Using Your Computer as a Network Server

If your computer is set up in a network, you may want to use your system as the network server. A network server is the master computer in a network and provides storage space for the other computers connected to it. The network server can write files to and read files from the other computers, making it the most powerful computer in a network.

Even if no one is typing commands at the network server keyboard, the network server can process commands that are sent to it from other computers. When your computer is operating in this special situation, you may want to prevent unauthorized users from entering commands at the network server keyboard. To provide this security, you can enable a power-on password in network server mode.

When you enable a power-on password but do not use network server mode, you enter the password before the computer loads MS-DOS. Once you load MS-DOS, anyone can access your system by typing commands on the keyboard. However, if you enable a power-on password and turn on network server mode, you can load MS-DOS before you enter the password. This allows other computers in the network to access the system, but prevents unauthorized users from entering commands at your keyboard and using any network server access privileges.

When you boot the computer in network server mode, you do not see the key prompt (h ) to tell you when to enter the password (as you would if network server mode was turned off). The password prompt is hidden to prevent unauthorized users from knowing that a password is required.

You do not have to set a password or enable network server mode to use your computer as a network server, but it prevents unauthorized access to your computer when it is operating in this special situation.

4-10 Enhancing System Operations