I have a home network that I am trying to get my linux box to go on. I run Mandrake 9.0 and used their networking wizard to set it up as:
IP: 10.0.0.46
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
I then re-booted and tried to ping another of the computers on my network: 10.0.0.41. It failed. When I tried the other direction it failed too.

I doubt the problem is with the network or the network card as the computer uses the network fine from XP home or MAC OS 8.1.

On my LAN I have:
Win XP pro
Win XP home
Win 95
Win 98
Win ME

Is there something else I need to do, like emulate some Microsoft Proprietary Networking Client program?

Help Please,
- CIO_blackrainbow

hmmm....
Try typing ifconfig and see what you get.

Someone I know recently installed Mandrake and said that it does not come with Samba. I read somewhere about Mandrake now having something that is similar to the Windows active directory. I have not used Mandrake much so I am not sure what that article was talking about and if it would substitute for Samba or not (probably not). If it does not come with Samba, I assume Samba could be downloaded and added.

Samba comes with most Linux distros, but is not always installed by default. With Red Hat I believe installing it is an option in the installation program but is not done so by default. Samba is usually used to share folders and printers between Windows computers and Linux computers. It can also be used between two Linux computers. My experience with Samba is very limited and I only know a little about using it.

If you go into your /etc/init.d/smb directory is there something called smb in there? If so what happens when you are logged in as root (or use the su command) and then type this:

/etc/init.d/smb status

Did it come back with information about whether the smb daemon is currently running or not?

I see you are using a class A IP address of 10.0.0.46 which is in the the range of numbers used for private IP addresses. That is ok but if I am not mistaken the subnet mask for an unsubnetted class A address is 255.0.0.0. You said you are using a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. That is a subnet mask for a class C IP address such as 192.168.1.46. I assume you are not trying to subnet the host portion of your class A address are you? Even so I do not believe that particular mask would even work. Did the wizard create that combination of IP address and subnet mask for you or did you choose that yourself.

Just out of curiousity can you ping your loopback address of 127.0.0.1

If you end up using Samba not very much would need to be done on the Windows computers. If I remember correctly, in the control panel you would need to make sure that the SMB, TCP/IP and one other protocol is installed. There are also a few other steps that would need to be done on Linux and your other computers. If I am not mistaken Samba can also be used with Mac OS X although I do not have a Mac and have never tried that.

Here is something else you might want to check. On your Windows 2K and your Windows XP computer try typing ipconfig to see what IP address and subnet mask you are using. Then when in Linux try typing in this to see what IP address and subnet mask you are using:

/sbin/ifconfig

The full path to the command, as shown, may or may not be necessary. On my computer it is necessary. Notice that the commands for Windows and Linux are not quite the same. Windows uses ipconfig and Linux uses ifconfig. I am running Linux at the moment so I hope I am remembering correctly what information is provided by the Windows ifconfig command. I am mainly wondering what subnet mask you are using under Windows.

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried them, and this is what I got:

[Summary:
Server: Win XP Pro
10.0.0.41
255.255.255.0

//This works
Client: Win XP Home
10.0.0.45
255.255.255.0
// This does not work (client is dual boot)
Client: Mandrake GNU\Linux 9.0
10.0.0.46
255.255.255.0]


----- On client booted to Linux -----

[root@10 jeff]# /etc/init.d/smb status
smbd (pid 1585) is running...
nmbd (pid 1595) is running...

[root@10 jeff]# ping 10.0.0.41
PING 10.0.0.41 (10.0.0.41) from 10.0.0.46 : 56(84) bytes of data.
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 10.0.0.41 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% loss, time 3020ms
, pipe 3
[root@10 jeff]# ping 10.0.0.46
PING 10.0.0.46 (10.0.0.46) from 10.0.0.46 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.0.0.46: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.029 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.46: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.028 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.46: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.028 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.46: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.025 ms

--- 10.0.0.46 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% loss, time 2999ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.025/0.027/0.029/0.005 ms
[root@10 jeff]# ping 10.0.0.41
PING 10.0.0.41 (10.0.0.41) from 10.0.0.46 : 56(84) bytes of data.
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.46 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 10.0.0.41 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% loss, time 4025ms
, pipe 3
[root@10 jeff]# ping 127.0.0.1
PING 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1) from 127.0.0.1 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.028 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.026 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.023 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.024 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.022 ms

--- 127.0.0.1 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% loss, time 3996ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.022/0.024/0.028/0.005 ms
[root@10 jeff]# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:CA:44:67:24
inet addr:10.0.0.46 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:304 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0xbc00

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:585 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:585 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:40772 (39.8 Kb) TX bytes:40772 (39.8 Kb)

----- On server booted to Win XP Pro -----

C:\>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.41
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

PPP adapter MSN Explorer:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 63.159.192.123
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 63.159.192.123

C:\Documents and Settings\Richard Kaufman>ping 10.0.0.46

Pinging 10.0.0.46 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.46:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\>ping 10.0.0.41

Pinging 10.0.0.41 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.41:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

----- On client booted to Win XP home -----

C:\>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.45
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\>ping 10.0.0.41

Pinging 10.0.0.41 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.41:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

I am "moving" this to the general Networking board because I think it is a little technical for here

Here is my understanding of you situation:

1) Linux could ping itself using either its own IP address or its loopback address. Linux could not ping the Win XP Pro server.

2) The Win XP Pro server could ping itself using either its own IP address or its loopback address. The Win XP Pro server could not ping Linux.

3) The Win XP Pro server could ping the Win XP Home client. The Win XP Home client could also ping the Win XP Pro server.

The fact that Linux could ping itself makes me that that your NIC is probably working. You IP addresses are in a range of numbers that are normally used for class A address. I am a little bit uncomfortable with the fact that you are using a subnet mask that is appropriate for a class C address on a class A address. However, your IP address is also in a range of numbers reserved for private IP addresses, so perhaps you could get away with doing it that way on your own private network. I am not sure about that point. That may or may not be the trouble. Windows seems to be ok with that. You should not need to have Samba installed to to ping the other computer. There seems to be something very basic wrong with your setup.

Linux does usually comes with an iptables firewall and that might or might not be set to block something and that could be creating a problem. I do not know very much about firewalls yet. For that matter I am only moderatly knowledgeable about networks. I am still trying to learn more about that.

I see your Samba daemon is up and running and presumably that means you have Samba installed. I have only very limited experience using Samba and at the time, as a student in a class, we set up a RH 7.3 Linux server and the clients were using Win 2K and RH 7.3 Linux. That is just the opposite of how you have it. That should be possible though. We only spent about two class Labs on Samba and only learned a little about it.

I will not try to fully describe how set up Samba, because I am not an expert yet. However, in the /etc/samba directory is a file called smb.conf. Usually certain lines must be un-commented out to share a folder. The directory referred to in that file must also be created and given the correct permissions. As I mentioned earlier you should at least be able to ping the other computer without using Samba. I am not sure what is wrong. I hope you figure it out.

I do not know what type of network you have. My only limited experince is with Ethernet using CAT5 cable and a few switches, hubs and routers. I do not yet know anything about using an 802.11 wireless network. I am not sure which you have.

Thanks. I replied to your questions and to those of some other helpful people in the Networking forum under the thread "Basic networking not working".
- cio_blackrainbow