Talk about ADSL Connection Sharing

With the development of technology and the decline in prices, more and more small office organizations and home users began to access the Internet through ADSL in order to obtain higher network bandwidth and better transmission quality. However, most ADSL users face the same problem: how to make multiple computers in the internal network share the ADSL connection. Currently, there are many ways to connect to ADSL instances. However, for users with limited technical application levels, the main requirement should be to minimize hardware investment and complicated software settings, at the same time, it ensures the simplicity of use, and has relatively low requirements on manageability and other aspects.
There are two common ways of ADSL connection and sharing: one is a hardware-only method, that is, through the built-in NAT (Network Address Translation, Network Address Translation) function of the ADSL Modem; another method is to use NAT technology to share multiple servers (each computer in the network can act as a connection sharing server). In this way, you need to install WinGate software.
The hardware-only method is very convenient. All users in the LAN can use it directly without installing any software. The ADSL Modem can be automatically launched as long as it is enabled. It is suitable for the billing method with unlimited monthly subscription; this software needs to be installed on each machine through WinGate so that it can act as a server when any computer goes online, it provides the ADSL Connection Sharing service for other computers in the network. The configuration in this mode is slightly complicated, but it can provide the network usage control and record functions, it is applicable to the billing method based on the Internet access time and the subscription period. It should be noted that most of the ADSL Modem on the market currently uses the PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) dialing method, so this article will also be based on this.
Preparations
To share the ADSL connection, you must build a LAN and connect internal computers. In this respect, you need some necessary hardware investment. Including the same number of NICs and a hub as the computer, we recommend that you use a 10/100 Mbps adaptive Nic and a switch-type hub to get a faster connection speed at a reasonable cost-effectiveness. If there are not many computers to connect to, select 4 ~ The hub of the five ports.
Next, you can start the hardware connection. When only one computer is connected, the ADSL Modem is connected directly to the computer Nic through the RJ-45 port, while the ADSL Modem is connected to the Uplink port of the hub during shared connection. If the Hub does not have an Uplink port, you need to use a crossover line (568A at one end, 568B standard at the other end, or two PC-Connected Network cables) to connect to the common port on the hub. Then, directly connect each computer in the network to the common port of the hub.
Hardware-only
In this method, you need to set the network parameters of the ADSL Modem and the computer. The author uses eTEK. TD 2001 ADSL Modem (provided by telecom service providers), which is widely used and representative. Therefore, this article will take this product as an example to describe in detail. If you are using another brand of ADSL Modem, You can consult the manufacturer or telecommunications service provider.
Set the Network Properties of the computer in the LAN, as shown in figure 1. The gateway address is 192.168.1.1, which is the default IP address of the ADSL Modem. All computers in the LAN access the Internet through this gateway. The IP address is 192.168.1.x (1 <x <254). Each computer must use an independent IP address. The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. For the DNS server address, consult your telecommunications service provider.
　
The connection sharing Function of the ADSL Modem is determined by the Support for NAT In the Firmware (Firmware). To achieve connection sharing, you only need to enable the NAT Function. ETEK. you can set the TD 2001 ADSL Modem in a browser. You only need to enter the address 192.168.1.1 and the default password (2 shown ), you can also find the address on your website as a http://www.etek-td.com, which is not detailed here. In particular, eTEK. TD 2001 supports this function only when Firmware is later than 3.08. Therefore, users of earlier versions need to upgrade Firmware.
　
WinGate multi-server mode

Before installing the WinGate software, you also need to set the network parameters of the computer, as shown in figure 3. After comparison with figure 1, we found that the WinGate multi-server mode is slightly different from the hardware-only mode when setting network properties, mainly reflected in the gateway address settings. Because the WinGate multi-server method can use any computer in the LAN as the ADSL Shared Server, that is, each computer can act as the gateway, therefore, the gateway address is the IP address of other PCs in the network except the IP address itself. For example, there are three computers in the network, and the IP addresses are 192.168.1.5, 192.168.1.6, and 192.168.1.7 respectively. Then, the computer gateway IP address 192.168.1.5 should be 192.168.1.6 and 192.168.1.7, and so on.
