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[Warchild]

Hiya,


I'm still trying to figure out how to connect my DNS-323 directly to my laptop, and could use some help. I know, it's intended as a network device (my mistake), and I'm going to go ahead and use it that way, but I still need to connect it to the lappie long enough to load a bunch of files onto it that would otherwise take days to transfer over my not-so-fast wireless connection.

I've been advised to assign the 323 a static IP from within its config, which I did. I've now got it hooked back up to the laptop, and am trying to figure out how to assign my wired connection a static IP as suggested. I'm using Vista, and found the TCP/IP settings (v4 --there was also a newer v6 that wouldn't take any changes I tried to give it), but clearly the numbers I entered were no good, or I'm in the wrong place.

Here's what I've got to work with:

Router (wireless, so not really important for this step if I'm understanding things correctly): 192.168.10.1 (connected wireless devices all get 192.168.10.101, .102, .103, etc.)

DNS-323: Assigned static IP 192.168.10.110 (I used .110 since it was higher and wouldn't conflict with other PCs on the network).

Wired connection (Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC): Here are the numbers I tried to use that didn't work:

IP 192.168.1.3
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.10.1

Preferred DNS Server: 192.168.1.1

Vista is still seeing the "connection" as a new "unidentified public network" for accessing the net, not a device, and nothing's showing up in the Network window. Easysearch always seems to see the device when I connect it, but the Configure and Connect buttons are always greyed-out.

I'd really appreciate it if anybody could tell me where I'm going wrong, what numbers to use, etc. (Or if I'm even in the right config window for what I'm needing.)

Thanks.

[irotjaf]

I am not a real expert in the field. But...

First, the computer cannot communicate with the NAS if they are on different subnets. You have the NAS in 192.168.10.* and the computer in 192.168.1.*. Than you tell the computer that the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, translated: local network is only what it ends in 192.168.1.*. All the other packets will go through the default gateway which is 192.168.10.1. Of course they will never reach 192.168.10.110 going that way.

Second, I am not sure you can connect the NAS and the computer with regular ethernet cables. I would say you need a crossover cable like they were two computers (you cannot connect two computers with a regular cable). See here to understand: http://www.tech-faq.com/ethernet-crossover-cable.html

[Warchild]

Ok, I fiddled with the numbers and it seems to be working, but I did get a weird warning from Windows.

I used the following (NAT):

IP: 192.168.10.111
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 (just the default it adds by itself)
Default Gateway: 192.168.10.1 (the router's IP)
Preferred DNS server: 192.168.10.1

That seemed to do the trick (no crossover cable is needed with the DNS-323), but when I added those numbers, Windows warned me about it not working correctly when two different connections (I think it was talking about the wireless conflicting with the wired) use the same default gateway. However, since that's the only gateway I know of, I went ahead and told it to save the config anyway. I'm not seeing any conflicts yet.

[fordem]

I suspect you have the laptop connected to the internet on wireless and the DNS-323 on wired - if this is correct, here are a few things to consider.

Ideally you want the two network interfaces on the laptop to have ip addresses in different subnets - for example the wired on 192.168.9.x and the wireless on 192.168.10.x, of course the DNS-323 would also need an ip address in the 192.168.9.x subnet for it to communicate with the laptop.

Having two network interfaces with ip addresses in the same subnet can cause problems with routing, as the laptop maintains a routing table that tells it which network interface to use to reach a given network, so two NICs in the same subnet can cause problems.

Additionally, you would not want to enter a default gateway setting on the laptop's wired interface, unless, that network does infact have a gateway to another network such as the internet.

The default gateway setting tells the laptop where to send data packets intended for other networks and an incorrect gateway entry can prevent internet access.

[tfiveash]

Normally if I have hooked up the wired connection I turn off the wireless.  I have had problems with both turned on and you don't need both on at the same time.  After I get done I unplug the wired and turn the wireless back on.

Terry

[fordem]

Normally if I have hooked up the wired connection I turn off the wireless.  I have had problems with both turned on and you don't need both on at the same time.  After I get done I unplug the wired and turn the wireless back on.

Terry

Whether or not you need both on at the same time will depend on your particular circumstances - but - if you wired the DNS-323 directly to the ethernet port of a wirelessly equipped laptop, as is being discussed here, if you disable the wireless, then you have no connectivity to the outside world.

[tfiveash]

Whether or not you need both on at the same time will depend on your particular circumstances - but - if you wired the DNS-323 directly to the ethernet port of a wirelessly equipped laptop, as is being discussed here, if you disable the wireless, then you have no connectivity to the outside world.

You are right from that aspect but I read from the original post that he only wanted to connect it directly to the laptop just long enough to transfer files to it.  That being the case it is just quick and dirty to turn off the wireless for that brief time.

Terry