Internet Cafe Business Guide

Required hardware and software:
- Computers with 10/100 Ethernet network cards installed and working.
- Router and Switch
- Crimped “straight” network cables and one “crossover” network cable
- Genuine copies of Windows XP.

Router requirements:

When purchasing a network router, look for the below features.

* WAN Port
* Uplink ports
* Support for NAT

D-link and Edimax are good brands of routers.

Hardware setup:

As illustrated in the above picture, you can notice that there are two methods of setting up this type of network. It is recommended that “Method One” be chosen because it offers for more computers to be connected to it.

Method One:

1.Connect the broadband internet connection to the WAN port on the router using the “crossover” cable.
2.Connect a network hub or switch to the router. This can be more than one hub or switch depending upon how many ports are on the router.
3.Connect each of the computers to the hub or switch.
4.Enter the network settings provided by the Broadband provider in your network router.

Method Two:

1.Connect the broadband internet connection to the WAN port on the router.
2.Connect each computer to the router. If there are not enough ports for each of the computers, you must setup the network using the steps in method one.
3.Enter the network settings provided by the Broadband provider in your network router.

Windows XP Configurations:

1. Verify network cards are properly installed in Device Manager and that you have the latest network drivers for the installed network cards.
2. Connect each computer the the network switch and/or hub.
3. Open Network properties by clicking Start / Settings Control Panel and double-clicking “Network and Dial-up connections”.
4. Double-click on the “Local Area Connection”.
5. Click the “Properties” button.
6. Verify that TCP/IP and IPX/SPX are installed for your network adapter.
7. Once the protocols have been installed under the Network window verify that File and Print sharing is installed. If this is missing and you wish to enable file and print sharing on this computer, click the install button and install File and Print sharing.
8. Setup the TCP/IP protocol by highlighting the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol for the network adapter and clicking the “Properties” button.
9. Within the properties, verify that “Obtain IP address automatically” is selected.
10. Once the network settings have been setup and all network peripherals are on, reboot the computer.
11. To verify the router has released network values to the computer, click Start / Run and type “command” and click ok. In the MS-DOS window type “ipconfig” and press enter.

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