It is recommended you do not alter any existing Network settings. These will have been set when the box was installed and there should be no need for you to change them.

Networking Terminology
As an EnServe administrator you should be aware of at least the basic vocabulary of TCP/IP networking. This summary is no substitute for a good web site tutorial or book but will help you come to terms with the essentials.

IP Address : Each computer or device attached to your network is given a unique identifying number or IP address. The IP address identifies that device to other devices on the network. IP addresses are shown as four sets of numbers separated by periods, for example the default address for an EnServe on a local network is 192.168.1.254. Some computers or devices may have more than one IP address.

Network and Host Address : An IP address contains both a network and a host part. The host part specifies a specific device on your network. The network part groups together devices that are on the same network. In the case of the example above the device is the EnServe and it has an IP address of 192.168.1.254. In this case only the last number (254) specifies the EnServe while the other three numbers (192.168.1) identifies the network it is part of. Any other computer that is connected to the network the EnServe is running on should have the same first three numbers (192.168.1) but a different last number (between 1 and 254). In this case only the last number (the host part of the IP address) is unique, all the computers on the network share the same network address which is written as 192.168.0.0
nb. You cannot use the numbers 0 or 255 in host part of an IP address.

Netmask : To allow a computer to determine what part of its IP address is the network part and which is the host part it needs what is called a netmask. This is a set of numbers that, when applied to the IP address in a special way, reveal to the computer which numbers belong in the network part and which belong in the host part. The netmask for the above example (192.168.1.254) is 255.255.255.0 which tells the computer that the first three numbers of the IP address are the network part and the last number is the host part. Netmasks can be a complicated subject and a full discussion is well outwith the scope of this manual. Suffice to say that 255 in the netmask denotes a network part and a 0 denotes a host part in the corresponding IP address.

Network Class : A network with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 can be made up of up to 254 devices (xxx.xxx.xxx.1 to xxx.xxx.xxx.254). This is called a class C network. A network with a netmask of 255.255.0.0 can contain up to 64,516 devices (xxx.xxx.1.1 to xxx.xxx.254.254). This is called a class B network. A network with a netmask of 255.0.0.0 can contain up to 16,387,064 devices (xxx.1.1.1 to xxx.254.254.254). This is called a class A network.
The EnServe supports the simple class C networks that are sufficient for most small and medium sized offices.

Nameservers and Host and Domain names : Although computers use numbers (IP addresses) to identify other computers it is hard for humans to remember lots of numbers. Words are easier for people to remember than numbers. If a word or name is associated with a device or a network we find it easier to use the name rather than the address. A computer called a name server makes this possible by letting other computers on the network know which word or name refers to which host or network address. If, for example, we called the computer with host address 123 mycomputer and our network (with network address 192.168.1.0) officenetwork the name server would be able to tell all the other computers on the network that the name mycomputer.officenetwork. refers to the computer with the IP address 192.168.1.254. In this case the hostname mycomputer identifies a computer in the officenetwork domain. the word 'Domain' in this case simply means 'the name that corresponds to the network address'.

Network Address Translation (NAT)
There are a limited number of 'public' IP addresses and they would have run out long ago if it were not for NAT.
NAT is a technology used to allow an entire network to access the Internet without having to assign a 'real or 'public' Internet IP address to each computer.
With NAT each computer or device on the network is given a 'private' IP Address from a specific range that is not used by computers on the Internet.
The device responsible for connecting your network to the Internet (eg. an ADSL router) is the only device with a 'public' Internet IP address, it will also have a 'private' IP address on your network. This device, whatever it may be, sits between your network and the Internet and takes care of forwarding requests from computers on your network to the Internet and making sure the replies from the Internet to requests from your network are routed back to the correct computer. This is a one-way process though, although all the computers on your network can access the Internet, despite having private IP addresses, the only device on your network that computers on the Internet can 'see' is the one with the public IP address. NAT makes it much, much easier to allow all the computers on your network Internet access whilst making them inaccessable to potentially dangerous computers on the Internet.