connecting a router

Hi,I've got a windows 2000 server network.I'm running dhcp.I now want to go a step further,I've got myself a cisco 1600 router.How do I go about connecting it to my server.Will also want to try connecting to a windows server 2003 later.Pleas Help.
Thanks in advance

chandak76,

Can you laborate on what you mean by "connecting it to the server" ?

As you know... is a device used for routing packets between networks. Apart from that, is there something else you have in mind?

cheers,

What I would like to do is to connect my network to another network using the internet.
I also understand that you can use windows 2000 server as a router.Would also like to know how that is done.

I'm not sure if 2000 Pro can be configured as a router but here are a couple of docs/websites that will help you install and configure 2000 Server as a router:

nsa2.www.conxion.com/win2k/guides/w2k-17.pdf

www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/ server/help/sag_RRAS-Ch3_10.htm

You may want to look into a VPN solution for connecting your two networks. 2000 Server can be used for VPN as well. Another option is to set up a port forwarding but I would recommend forwarding only to your DMZ and putting up a well secured firewall between anything you don't want internet pointing. And patch your systems!

drew

To help clear a few things here...

1) The Windows 2000 Operating System can be used as a router. By this I mean that you can have two networks either local or remote (WAN) and router packets from one to another. In the case of a WAN network, you need to somehow connect these networks and this is usually done by a hardware router device e.g Cisco.

2) Since you need to connect the two networks via the Internet there are a few issues you need to look at: a) Connectivity b)Security .

The term 'connectivity' refers to physical connection. This can be done via a hardware router, dialup modem etc. This is where your Cisco router comes into the picture.

The term 'security' refers to a secure connection between the two networks connected via the Internet. As Drizzle correctly advised, a VPN is recommended. You certainly want all your traffic running through the Internet encrypted, so noone else can 'read' it. The easiest and fastest way to do this is by using a VPN connection through your Windows Servers. You can setup Windows 2000/2003 to establish a VPN connection between each site, giving you a decent type of protection.

Hope that clears things for you.

Cheers,