How can I see my networked computers?

Hello,

I'm running a small-business network with a Win2k Server, a switch that holds a few Win2k workstations, and a wireless router that operates a couple of laptops. I was wondering how in the world to see *every* computer that is accessing my network from the server. There is some type of DHCP in place, but I can't see but one other computer in my leased addresses. But, I know one printer is given 10.10.10.126, but where could I *see* that from the server!? And running ipconfig on all the other computers, they're connected, but how can i *see* them on the server? I know there's a few things I'm not getting here. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Justin

If all of the computers obtain their Ip address from DHCP, you can click Administrative Tools from the Start Menu and click DHCP. Expand the server name, the scope and then select Address Leases. This will list all of the Ip addresses which the DHCP server has assigned out to clients.

There's also the My Network Places option. Open this up and select the option which reads something like View all computers. This should then show all computers in the network. However, from my experience, this doesn't really work very well, and sometimes computers are missing from it.

You can also ping each computer / printer from the server.

However, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't anything that will display all computers and printers in the network well, unless you are using something like Active Directory, which you probably won't be for a small-business network.

I think my problem lies within the DHCP. How can I ensure that every other computer receives it's IP from DHCP running on the server? I guess I just assumed that they would receive the IP from the Win2k server. Where else would they receive an IP from? ...and how can I tell? Thanks in advance!

Justin

Firstly, make sure that you only have the one DHCP server running on your network. You'll know if you have set up any other DHCP servers - you should only have the one on the Windows 2000 server. Then, on each client you need to have DHCP set up on, open the Network and Dial-up Connections in the Control Panel, right-click the Local Area Connection and select Properties. Double click Internet Protocol TCP/IP and make sure that it's set to obtain its IP address automatically. Then, it should obtain its IP address from your W2k DHCP server.

BE CAREFUL !!!

Sounds to me like you have some devices getting their ip from the internet router and one from the W2K server. It also does not sound like you were the one to set all of this up. I highly recommend you do your homework first before you start to "fix" the network.

You don't mention what you expect to accomplish when you can "see" the computers. Your ability to see the computers has little to do with dhcp if they can all access the server.

PC's are seen if they have something to offer. In other words you can share a folder or printer on each device and it will then broadcast and show up in network neighborhood. Down side to this you have increased your vulerablity to hackers and you have peer to peer networking with its unmanagability and insecurity.

Management of a print server is done thru IE and its ip address or the management software that came with the unit. Normally you would not see the printer otherwise.

As a suggestion you might want to investigate remote desktop management. But in a small shop its hardly worth the overhead.

Hey guys, thanks so much for all your help. I hooked into the wireless access point directly and turned off its DHCP server through the administration page. However, I still can't see the other computers (when hooked to the wireless) and they can't see me. This is again what's so strange. I still have a 192.x.x.x ip, while they all have 10.10.10.x. What's up with that!?

Justin

If you are sure that you now only have the one DHCP server (the Windows 2000 Server) on the clients click Start, Run and type cmd. In the Command Prompt, type "ipconfig /renew" (without the quotes) and the computer should obtain a new IP address from the DHCP server.

Sometimes, I've had really strange things with the DHCP server. So, if you have one client you is still stuck at 10.10.10.x and the DHCP server should be handing out IP addresses in the 192.168.0.x range, try statically assigning an IP address to that computer, such as 192.168.0.10. Then, change back to obtaining an IP address automatically from the DHCP server, and it should stay in the 192.168.0.x range.

Also, on the clients in the Command Prompt, you can type "ipconfig /all" (without the quotes) and it should show you what DHCP server it is using. You can check that it is using the Windows 2000 Server, as opposed to the wireless router.

what ip range is the W2K servers dhcp serving????????????

Sounds like its 10.x.x.x

It is really silly to have your server having the extra overhead of dhcp when you have a router that will do it easily.

Getting all the devices on the same ip page will help you "see" them.

How much overhead does running a DHCP server actually cause? I would have thought that this was not very computer-intensive, especially since there are only a few computers in the network.