I have taken over the support and admin of a small office network. Currently all devices connect to a 3Com switch. The devices in question are a number of laptops, Windows 2000 server, one Xerox copier, HP printer and HP Windows XP PC. Currently internet access is via the Windows 2000 server acting as a NAT gateway but gives slow response. After checking out the network whilst on-site I have found another RJ45 floorbox in the office that gives internet access when connecting a laptop to it. I am thinking of getting a router to connect to this floorbox and also to a port on the 3Com switch. Would this give me internet access to the office network instead of using the Windows 2000 server? Thanks.

I am getting a Linksys router to connect to the spare floorbox and to one of the ports on the 3Com switch. Will stop using the Windows 2000 server as a NAT gateway and will just use as a DHCP server for the internal network. Will use the Linksys router as the gateway instead for internet access. Will this work guys? Thanks.

set the DHCP to provide the new router as gateway for the workstations.
that will make them address the router

Cheers DimaYasny and of course I will need to disable the second NIC card on ther server that is currently being used for internet access?

yeah, or just disable the RRAS service.

the two NICs can be teamed up for better performance and reliability, since the server is only on the LAN now

Are there any other services I need to stop running on the W2K server? Also how do I team up both NICs?

well, do you have any additional services that were running on the server, that used the internet connection? Exchange, DNS forwarder, etc

Teaming depends on the NICs that you have, is it a brandname server?

Not I am aware of. It is older Dell type server.

how old? what model?

The Linksys manual does mention about keeping the IP address for the router on the LAN side to 192.168.0.1. I would like to use another IP address in this range ( 192.168.0.101 ). Is this ok to use this IP address for the default gateway for the LAN? Cheers.

yes, as long as it is not used by any other device on the network

Cheers. I intend to give the router an IP address of 192.168.0.101 for the LAN port and configure the WAN port of the router with DHCP.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.