　
Next, install the WinGate software. WinGate is the old connection sharing software, address for http://www.deerfield.com, the latest version is 5.02, we will take this as an example to introduce. WinGate 5.02 is very powerful (as shown in Figure 4 on its main interface), and is well designed for security and manageability. The configuration of WinGate is not as complex as you think. It can be completed in just a few simple steps. If you are a high-level application user, you may be able to discover many feature features from them.
　
Then, install WinGate 5.02 on each computer on the LAN. Note that the WinGate Server method is used during installation (as shown in Figure 5 ), this ensures that each computer can be used as a connection server in the network. When setting the installation options for WinGate, we recommend that you disable the "Email Server" and "VPN" options. These features are rarely used by users without special requirements, use the default settings for other options. Note: NAT support is automatically enabled in the default options of WinGate.
　
After the installation is complete, restart the computer. A "WinGate Engine Monitor" icon appears in the task bar of the operating system. This is a control program that enables and disables the WinGate function, and configure WinGate. This figure indicates that the WinGate service has been started. You can start to share the network connection of ADSL.
During use, you can enter a URL in your browser to test whether the Internet can be accessed. If yes, a computer is already in the network to act as a shared server. You can share the ADSL Network Connection. If the access fails, you need to use the dialup program to establish an ADSL connection, so that the local machine becomes a Shared Server, and other computers access the Internet through this machine. Another method is to first use a dialup program to establish a connection. If the connection fails, it means that other computers have established a connection and are serving as a shared server and can directly access the Internet.
WinGate is started as a Windows service. The service name is "Qbik WinGate Engine" and is automatically started with Windows. If you need to manually start or disable this service, you can select "Control Panel" * "Administrative Tools" * "Computer Management" to change the properties of this service.
Summary
The two ADSL sharing modes mentioned above share a common feature that they are easy to use and easy to install and are suitable for small enterprises and family users. I have installed and tested Windows 2000, XP, 9x, Me, and other platforms, and it runs normally. We need to remind you that the hardware-only method is more suitable for the subscription mode, because the ADSL Modem will be automatically connected after one power-off, and the Firmware setting interface must be accessed through the browser when the connection is disconnected, it is not convenient for subscription users, and it is likely that the time limit is exceeded if you do not pay attention to it. The configuration and use of WinGate multi-server mode is slightly complicated, but the features provided are relatively rich, manageability and security are also good. In addition to subscription users, other users who are interested and have a certain level of application may wish to try again.
In addition, since the Windows 2000/9 x/Me system does not support PPPoE, we recommend that you use the RASPPPOE (http://www.raspppoe.com) software to support PPPoE. Although Windows XP supports PPPoE, we also recommend that you install RASPPPOE with more features. The RASPPPOE software is installed as a protocol, and the created ADSL connection is a dial-up network connection for the system. It can be managed and recorded using a common dial-up program.
Related Links: NAT and Proxy
WinGate supports two common Internet shared connections, NAT and Proxy. NAT works like a software router. The NAT server replaces the IP addresses in the data transmission package and receiving package to convert data between the Intranet and the Internet. The Proxy method first interprets the sent and received data on the Proxy server, and then sends the data to the Intranet or Internet.
The NAT and Proxy methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. For more information, see the appendix. Among them, NAT is easier to use, the software compatibility and running speed are better, and Proxy is more powerful in configuration and security. In comparison, NAT is a "Transparent" network access method, which only overwrites a small part of the data packet, thus ensuring high access speed. In addition, there is almost no need to Set Client Applications in NAT mode, and applications can be used in almost all common operating systems, such as Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, and Linux. It is also because of the many features of NAT that it has become a common Internet Connection Sharing method.