Mac networks/Xservers

[ikickpigeons]

Hello all,

It seems I have a really bad problem on my hands. I recently bought an Acer Aspire 5000 series running Windows XP Media Center and I cant connect to my school's network. My school's network is running on Mac Xservers with airport extreme routers all over the place. I know nothing of macs and how they run networks and their protocols and i need your help.

THE PROBLEM:
My school's network administer says that he has been working on the problem for three years and still can't fix the problem. However, he believes the problem lies somewhere with the computer and network's ability to assign and register IP addresses. He said the problem is with the DHCP, i dont know what this is, but from what I can see from my end I am getting an IP address error.

The administer said that if I can't fix the problem by christmas he would give me a static IP, but i dont want to wait that long. Plus he may not even given the static IP.

I, and three other people at my school who dont use macs, would be SO THANKFUL if anyone can help us.

If you guys need to ask server/network specific questions and/or super technical things go on ahead, I can talk to my admin and will try to post his answers as quick as possible.

RANT:
My school is lame and everyone uses macs. Personally, and please dont flame me, I hate macs. I think that the company makes too many sloppy mistakes and thier marketing strategies are ridiculous. Howver I DO think that they make some good decisions but not enough to even come close to the PC world. And this situation angers me even more because why cant windows connect to a mac server???? Seems a little suspicious. I wonder what is going on at apple nowadays....

CLIFF NOTES:
How can I connect a windows computer to a mac xserver network running airport extreme wirless routers?

Please help me. It would mean so much if you guys could.

 

[spidey07]

You need to provide more information.

What do you mean "connect to mac servers"? Access to files/printers?

There is nothing going on with apple (apart from making the most incredible laptpos out there), it is incompetence from the network administrator.

can you describe the "ip address error"? This stuff is pretty standardized across all operating systmes and there is no reason why you can't communicate.

 

[ikickpigeons]

well apparently it's not as easy as it seems because my network admin couldnt fix the problem after three years. But I wil try to clarify.

1) I cannot connect to the internet, school network, printers, file servers.

2) The network is completly open, no passwords, no encryption.

3) Anyone else with a mac can just connect to the internet by clicking on the network name

4) Whenever I try to connect, My computer can pick up our wireless network "TCSair"

5) Next I click on it trying to connect. After a few minutes of my computer trying to "acquire an IP Address" i get an error message that says there is limited or no connectivity.

6) My computer doesn't have an IP address

7) I get maximum wireless reception.

8) there is no problem with my computer, I can connnect perfectly fine to other wireless networks.

9) My school has its own servers. They are mac Xservers.

10) My school uses airport extreme

11) I dont know what the servers are used for exactly. maybe e-mail? or file server? not sure.

Does this help? To make it simple, my computer cannot connect to the internet. Either on a related or totally unrelated note, my school runs mac servers and routers.

 

[spidey07]

You need to make sure you wireless card/client are setup correctly to match those of the access points in terms of encryption, key rotation, etc.

The reason why you're not getting an IP address are the client doesn't match the access point on encryption and authentication methods used by the AP. This should be utterly trival for your network guy.

 

[ikickpigeons]

I barley understand what your saying. Im sorry but I am very unfamiliar with networks. As i said earlier there are no passwords or encryptions. I have my computer set to obtain an IP address automatically and to obtain a DNS server automatically. Some how my computer or the network cant assign me a IP address.

 

[spidey07]

Your network admin needs to tell you exactly how to setup your wireless client. It is beyond your control. Show him this thread....

What encyption is being used?
What authentcation is being used?
What key rotation is being used?

All of this is dictated by the access point. And if you don't match all that exactly you aren't gonna talk.

WPA?
WEP?
WPA2-PSK?
LEAP/WEP?

If you're network guy can't answer these very simple question, fire him.

 

[ikickpigeons]

OK, ill ask him tomorrow.

 

[halfadder]

Your problems lie in two areas:
1) Network
2) Server

The network should be fairly OS independent. TCP/IP is TCP/IP, 802.11b wireless is 802.11b wireless, etc, it doesn't matter if you're using Windows, Mac, or Solaris. As spidey suggested, first of all find out what encryption , authentication (keys), and key rotation is being used by the wireless access points. Find out what the SSIDs are. I am very surprised to hear that the school uses AirPort access points... those are fine access points and print/music servers for home or small business use, but they lack the flexbility of Cisco Aironet access points... AirPort Admin Utility can only do so much. (BTW, ask the admin what firmware the AirPorts are using... it should be 6.3 or newer and the AirPort Admin Utility can update this). For what's is worth, one of my two access points at home is an AirPort and I have had no problems using it with my two Macs and my four PCs.

Accessing the servers is another story. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server can use three varieties of server protocols... they speak oldschool Mac (AppleTalk/AppleShare "AFP"), Windows (Samba/SMB, Active Directory), and Unix (FTP, SSH, NFS, etc). If your school is mostly a Mac shop, then I would venture to guess that the servers are configured for AppleShare. If this is the case, then you would need to install an AFP client on your PC. Or beg your admin to enable Windows/SMB sharing on the server as well.

Printer Sharing is a mixed bag. Your school may be using Mac OS X Server as a printer server... if so, they only need to enable Windows support to let you print. Or you school may be using the built-in printserver in their laserwriters and laserjets. Again, they would have to enable Windows printer sharing. You could also try installing a Mac printing client on your PC.

Give PCMacLAN a look, it lets Macs fit in better with Windows networks and it lets Windows PCs fit in better with Mac networks.

I use Windows, Mac, Linux, and traditional Unix on a daily basis. Having used them all, and having used them in an enviroment where I have some control (ie, not a school) I can say that they all have their strengths and weaknesses and oddities. I do not believe the PC is superior. But I do not believe that Mac or Linux is a complete replacement for the PC either. They're all good. Or they all suck. Depends on how you look at it.