more on MS networking

[flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

Harry,

There are a couple of ways to find out your IP address, or that of a
targert machine.

1. If you are logged onto the machine itself, open a DOS window and type
the command
 "ipconfig /all" (no quotes, of course). The output lists (among other
things) your own IP address.

2. If you are not logged onto the machine in question, then ping its
host name and note the reply. If you've got WINS running on your machine
(Windows Naming Service, active by default), then Windows will resolve
the name to an IP address and you should see output on the command line.

Microsoft's OSs from W3.11 to W98 were based on a peer-to-peer
networking model, designed for home use with a small number of devices.
This network model does not scale well, however, and MS changed its
networking architecture to a client-server model in order to break into
the corporate market with NT. I suppose MS rewrote the SMB networking
protocol then, so it does not surprise me that W98 machines have trouble
with the Mr. Flashlight routine in newer or mixed LAN environments.

"Workgroup" is MS terminology for a peer-to-peer network, "domain" is
the MS word for client-server networking. From NT onwards, Windows comes
in two versions, "professional/client" and "server"; the networing
options allow the user to specify workgroup (peer-to-peer) or domain
(client-server) mode. If you are running only W98 (or earlier) machines
together in a network, you have no choice but "workgroup" mode. NT/W2K
professional(client) machines will happily run in either workgroup mode
or domain mode; put them in workgroups if their only neighbors are W98s,
domains if at least one neighbor is an NT server. "Domain" applies only
if you have at least one NT _server_ machine in the LAN which has been
configured as a Primary Domain Controller (and you'd know if you had
one, as they require considerable configuration--they don't run out of
the box).