That's pretty much right. Different devices can be involved in different scenarios, but you've got the basic idea of the general flow and device connection order.

That's usually the case on an internal network, yes.
When you use a DHCP-capable router or have a computer acting as a DHCP server on an internal LAN, the device is usually configured to automatically assign (to computers on the LAN) IPs from one of the "private" ranges of IP addresses. The "WAN-facing" side of the device which connects your internal network to the incoming Internet line is assigned a single "public" IP address, and that single IP address is used for communication to/from the outside world.

More on "private" vs "public" IP addresses can be found in these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_IP_address
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/privip.htm
http://www.pku.edu.cn/academic/resea...ml/TC0305.html


Well, yes... and no. There are basically three types of printing solutions found on networks:

1. Network printers. These are printers have their own built-in network interfces, so yes- they need their own IP addresses just like other discrete devices on the network.

2. Shared printers. These are printers which are connected to the local USB or parallel port of a computer (workstation or server) on the network. They do not need their own IP address, but they do need to be configured as a "shared" resource. The IP address used to "talk" to a shared printer is the IP address of the computer to which it is directly connected.

3. Print servers. A print server is a dedicated device that is used to connect a non-network (does not have a built-in NIC) printer to your network. The general concept is much the same as a shared printer, but does not require connecting the printer to a workstation or server. The printer is instead connected to one of the print server's USB or parallel ports, and the print server's built-in network interface (wired or wireless) is connected to the network. Obviously, the print server's NIC needs an IP address.


Technically, administrative abilities and controls such as you describe are not so much functions of using a server edition of Windows, but are more functions of having your computers in a domain environment (as opposed to a workgroup). The domain structure is what allows for, among other things, centralized and globablized administration of all network resources.


More hopefully helpful networking linkage (warning: brain may explode):

http://www.networkingtutorials.net/
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/701/3.html
http://www.ipprimer.com/overview.cfm
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=304040
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.c...id=1427&page=1
http://www.ezlan.net/sharing.html
http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/net.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...e/default.mspx
http://www.quepublishing.com/article...p?p=30421&rl=1
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...tml?tw=backend

Hello,

Just to toss some fire... if you have Windows Firewall up, or another good firewall, the ICMP packets may be blocked, meaning that your ping test will fail.

After reading all this, I think you should consider a short course on networking and administration. From what I am gathering, you are too far behind the knowledge curve to pick up the details via a forum. I applaud the people who are here helping you, but there comes a time and place where a formal course can help you tremendously.

Also, those cert books are not good at all for getting the basics down. The cert books assume you have an understanding... they want to point out the highlights for the exam, and not teach the background knowledge.

I hope that you can come to an understanding, and install a safe network.

Christian

...Hence my original suggestion.

I think all of us could throw out links left and right on this one, and still not paint a complete picture. And, it's beyond the scope of a forum to provide a complete, bare-metal primer on building one specific network.

Yeah, but it's kinda fun tryin'... :lol: