, and it worked. It was a lot more work on Sygate firewall to get the PCs to share files with each other though!

[Icon]

okay me and skunk put our heads together(mostly relying on his) and we sorted Kerio out it shares beautifully

[flashvc]

Robone,

The reason it's not working, is because your MTU is too large, change it to 1412 and it should work [:)]

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[RodneyJones]

I battled for a while, but eventually got Internet Connection Sharing to work with Sentech's MyWireless system. There were two important things I had to do.

1. The TCP/IP settings on the network adapter of the client machines need to specify a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size of 576 instead of the probable default value somewhere around 1400 to 1500. This is set in the registry of the client machine. As I learned, the MTU is the maximum size of a packet of data that can be transferred in one frame over a network. Recommended values are in the region of 1400 to 1500 for different varieties of physical network connections (e.g. Ethernet). However, a number of systems on the Internet, including dial-up connections (and Sentech MyWireless so it appears), only work properly if this value is set to 576.

When a user requests a web site, a client/server negotiation occurs between the PC and the web server that is hosting the web site. During the negotiation, a maximum MTU size is negotiated, but is basically set by the client PC. If the packets are too large, they can become fragmented and get dropped. This generates a message to the web server that sent the oversized packet. The message informs the web server that it sent an oversized packet and that it needs to resend the packet with a smaller MTU. However, many web servers block such messages, which causes the server to continue sending oversize packets. These packets are dropped, and as a result, the requested web site doesn't load. A partially loaded page occurs when the initial data packets sent from the web server are under the maximum size. However, a packet is then sent that exceeds this maximum. The server continues to retransmit this oversized packet resulting in a partially loaded page and a "waiting for reply..." message in the status bar.

See http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/794/router_mtu.html for a better version (albeit for a different context) of the explanation above, and for more information on how to change the MTU setting in the registry of the client machine.

One additional piece of information that seems to prove the diagnosis above can be obtained by setting the buffer size in a Ping (from a command prompt). Try the following:

ping -f -l 548 www.sentech.co.za
ping -f -l 549 www.sentech.co.za

The first line works (for any number between 68 and 548), but the second line (for any number greater than 548) does not. (More information about 'ping' can be found by typing the word Ping on its own at a command prompt.) For some obscure reason, the correct maximum MTU size is 28 more than the 548 number above. That is, the correct value to use for the maximum MTU setting is 576.

My experience has been that, by changing the maximum MTU size in the registry, the shared (client) connection has gone from not working to fully working. I have done this for a wired Ethernet connection to a Windows 98SE client at home, and to a wireless connection to a Windows 2000 client at work.

2. The second item applies if you are attempting to run Microsoft's Internet Connection Sharing together with Zone Alarm personal firewall software (on the host and/or client computers). Internet Zone Security must be set to Medium, otherwise the sharing does not work. This leaves your computer secure, although slightly visible to the outside world.

I hope this information is helpful to others trying to set up a shared connection.

Regards,
Rodney Jones, Mintek, Randburg

[Super]

I have been running MyWireless networked to 3 PCs without any problems for some time - all now running XP (one XP home with the MyWireless modem attached and the others XP professional), via a cheap R120 'Ethernet switch' 5 port made by Mercury with Realtek chips inside. [^]

Originally one machine had Win98 installed which required a manually assigned IP on the host PC, and Gateway address on the 98 PC set to the same as the host IP address (this was the only way I could get the Sentech connection shared).

After installing XP on all machines, no IP changes were made, clients set to auto IP assignment. Settings on the host PC Sentech connection properties (advanced section) are:

Firewall.....checked
Allow other network users.....checked
Establish a dialup connection whenever.....checked

I hope this info is of some use ...[:)]

[flashvc]

Hi Rodney,

I'm assuming this is for when you use the modem via the USB cable?
When using the USB, the modem acts like a normal dialup modem, so it makes sense that 576 is a good value then.

I'm using PPPoE, and 1412 is the magic number when sharing the connection through NAT, anything smaller will just create unnecesary fragmentation.

The nice thing when using linux as your router box, is you can change the MTU of the client's network packets on the fly using iptalbes, thus not penalizing your internal ethernet transfers by reducing the MTU on each client.

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[Robone]

Well I found the solution and it works see http://www.pppindia.com/intl/pppshar/

cheers and enjoy

[Robone]

Just a note. The only thing you have to set up is the proxy settings on the LAN settings in Internet explorer. They give you all the settings you need.
Here they are
Under HTTP proxy field type your gateway machine IP (typically 192.168.0.1)
and in the Port type 80
Under Secure proxy field type your gateway machine IP (typically 192.168.0.1)
and in the Port type 443
Under FTP proxy field type your gateway machine IP (typically 192.168.0.1)
and in the Port type 8000
Under SOCKS proxy field type your gateway machine IP (typically 192.168.0.1)
and in the Port type 1080

[Karnaugh]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">1. The TCP/IP settings on the network adapter of the client machines need to specify a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size of 576 instead of the probable default value somewhere around 1400 to 1500.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

OMFG you should never need to do that MTU path discovery etc should sort that out over NAT, I would so not recomend editing the ethernet MTU from 1500 unless it's the NIC that talks directly to the modem.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

[Jhbgirl]

I want to try these things, but for some reason my 2 xp machines can't see each other. You think it could be because each machine has a firewall installed?

[Karnaugh]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Jhbgirl</i>
<br />I want to try these things, but for some reason my 2 xp machines can't see each other. You think it could be because each machine has a firewall installed?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

most probably, just tell the firewall's to assume your your local subnet (192.168.0.0/24 or whatever) is trusted. Doing this depends vastly on the software you're using as a firewall.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

[Jhbgirl]

I've totally uninstalled Zonealarm because I don't think the free version works on networks. Now I can ping from the client pc and I can tracert, but it still won't open web pages and download mail. I've tried that Dr TCP as well, no luck.

