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One additional note with respect to modems. You should be aware that Windows 2000 Pro supports Multilink, the ability to aggregate the bandwidth from two or more physical connections into one logical connection. Modems, ISDN and X.25 connections are all supported. You can configure the properties that Multilink will use on a connection-by-connection basis. For example, you could choose to use Multilink when dialing the office, but not your ISP. The default is that all lines are dialed, but this can be changed, as shown below. Options are configured from the Options tab of a connection object in Network and Dial-up Connections. Multilink must be enabled and configured on both the client and RAS server in order to function.
Additionally, you can configure the dialing conditions for Multilink, as outlined
below.
Network Adapters
The way that you interact with network adapters has also changed from Windows NT 4. Where previously all settings were found in the Network program in Control Panel, now all network settings reside in the Network and Dialup Connections program. One major change is that each connection is viewed as a separate connection object. So, if you had 1 NIC, a VPN connection to your office, and a dialup connection to your ISP, you would have 3 connection objects, each of which could be separately configured, as shown below:
Note that you cannot create additional Local Area Connection objects – these
are added automatically by Windows 2000 as you add network adapters. The
properties of a given connection object allow you change settings
including protocol settings, driver properties (on a network card),
authentication and encryption protocols (for dialup and VPN connections),
as well as settings for redial and so forth. Another thing that has
changed is how protocol bindings are configured. These are not handled in
the properties of a connection object, but instead from the Advanced
Settings menu item on the Advanced menu in Network and Dial-up
Connections, as shown below:
Internet Connection Sharing
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) is a feature in Windows 2000 very similar to the same feature found in the second edition of Windows 98. With ICS, you can share a remote network connection from one machine with other machines on your single-subnet network. Essentially, ICS configures your Windows 2000 system as a Network Address Translation (NAT) server, translating private internal IP addresses to the public IP address provided by your ISP. Although this technology is usually used for sharing a Internet connection, it could also be used to share a connection to a private network. ICS is set up from the Sharing tab of the properties of a connection object, as shown below:
A few important notes in ICS:
– Ensure that the connection that is shared is the external connection (this would be your modem connection, or your second NIC connected to your DSL or Cable provider). You internal connection will automatically be reconfigured to support the range of addresses handed out by ICS.
– Only an administrator can set up ICS.
– You must have at least 2 connections on the system for it to work (for example, 1 NIC and a dial-up connection to your ISP)
– ICS turns your machine into a mini-DHCP server, and will hand out addresses to your internal clients (who should be set to use DHCP).
– You should not use ICS on a network containing existing DHCP servers (ICS does this), DNS servers (ICS proxies DNS requests), Windows 2000 domain controllers, or gateways (the gateway provided by ICS DHCP will be the ICS system internal interface). If you have these and need to continue using them, you will need to look at a server solution, such as NAT, found in Windows 2000 server Routing and Remote Access (RRAS).
– ICS is simply a home and small office single-subnet connection sharing solution.
