Question How to network multiple PCs together with a Netgear modem ?

[Lendstop11]

Heya,

Im trying to setup a home network that consists of my main work PC being able to communicate to other PCs on an ethernet cabled network. The computers are physically next to each other in the same room. The aim being to create a render blade network. The main PC being my work PC, and the other PCs acting as render blades/computers. Ideally i want to be able to use windows remote desktop to access these machines.

I bought a Netgear GS305 Modem believing that I could connect the main PC to this in port 1 for example, and the other PCs into port 2 and 3 etc. However i just cant for the life of me, understand what im supposed to do next to get them actually talking to each other.

Ive tried remote desktop with the IP details etc, and nothing works. Ive looked into trying to access the modem interface? and Netgear give an IP to use but nothing happens.

Am i even approaching this in the correct way? Do i need to purchase a home RAID/NAS drive and get them all talking to that? i was aiming to just use my main PC essentially as the server to distribute the render jobs and keep all the files/data on that.

Im at a total loss of how to do this now, ive been googling and searching for weeks on how this actually works but nothing seems to help. Ive turned on network and file sharing on both computers, tried connecting with the corresponding IPs and nothing at all. The render PCs dont have internet access as they dont need it, and are only connected to the Netgear modem via an ethernet cable.

Can anyone help in explaining how to approach this?

Any help would be massively appreciated.

 

[BFG-9000]

The Netgear GS305 is not a modem or a router, it's an unmanaged switch. Unmanaged means there are no settings, and therefore no GUI interface.

To create a network using only an unmanaged switch, every PC must have a fixed IP address in the same subnet, because nothing is handing out automatic addresses via DHCP.

 

[faalin]

On the computer you want to remote to,

click on file explore
right click this PC and go to properties
scroll down the new window to Remote Desktop
in the remote desktop window turn on remote desktop

Once turned on, on your main computer open the Remote Desktop Connection app
Type in the computer name you want to connect to (you dont have to use IP addresses, you can but you dont have to)
Type in the user name and password for user on the computer your trying to remote to.

 

[Lendstop11]

The Netgear GS305 is not a modem or a router, it's an unmanaged switch. Unmanaged means there are no settings, and therefore no GUI interface.

To create a network using only an unmanaged switch, every PC must have a fixed IP address in the same subnet, because nothing is handing out automatic addresses via DHCP.

Thanks for the reply.

Would you know of any modem/router i should look into for this?

 

[Lendstop11]

On the computer you want to remote to,

click on file explore
right click this PC and go to properties
scroll down the new window to Remote Desktop
in the remote desktop window turn on remote desktop

Once turned on, on your main computer open the Remote Desktop Connection app
Type in the computer name you want to connect to (you dont have to use IP addresses, you can but you dont have to)
Type in the user name and password for user on the computer your trying to remote to.

Hi,

Ive tried this but still not having any luck, i just get an error.

Ive assigned a static IP using this link here:
https://www.trendnet.com/press/resource-library/how-to-set-static-ip-address

On step 5, would you know what IP i should be using? If im setting this on my main PC, what IP do i enter?

 

[BFG-9000]

You said the render PCs don't need internet access so why would you get a modem? A router would certainly be a convenience, as then you wouldn't need to set fixed IP addresses on everything for the network to work.

If you followed the instructions and set the main PC at 192.168.10.10, then set the 2nd PC at 192.168.10.11, the 3rd PC at 192.168.10.12, etc.

Note if your main work PC has internet access then you must be very careful to set only the ethernet port attached to the switch to 192.168.10.10, and not the port or wifi adapter used to access the internet.

 

[Lendstop11]

You said the render PCs don't need internet access so why would you get a modem? A router would certainly be a convenience, as then you wouldn't need to set fixed IP addresses on everything for the network to work.

If you followed the instructions and set the main PC at 192.168.10.10, then set the 2nd PC at 192.168.10.11, the 3rd PC at 192.168.10.12, etc.

Note if your main work PC has internet access then you must be very careful to set only the ethernet port attached to the switch to 192.168.10.10, and not the port or wifi adapter used to access the internet.

Hey again,

Ive just assigned the IPs and in the "ethernet status" im now receiving a constant stream of data "received".

Just tried remote desktop with the assigned static IP of the render PC and it worked! its now asking for my credentials which now is the next problem as it says they're incorrect.

Googling this seems to suggest i need a Microsoft account to use remote desktop?? When i installed windows on my machines i bypasses needing to setup an account.... do i now need to make one just to do this? or are they referring to the user account on the physical machine?

Ive used remote desktop for years at companies ive worked at, but i seem to remember we used an account and password provided to us from IT. Do i need to do something like that for this?

Thanks for the all help so far.

 

[BFG-9000]

If you installed Windows using a local account on them, the credentials are just the Windows username and login password for the computer to be connected to. May be different than the login for the machine you are on, and Windows may even be set to auto-login so you don't normally have to enter them, but they are there.

The computer to be connected to must be running a Pro or Enterprise version of Windows, not Home. Under Remote Desktop you have to tick "Enable Remote Desktop". "Make my PC discoverable on private networks" also should be enabled, and try toggling "Require computers to use Network Level Authentication (NLA) to connect" if you have problems.