Windows 8 : Configuring networking (part 6) - Managing network settings - Adding a second default gateway,Connecting to a wireless network

Adding a second default gateway

Because companies rely heavily on technology to meet basic business needs, making sure that technology remains available is increasingly important. As a result, companies deploy backup systems and secondary systems intended to pick up the load if one fails. Earlier in this lesson, you configured your network adapter to have just one default gateway. That one gateway represents a single point of failure in the network. To combat this, some companies deploy networks that have multiple gateways. To use the additional gateways, you need to configure advanced TCP/IP settings in Windows 8:

1. Open Network And Sharing Center and tap or click Change Adapter Settings.

2. When the list of network adapters appears, tap and hold or right-click the appropriate adapter and, from the shortcut menu, choose Properties.

3. Double-tap or double-click either Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), depending on which version of TCP/IP you want to configure.

4. When the Internet Protocol Properties dialog box appears, tap or click Advanced to open the Settings tab shown in Figure 14.

   

   Figure 14. Changed advanced TCP/IP and gateway settings

5. From the following options, make the configuration changes, and then tap or click OK.

   • IP Addresses Add IP addresses to the computer running Windows 8. Assigning multiple IP addresses to a single network adapter is a relatively common task in Windows Server, but in Windows 8 on a desktop, it’s rare. If you want to add an IP address, tap or click the Add button. To change an already assigned IP address, tap or click the Edit button. To remove an assigned IP address, tap or click the Remove button.

   • Default Gateways To add another default gateway to your Windows 8–based computer, tap or click the Add button. To edit an entry, tap or click the Edit button. To remove an assigned gateway, tap or click the Remove button.

Connecting to a wireless network

To connect to a wireless network, complete the following steps:

1. From the desktop, open the Settings charm and tap or click the Network icon. This opens the screen shown in Figure 15.

   

   Figure 15. Multiple available wireless networks

   Note

   ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO OPEN THE NETWORKS TASKBAR

   You can open the Networks taskbar in several ways so that you can join a wireless network.

2. If the Desktop is already open, tap or click the Network icon in the system tray at the lower-right corner of the screen next to the clock to open the Networks taskbar.

3. From Network And Sharing Center, open Change Adapter Settings, press and hold or right-click a wireless adapter, and choose Connect/Disconnect.

4. From Control Panel, open Network And Internet and Connect To A Network.

   Windows 8 scans the local area for wireless networks that are within range. Next to each wireless network’s name is a signal strength indicator. Hover the mouse pointer over a network name to reveal security details for the selected network. In Figure 15, this is an 802.11n (wireless-N) network that is secured using WPA2-PSK.

5. To connect to one of the wireless networks, tap or click its name.

   When you do so, that network’s entry on the list of networks expands, and you see a Connect button and a check box marked Connect Automatically.

6. Select Connect Automatically to instruct Windows 8 to connect to this network each time it sees it. If you do not select this option, you must reconnect manually to the network each time you want to use it.

7. Tap or click Connect.

8. When promoted, enter the password for the network and tap or click Next.

9. Windows asks whether you want to use this network adapter to share resources on your home or work network (Figure 16). If you’re in a public place with a wireless network, choose No. Otherwise, choose whichever option suits your needs.

   

   Figure 16. Choosing whether to share resources on this network

10. When you’ve successfully connected to a wireless network, go back to the Network settings for Windows 8 and tap or click your wireless connection. Press and hold or right-click the connection to display a screen like the one shown in Figure 17.

    

    Figure 17. Available new wireless networking management options

    You can see that Windows is keeping track of approximately how much data is flowing through the wireless adapter. Because this adapter was enabled only four minutes ago, only 2.01 MB of data has been transmitted.

11. If you want to reset this counter, tap or click the Reset link.

    You can also disconnect from this wireless network by tapping or clicking Disconnect.