Topic: Now what do I do?

[Terry Brummell]

OK then, what I see is:
Persius is currently using DHCP for internet access via a PPP connection.

It is using DHCP on it's 1st Ethernet connection which has DHCP enabled, yet it receivd a Windows Auto Config setting.

This means one of a few things, 1:  The nic card in your SME is not working, have you checked the HCL for the nic you are trying to use?
2:  The nic you have in the Windows machine does not have proper drivers installed.  Have you confirmed this machine actually works in a Windows networked environment?
And the "Miscelleneous settings", I have no idea where they came from, if you do I'd suggest you nuke them for noe until you have the basics working.

[rhys]

Ah. Now we're getting somewhere. I know my ethernet card works in Persius because I use it to communicate with Aphrodite.

Now, my ethernet card on Zeus is a itecom fast 10-100mbps ethernet card. It says Linux on the box and comes with a CD. Is it likely that the driver is on the CD and if so, how do I get it into SME? I need commands here. I also need to know what I'm looking for and how to find it.

Rhys

[Matt Q]

Its all Greek to me... hehehe Sorry, couldn't resist...

[rhys]

Well, I checked my ethernet card instructions. They say:

A) Driver Installation by Using Kernel Built-in Driver
   ===================================================
   Some LINUX kernels had supported rtl8139 NIC. You can check whether
   rtl8139.o exists or not. If your LINUX (ex. RedHat 6.1 or above) can
   auto-detect rtl8139 NIC, you just skip the following installations and
   follow the screen's instructions to install rtl8139.o driver directly.

   1. Check the driver file "/lib/modules/2.2.XX/net/rtl8139.o".
      Where the XX is the version number of the latest kernel.

   2. Add "alias eth0 rtl8139" into the /etc/conf.modules file.

      cd /etc
      vi conf.modules
         alias eth0 rtl8139

   3. Run the following commands at the LINUX prompt.

      modprobe rtl8139

      ifconfig eth0 192.74.53.10

   4. Now, you can run 'ifconfig' or 'netstat -i' to see if there is a
      interface 'eth0'.


B) Kernel Doesn't Support Driver
   =============================
   If your kernel doesn't support RTL8139 NIC, you should compile driver
   by yourself. Please contact http://www.scyld.com/network/rtl8139.html
   to get source code. The compiler command is located on the end of source
   code. Maybe like "gcc -DMODULE -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O6 -c rtl8139.c".
   If you couldn't compile success, maybe you should refer to error message
   and copy library or head file to Linux.


----
All trademarks or brand names mentioned are properties
of their respective companies.


As I haven't found rtl8139 and SME is allegedly based on RH 7.2 and is thus supposed to contain rtl8139 then it looks very much as though SME is never going to work (as I said in my earlier post, which everybody derided). I can honestly say I've given it a darned good go - in fact I've spent several weeks trying to get SME to work. It's quite obvious to me that it hasn't got a snowball's chance of working.

Unless somebody can come up with a solution that actually works, I'll just have to write this off to experience and get a real operating system.

[Dean]

The driver for the rtl8139a/b/c/d driver is built into e-smith.  It should find it on the initial install.  

I use this card as standard and have many e-smith servers working quite happily on this card.

You do not need to add any drivers for this network card to work.

Dean

[rhys]

That's quite perplexing then.

If it's already loaded, why isn't it working?

The only thing I can possibly think of is that I might have to tinker with the bios. That'd be very strange - I never need to tinker with the bios on my old machine - it sets everything automatically.

I'm using a Shuttle AK32A board.

Any suggestions as to what I should be looking for or doing in the Bios in order to get this to work. I keep wanting to throw the towel in and to use something else but I just can't. It's such an annoying, infuriating and frustrating situation that I feel a need to dominate it and show it who's boss.

[Tim Litwiller]

rhys,  on your win98 machine

click start > run
type in winipcfg
when that window opens choose your nic in the dropdown window
then along the bottom, click [release all]  wait a few seconds for all the ip address to clear to 0.0.0.0 then click renew all.  then yu should get an ip address in the correct range and be able to find the e-smith server.

[Del]

Hi Rhys,
I also use this card in 2 SME servers, both were found during install. I suggest you take Robert's advice and read the manual, if look at section 5.8 Configuring Your Local Network in the Technical Manual it explains how to install the NIC drivers. If you follow each step from Chapter 5 of this manual you should be able to correctly install & configure your SME server. Are you new to networking as well as SME? I am a SME newbie but I have a good networking background which I think is essential when installing any server software.
Good Luck
Del

[rhys]

Now the problem communicating with my server takes on a very interesting aspect.

I've tried all manner of ways of communicating with it.
My experience of networking (aside from using the college network as an ordinary user when I was in college) is limited to transferring files from my laptop (NT4) to my PC (W98) via a BNC connection.

