A Dial-Up Networking Session

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A Dial-Up Networking Session

Creating a Dial-Up Networking Session

After you install the Dial-Up Adapter, you can use Dial-Up Networking. You access Dial-Up Networking in Windows 98 through the Dial-Up Networking folder, located in My Computer. The Dial-Up Networking folder contains a wizard you can use to add new dial-up connections, as well as connections you have already defined.

To define a new Dial-Up Networking connection, run the Make New Connection wizard by selecting it from the Dial-Up Networking folder. The wizard prompts you for a name for the connection and enables you to choose which modem you want to use for the connection. You also specify the phone number to dial, and can specify the COM port settings for the connection if you want to use settings other than the default port settings.

After you specify the connection data, the wizard creates an icon in the Dial-Up Networking folder with the name you specified for the connection as the icon's description. To change the connection's properties, open the icon context menu and choose Properties. Windows 98 displays a property sheet.

Most of the controls on the property page are self-explanatory. To configure the COM port, choose the Configure button. To specify the type of server to dial into, choose the Server Types tab to display the Server Types page.

From the Type of Dial-Up Server drop-down list, select the type of server protocol you want to use. By default, the list contains three choices: NRN NetWare Connect, PPP, and Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT 3.1 (RAS). If you have installed the optional SLIP driver, the list also contains options for CSLIP and SLIP. Select a server type based on the protocol the dial-up server uses. If you connect to a Windows 98, Windows NT, or other PPP server (such as an Internet service provider), select the PPP option. If you connect to a NetWare Connect RAS server, select the NRN option. For connection to a server that uses the asynchronous NetBEUI protocol, select Windows for Workgroups or Windows NT 3.1 server. For uncompressed SLIP connections to UNIX servers, select SLIP. For compressed SLIP, select CSLIP.

Some additional options in the Server Types dialog box enable you to control the way the connection is established and the protocols used for the connection. The settings in the Advanced options group are explained in the following list:

Log on to network. Enable this check box if you want to be logged on to the network as soon as the connection is established. If you disable this check box, you are connected to the server but not logged on to the network. If you dial a Windows 98 server, for example, you have access to the resources on the server but not to resources on its network. If the server uses pass-through security, however, you must log on to the network before the server grants access to its shared resources. Generally, you do not have to log on to connect to the Internet through an ISP.
Enable software compression. Enable this check box if you want the connection to use data compression. If you transfer a number of compressed files, clear this check box to provide better transfer time (using compression when transferring compressed files actually slows down transfer speed). Both the server and the client must support compression to enable compression to function.
Require encrypted password. If you leave this check box blank, your password is sent unencrypted. For best security, enable this check box so that Windows 98 encrypts your password before it sends it. The server must support password encryption for this feature to work. In addition to setting advanced options, you also must choose which protocols to use during the connection. The selections include NetBEUI, IPX/SPX Compatible, and TCP/IP. Enable the check boxes for only those protocols you want the dial-up connection to use.

Using Session-Dependent TCP/IP Settings

The TCP/IP Settings button in the Server Types dialog box enables you to specify TCP/IP settings for the connection that differ from your global TCP/IP settings for the adapter. Each Dial-Up Networking connection can use a different IP address, DNS servers, and other options. Choosing the TCP/IP Settings button displays the TCP/IP Settings dialog box.

If you want the server to assign your IP address, using DHCP or another method, choose the Server assigned IP address option button. If you need to provide an explicit IP address, choose the Specify an IP address option button, then enter your IP address in the IP address text box.

If you rely on DHCP to define the DNS servers, choose the Server assigned name server addresses option button. If you need to specify explicit DNS and/or WINS server IP addresses, choose the Specify name server addresses option button and enter the IP addresses of the primary and secondary DNS and WINS servers in the text boxes.

The TCP/IP Settings dialog box contains the following two additional check boxes:

Use IP header compression. Enable this check box if you connect to a CSLIP server or other server that requires IP header compression. Leave this disabled for all other servers.
Use default gateway on remote network. Enable this check box if you want the connection to use the default gateway on the remote network to route IP packets.

Note
If you specify TCP/IP settings through the Network object in the Control Panel, those settings take precedent over the Dial-Up Networking TCP/IP settings. Typically, you can leave the TCP/IP settings in the Network Control Panel object blank and rely only on the Dial-Up Networking TCP/IP settings to provide a working connection. Some servers do not provide dynamic configuration information properly to Windows 98 and Windows 98 clients, however, and with these servers you must specify the settings in the Control Panel.

Dial-Up Networking provides two additional property pages for each connection. The Scripting page enables you to associate a logon script with the connection.

The Multilink page enables you to configure channel aggregation, which makes it possible to use multiple communications devices concurrently (such as multiple modems) to improve performance.