Using PC on a Mac network

[ComputerLube]

I have a client who has about 14 elderly Macs networked together using a 24 port hub. Recently one of their colleagues changed over to a new IBM PC, with Windows XP Professional installed. She has a static IP address assigned by the DSL provider, and DSL is uplinked through the hub and works fine at her computer. Everyone else gets their IP address through DHCP and has no problems. The company is using a Blue & White G3 running Filemaker Server. Our problem is that after loading the Windows FM Pro on her PC we cannot get it to "see" the FM Pro Server files or the network printers. All of the Macs are set up running TCP/IP for Filemaker Pro. I have talked to IBM, to Filemaker and to the company that makes the hub. No one has a solution that works. I thought it was easy to network cross-platform. I also assume that it is something simple we are overlooking (I hope!). Any ideas about how to proceed? Thanks!

[ernst]

Hi Bruce,

If she has a static IP address assigned by her ISP than there's a big chance that it's on a different subnet than the Mac's.

Most of the time when computers get their IP address via DHCP they get addresses in one of the ranges that's set aside for internal network usage: 10.X.X.X, 176.X.X.X or 192.168.X.X.

Things to check are:

-in which range are the Mac client addresses.

-what's the IP address of the B&W G3 server, and does it have TCP IP set to ethernet

-what IP address(es) does the PC have

Can you provide this info?

Regards,

Ernst.

[ComputerLube]

Ernst,

Thank you very much for your reply! Today or tomorrow I will be getting more information about the numbers you requested and will contact you again.

[ComputerLube]

Hello Ernst

[ernst]

Hi Lube,

After reading your network story I've got some more questions;

1. Do you actually have a DHCP server? (The 169.XXX.XXX.XXX range is what a Mac defaults to when no DHCP server is present, so I think the answer to this one is 'no')

2. Can the Macs access internet via the DSL connection?

Regards,

Ernst.

[ComputerLube]

Ernst,

If by DHCP Server you mean a physical box of some kind then I guess the answer is no. The Macs cannot access the Internet, but we haven't even tried to do it, since management only wants the DSL assigned to individual static IP addresses. Do you think this might be a matter of coming up with a list of specific IP & Subnet addresses that I can go around and enter into each of the Macs so as to better match with the settings for the PC? Again, thanks very much for helping me with this problem.

[ernst]

Hi Lube,

Thanks for your answer, looking at the data you provided I think that the problem is that you have been using Filemaker on the client Macs via AppleTalk until now (so the TCP/IP settings don't matter), and that the PC (that can only connect to the Filemaker Server via TCP/IP) is on a different subnet as the server and therefore does not connect.

If you were going to give your Filemaker Server Mac a static IP address in the same subnet as your PC then you would at the same time expose your Filemaker Server to outside access, which -I think- is not what you want. But you could try to see if it works.

There are two possibilities to get this to work without the possibility of somebody breaking into your system:

1. Put a second ethernet card in your PC for your local network via the hub and connect the existing card directly to the DSL modem (maybe a crosscable is required here)

Set the IP address of this second card to 192.168.1.2 and the Filemaker Server Mac to 192.168.1.3.

2. Get a DSL router and put the PC, FM Server and eventually all other Mac's on 192.168.1.2 192.168.1.3 etc. Advantage of that is that all the Macs can access the internet and that the router can act as a firewall to block outside traffic.

If you need more info let me know.

Regards,

Ernst.