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3.5 Network Configuration Setup
3.5.1 Network Configuration Setup Overview
•
After you finish up the hardware and software driver setup, you will need to install and configure
Microsoft Networking components.
•
If you only need to access the Internet, installation of the TCP/IP networking component should be
sufficient.
•
If you want some functions to share files and printers in small LAN environment, some installations may
use an alternative networking protocol called NetBEUI protocol.
•
Both TCP/IP and NetBEUI protocols can be used to share files and printers between wired and wireless
computers.
3.5.2 Before TCP/IP Networking Configuration Setup
3.5.2.1 What you should know before Configuration
•
TCP/IP
protocol is a protocol used to connect to a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as the Internet or
hard-wired Ethernet networks.
•
Every computer connecting to WAN has a
unique
number called
IP address
, which consists of two parts,
network part and host part. For example, consider the IP address 150.205.30.9.
Assuming this is part of a Class B network, the first two numbers (150.205) represent the network address
and the second two numbers (30.9) represent the host address.
•
Network administrator can divide the host part of IP address into two or more subnets for more effective
use. In that case,
subnet mask
is used to determine what kind of subnet the IP address belongs to.
•
You should consult your network administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP) to find out your
IP
address
and
subnet mask
.
•
There are two ways of obtaining an IP address. Some networks use
Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP)
to dynamically assign an IP address every time you log on to the network. Others use
static IP that is uniquely assigned to your computer and you use the same IP address whenever you log on to
the network.