[flashvc]

Jhbgirl,

It's your MTU settings. Seems your router/connection sharing PC does not clamp the MTU down to the line specs. You'll most probably have to alter the MTU on the XP machines to 1412.

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[Robone]

Try PPPShare. My knowledge of networking is very little, so I rely on easy solutions, and PPPShare solved my problem 1st time. It is designed for people like me:)

[flashvc]

Isn't PPPShare a proxy?

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[Robone]

Yes it is.

PPPshar is a proxy server that enables you to share a single Internet connection of any type (Dialup TCP/IP, ISDN, ADSL, Cable modem, DirectPC or Ethernet connection) among several computers in a network. PPPshar is small, light weight, very easy to setup and use. All Internet services like Email, WWW, FTP, Telnet and even ICQ, Real Audio/Video are preconfigured for ease of use.

Cable modem & DSL connection sharing, AOL satellite & DSL connection sharing, one-way/telco return connection sharing, two-way satellite connection sharing, PPPoE and PPPoA connection sharing and more possible with PPPshar.

[Jhbgirl]

Do you install PPPShare on the host pc? Does the client pc also need it installed or does it pick up the settings from the other pc?

[flashvc]

A Proxy server is fine for browsing the web and downloading, but how are you gonna play UT2k4 or Quake3 from the client PCs? [;)]

Jhbgirl, Install it only on the Gateway and set your proxy settings on the client PCs

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[Robone]

I installed it on the host (gateway) and set the proxy settings on the client pc.

[Jhbgirl]

YAY! I installed it and are managing to browse and email. Just battling a bit with socks5 and dns, it's required for mirc and msn to work. Reading through the help now :P I asked Sentech for their dns address which is 66.18.65.115 but isn't there supposed to be a secondary address?

[Jhbgirl]

Just a PPPShare question..

On the client pc, on some websites i get a popup that asks for a password. It looks something like this :

Password needed - Networking
Firewall: /192.168.0.1
Realms: SOCKS

Does anyone know what I do with this? Only firewall I have atm on my machine is the normal xp one. Is it that that's doing this?

[Super]

Connection problems[?]

What seems to work reasonably well is to unplug the modem USB connector, wait a few seconds, plug it back in and the XP logon will automatically kick in (after detecting the modem) and log on (usually) at first attempt.

[Triune]

I didn't have any problems with Internet Connection Sharing, using two PCs running Windows XP Home.

Primary: Connected directly to Sentech modem via USB.
Secondary: Connecting via primary by using Internet Connection Sharing.

One thing you have to do though is create a little batch (.bat) file on the secondary machine, that you have to run after the Sentech modem has disconnected and reconnected, or if you switched the secondary machine on before the primary. Place the following two statements in the batch file:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Once that has run, you shouldn't have any problems getting data on the secondary machine.

.--- . ... ..- ... / .-.. --- ...- . ... / -.-- --- ..-
Ro:10:9 - If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

[Ditch]

I think XP ICS configures primary as DHCP server, so if you boot the secondary first it doesn't get an IP address from the primary machine, in which case XP usually generates one of those 'random' ones (that will be on a different subnet, so TCP/IP won't work between the two).

I've found though that it is possible with Windows ICS to change to static IP addresses AFTER setting up ICS, and it seems to still work fine. (Static IPs on both machines, same subnet address, with primary's IP set up as 'default gateway' on secondary, and DNS's real IP set on both). Then it shouldn't matter what order you boot the two, and you won't need the batch file (i.e. the ipconfig /renew stuff to get an IP from primary).

That was Win2K as primary though, I don't know if it is still possible with XP as primary, but I see no real reason why it shouldn't be.

[gripen]

Is there any way to split the bandwidth for each LAN user? ie. for 256kbps - 4 PC lan, split to 64kbps per computer. That is, a maximum of 64kbps. This provides efficient sharing and also prevents one person from "hogging" the full pipe. Furthermore, can these limits provide bursting ie. if only one person is online they get the full 256 but when another makes a request his/her 64kbps is then separated and guaranteed thus reducing 256-&gt;192 for the other user.

How can the above be achieved? If possible.. please suggest a Windows implementation.. I'm sure it can be done with a Linux server.

On that note, how easy is it to set up a dedicated Linux server for MyWireless shared on a small home/office LAN?

[Karnaugh]

There are some (crappy) tools to do that in Windows, its even damn hard in Linux.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

[thewanted_]

Has anyone tried www.smoothwall.org and MyWireless together?

[flashvc]

greedyflyza, If you're running Windows, try this: http://bandwidthcontroller.com/

I haven't used it, cause I run linux, but I heard this does a good job [:)]

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[keithr]

I have ics running between 2 win2k machines, win2k pro as a "gateway" machine (with MyWireless Modem (USB) and ZoneAlarm firewall) and win2k advanced server as a workstation.

I want to have my local lan isolated from the outside world (the gateway machine is in another room with ups) and would like to have full port functionality from all workstations on my local lan (ie be able to collect and send mail, access to sites with Linux Cpanel, netscape newsgroups etc)

Have set the MTU size to 548 and ics works 100% on Internet Explorer (http port 80) ***but*** not on Netscape 4.79 mail or newsgroups, or Outlook 2002 mail or it seems on any port other that 80.

Does anyone know if there is port blocking or have any suggestions as to how to solve the problem - first prize being to make it work through ics like it does when I use my analogue dialup modem (which is also on the gateway machine).

Does anyone have more information on the "R120 Mercury switch" as mention by "Super" on the 4th of March? as an option or other working solutions that can be reliably replicated?