Networking Personal Computers with TCP/IP By Craig Hunt 1st Edition July 1995 1-56592-123-2, Order Number: 1232 408 pages, $32.95

Windows 95 SLIP

The only dial-up TCP/IP service mentioned thus far is PPP. PPP is the default dial-up service for Windows 95 and should be used if possible. However, SLIP (Serial Line IP) is also available.

SLIP is installed when the Dial-Up Scripting Tool is installed. If the Dial-Up Scripting Tool is listed in the Accessories menu, SLIP is available on the system. If it is not there, follow the instructions in the sidebar Scripting and SLIPing to install it.

PPP is the default. Even when SLIP is installed, it is not used unless it is specifically requested for a connection. Here's how it is configured and requested:

• Create the connection profile with the New Connection Wizard.
• Run the Dial-Up Scripting Tool and modify the properties of the connection so that it will use SLIP.
• Create a script for the SLIP connection.
• Test the SLIP connection.

Create a connection profile for the SLIP connection as described for Figure 6-16. Next run the Dial-Up Scripting Tool, highlight the connection and click the Properties button. (Refer to Figure 6-20.) When the Properties window (Figure 6-22) opens, click the Server Type button. The window shown in Figure 6-25 opens.

Figure 6-25: Enabling SLIP

Select SLIP or CSLIP from the Type of Dial-Up Server listbox. Use CSLIP if the remote server supports SLIP header compression; otherwise use SLIP. In the Allowed network protocols section of the window, check TCP/IP. The other two protocols, NetBEUI and IPX/SPX/Compatible, are "greyed out". These protocols cannot be used with SLIP, but they are options with PPP. Even on a PPP connection, I prefer to only select the protocol that I'm actually using and for me that protocol is TCP/IP.

In Figure 6-24 the listbox at the top hides the Advanced options section of the window. The three Advanced options are:

Log on to network

This is the only advanced option available with SLIP. When this option is checked, the system attempts to login to the network using the username and password from the Windows login. Leave this box unchecked. Checking the box for a TCP/IP network does no harm, but it does slow down the connection process. TCP/IP does not use a network logon. The network logon is only used when the remote server runs NetWare, the Microsoft Network, or some similar system.

Enable software compression

Checking this box causes the system to negotiate software compression with the remote server. The compression occurs before the data is passed to the modem. If the modem does not have hardware data compression, use this setting to speed transmission of large files. Passing already compressed data to a modem that does have data compression may reduce its efficiency and software compression usually runs slower than the modem's hardware compression. When the modem has compression, play with this setting and the modem setting until you find the combination that gives the best performance. If you're not sure, leave this box "unchecked" and use modem data compression.

Require encrypted password

This option tells the system to encrypt the password before it is sent, which requires the remote system to support encrypted passwords. This prevents the password from being stolen by someone eaves-dropping on the line. This option is only of marginal utility because it only encrypts the PPP login password. On many networks the PPP password only travels on the telephone line and is not passed on a shared media network, such as an Ethernet. Eaves-dropping can only be done on the shared media network. The encrypted password option is not used on most systems.

Use the TCP/IP Settings button at the bottom of the Server Types window to customize the TCP/IP properties of this connection. Clicking that button opens the window seen in Figure 6-26. In that figure, we set a static IP address, configure DNS, select header compression and select the remote server as the gateway. These are common setting for a SLIP connection. The values set in this window are only used for this connection. Therefor, each connection can have its own unique IP address. This PC could have another connection setup for PPP with a different static address and a third connection running PPP with a dynamically assigned address. If this window is configured for a Server assigned IP address and the server does not provide an address, the connection uses the address that was configured when TCP/IP was initially installed, see Figure 6-8. Thus, there is no need to configure the address in this window when the PC has only one connection.

Figure 6-26: A Different Configuration for Each Connection

Click OK until the Dial-Up Scripting Tool window re-appears. Create, invoke, test and correct a script for the SLIP connection exactly as described in Creating Login Scripts.

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