[EAS] The Real Cost of Converters

[David Turnmire]

On 3/5/2012 6:12 PM, Tom Spencer wrote:

>Just a thought, but - can you map the Sage as a network drive?  Since
>the path for a network drive usually starts out with a "friendly URL"
>which the router's DNS / DHCP will parse into the correct destination.
>Seems like that would be the way to go...

>Address might be \\Sage\Sage\index.htm or whatever... mapped as drive
>S:, perhaps

... That assumes you have a DNS entry for your SAGE... which is only true if you put it there.  Not likely for small networks without their own in house DNS server.

So... here are a few tips that assume minimal IT knowledge... and minimal IT infrastructure... basically the typical router you buy for $100 (or less) at the local Office Max or whatever.

1. A lot of routers (not all), include provision for "static" or "reserved" DHCP addresses.  Every router is different, so you'll need to read the manual or hunt through the menu system.  In any event, the basic idea is that every network device comes from the factory with a unique "MAC" address (as in Media Access Control... not the Apple type).  Sometimes manufacturers refer to it as a "hardware address" or "physical address".  In any event, it is unique and essentially unchangeable.  That is what your router uses to uniquely identify a device... and provide an IP address to it.  The MAC address is provided in a form that looks something like this:  00-0e-fa-df-12-3A  It will always be in hexadecimal, but may use periods or colons rather than dashes.

   Generally the DHCP server that is part of the router makes up its own mind about what address to give it from a pool or range of addresses you have specified.  But you can also tell it specifically which IP address to give to a particular MAC address... assuming your particular router has that capability which most do.
2. You might ask... how do I know what my MAC address is?  That depends on the device.  Sometimes the manufacturer puts a sticker on the box somewhere to let you know.  Sometimes the configuration software will tell you.  Also, your router will often show a list of "connected devices" or DHCP leases, or some such lingo.  Such a list will typically show the MAC addresses of connected devices along with either a host name (if it knows it) or the assigned IP address.  If none of that works... there is the general purpose answer that will work as long as you know its IP address at the moment:

 a. Open a "Command prompt" window on your Windows computer.  On XP, select the Run command off the Startup menu.  Then type CMD.exe in the resulting field and press ENTER.  On Vista and Windows 7, you can do the same thing on the Search window at the bottom of the Start menu.
 b. In the command prompt window, type "PING [EAS box ip address]"       without the brackets and quotes!  And press the ENTER key...
 c. The results of the PING command aren't particularly important... the key thing is that your computer had to find the MAC address to do the ping... so now it should know.
 d. Once the ping command stops... type "ARP -a" and ENTER (without the quotes!)
 e. Windows should now list a bunch of MAC addresses of devices it has communicated recently with... and the associated IP address.  From that list, you should be able to determine the MAC address of your EAS box.

3. If your router doesn't support static or reserved DHCP addresses... you can still configure your EAS box with a static address: 
4. But... you don't want to run the risk of your router assigning the same address to another device.  There should be a place in your router configuration where you specify the range of DHCP addresses.  Usually on these simple networks, the first three groups ("octets") of numbers in the IP address define the network address, and the last group (octet) defines the specific device on that network... for a total of 254 possible addresses (the numbers 0 and 255 are special and can't be used).  Any of those 254 addresses that aren't included in the range the DHCP server assigns... are available as static IP addresses to be manually entered in your EAS box.
5. And then there is the question that started this discussion... the DNS address.  If the other computers on your network are working OK, then THEY know the right DNS address.  Go to one of them, and then to the command prompt mentioned above:

 a. At the command prompt... type "IPCONFIG  /ALL"    and press ENTER
 b. The resulting list should show, amongst other things...the DEFAULT GATEWAY (critical for communicating with devices off your network... like CAP servers and email servers) and DNS SERVERS
 c. DNS addresses don't change all that often... but it can happen.  Or you can pick a free DNS service that offers some security features and whose IP address is unlikely to change.... go check out opendns.com for more info

6. Email is another topic for another time.  Just be aware that there are a variety of "gotchas" because network security issues often get in your way and block access to email servers.  There are ways around that... but this email is long enough...

Hope that helps a bit. [And hope the formatting above doesn't get trashed by the mail list!]
Dave