I tried to communicate with my PCfrom my laptop via several different RJ45 cables yesterday and didn't get through. I used patch cables both with and without a crossover widget. I even plugged in my hub and didn't get a sausage out of it. None of the lights winked so there's obviously no traffic between the machines. Having said that, my card on Zeus has a light whic stayed on when the cable was plugged in. With a BNC network, it's easy - plug and go. The RJ45 cables and hub are all brand spanking new. I've got 3 patch leads and one crossover plug plus my hub. The lights on the hub were all on but didn't wink.

I'm fighting a losing battle here. I have an RJ45 setup that I know nothing much about. I have SME Linux about which I know nothing and my laptop will only talk to my PC via BNC.

While I'm doing a BNC connection, Persuis can see Aphrodite and vice versa - via Network Neighbourhood. I can't ping or telnet but I can transfer files via drag and drop to shared folders. Aphrodite is NT4, Persius is Win 98. Zeus is connected via RJ45 and neither can see Zeus. Zeus runs SME Linux. The hub is connected directly to Persius at the moment (with Persius as the host).

I've tried all the little wrinkles people have shown me but to no avail. And yes... I did remember to turn my firewall off. Persius connects to the net so it runs Zone Alarm. I wonder if Norton Antivirus is doing anything naughty. I tried a ping and had 100% loss. I tried telnet to no avail. I tried http and had no luck. Each time, my W98 machine demanded a dial-up connection. I guess that means it didn't find anything on the local network.

So, basically, I have 3 computers that won't communicate via RJ45, of which two will communicate via BNC. I have a BNC cable and an RJ45 hub and cables. The situation is made marginally more complicated by the fact that only Aphrodite has a dedicated monitor. Zeus and Persius have to share Persiuses monitor because I'm darned well not going to buy another monitor.

My plan is:
1. Set up a server that'll sit in a little corner, minding its own business where it will hold all my files and software on a raid protected drive system.
2. Set it up to handle all those time-consuming tasks such as printing so it'll be a printer server.
3. Set it up later to handle internet communications whereby it'll virus check everything and act as a firewall.

Anybody have any fresh ideas?
Yours,

Rhys

[del]

Hi Rhys,
Take a look here:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/home-network.htm
This will help you set up yuor windows boxes. If I was you I would forget SME until you get your windows boxes to network via RJ45. When you have done this you will be able to add the SME server to the network.
Regards,
Del

[Oluf]

Rhys,

I agree with Del. You need to first get a good understanding of how TCP/IP works in general (hardware [NICs, hubs, routers, cables], IP adresses, network masks, routing, address spaces, private vs. public networks, DHCP servers). Then you need to understand how Windows deals with TCP/IP. Finally you need to learn some Linux/Unix basics to understand what tools you have to troubleshoot when things don't work as desired.

Judging from your Windows config printout above, the Windows 98 machine did not find a DHCP server anywhere, so it used an "autoconfigured" IP address in the 169.254.x.x space (not really an address space officially designated for private networks, but somehow MS chose this, I guess)

It looks like the SME server has found it's NIC and is providing DHCP server functionality on it.

I suspect that you have physical connectivity problems in the network. Make sure you're not using the "uplink" port of the hub, if it has one. Use only straight cables, not crossover, for the connections to the hub.

Also, I would advise not to use BNC and 10BaseT (or 100BaseT) (your hub network) at the same time, if you're doing that. Certainly you should not connect the same NIC (even if it has both BNC and RJ45 plugs) to both types of network at the same time.

My advice, again, is to pause, take a deep breath, and then go learn, learn, learn before attempting this again. Alternatively you could always find someone in your circles with more experience and ask them to help and teach you as they go along. May even be worth paying for, if you're looking at this in a professional setting.

[Per Smith]

Hi Rhys

I just saw that your NIC in Persius is a 3Com card.

I suspect that it is a combo card with both BNC and RJ45 connectors.

I've had a few of those myself, and I had to use a 3Com tool to force them to use the RJ45 connector instead of the BNC. (Mine used to be in a BNC network before I got them)
Could this be the reason why you are able to connect using BNC but not RJ45?

Hope that you get it sorted out...

Per Smith

[rhys]

Hi Per,
Yes... it's a  3C900B-COMBO. I can't find any software that'll change the switch settings for me. I'm toying with the idea of getting a BNC card for Zeus and just running the whole network off BNC since BNC actually works.

If I could change the switch settings back and fro then that would solve the problem. The best I've managed so far is to read them via one of the programs I downloaded from the 3com website.

The problem on Aphrodite, however, is more complex. There is software available to change the switch but... Aphrodite has the maximum RAM possible but because it's running NT4, most of it's in use. Thus, the program complains about insufficient memory and then quits. Under DOS, it needs to access the C drive but... the C drive ain't FAT - it's NTFS.

I figure if I can get Persius to switch back and fro then I can use Persius to check on Zeus. Then, when I'm happy that Zeus and Persius go together well, I can switch Persius back to BNC and use the CD drive on Persius to load the drivers for a new ethernet card for Aphrodite.

Aphrodite does not have a CD unit and has 80mb RAM. - it's an elderly IBM 760EL.

So, any help on switching Persius from BNC to RJ45 and back would be greatfully recieved.

Rhys