Computer
names and ping
The client
application will connect to the PC, where the
server application is running using either the
name or the ip-address of the machine.
Typically
local networks work with dynamic ip-adress
allocation, meaning that the computer is
allocated an ip-adress when it logs onto the
network and it keeps this adress until it is
turned off. When it is turned on and relogs onto
the network again , it will be allocated a
different ip-adress.
This means
that you should normally always use the machines
logical name, or have a fixed ip-adressdedicated
to it. The computers logical name can be
determined (at least on an NT) by right clicking
the Network Neigborhood icon and selecting
Properties. The display below shows a machine
with the Computer Name STE-NT4.

If you are
uncertain about server address availability, you
should use the standard windows application PING.
Start a DOS
command prompt windows and enter the command ping
followed by the computer name you want to check.
In the following exampleyou can see that the
machine ste-nt4 is available on a basic TCP/IP
level and that it has the ip-adress 25.26.28.131
at least for the time being.

|