Tech Note: Home Network Configuration

Let me describe the network wiring. I have a single thin-net (coax) cable that goes from the basement to the attic. At each end of that backbone is an unmanaged 10-base T hub. In the attic I pulled a twisted pair to my son's bedroom, where he does his homework. From the basement, six runs go to my first floor study, and one to the living room.

In the study I have two computers that are always turned on. One is the PC with the modem: this is running Windows NT and is set up as a router, to connect the whole network to the Internet. This same computer runs our web server and a mail server. The server programs don't take much horsepower - I use the PC as a regular "home computer", too, even while it's busy dishing out web pages. The other PC is a separate web server I run for a non-profit organization.

Below is a diagram of our network configuration. You can visit two of the PCs by clicking on them.

                        |-------------| I have a "dedicated dialup" account
                        |  Internet   | at my ISP. They give me my own
                        |  Provider   | phone number to dial and a Class C
                        |-------------| block of static IP addresses.
                             |
                             | phone line
                             |
                             |
ISP-provided subnet  |--------------------| Modem / RAS Dial-up networking
used on LAN:         | NT 4.0 Workstation | IP address: 199.3.128.223
204.215.189.*        |      ROUTER        |
                     | www.sturtevant.com |
                     |--------------------| LAN card
                             |              IP address:      204.215.189.1
                             |              Subnet mask:     255.255.255.0
                    Ethernet |              Default gateway: *leave blank*
                             |
                             |
                       |---------------------------|
                       |                           |
                  |--------------------|      |------------|
                  | NT 4.0 Workstation |      | Windows 95 |
                  |   www.axle.org     |      |            |
                  |--------------------|      |------------|
IP address:       204.215.189.129             etc.
Subnet mask:      255.255.255.0               255.255.255.0
Default gateway:  204.215.189.1               204.215.189.1


   NOTE: The above addresses are unique to my network. On your network,
   use ONLY IP addresses that are provided to you by your Internet Service Provider.