Can I connect 2 computers on the same network using ventrilo?

[wedoe21]

Im just getting into ventrilo on the server end. Iv used the client for a while but iv never had the need to host my own server untill now. Im at my parents house and im trying to get the home office desktop (which is running the server software) and the laptop to be able to talk to each other through vent. Im home for the weekend and im just trying to make sure it works so when i go home we can set up a network with no problems. I put the ip address i got from whatismyip.com into both clients and nothing happens. The client says connecting but nothing happens. Do i also need the subnet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx rather than just the IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ? My networking skills are a little rusty so bare with me. At this point im lost and any help would be appreciated. In the end I would like to be able to have the server running on my computer at my house which my brother(who is on the same network) can connect to, and also allow my dad (who is in a different state) to connect to the vent server from either his laptop or desktop. Thanks for reading my long and confusing rant. Any help is most appreciated.

[Sgraffite]

Im just getting into ventrilo on the server end. Iv used the client for a while but iv never had the need to host my own server untill now. Im at my parents house and im trying to get the home office desktop (which is running the server software) and the laptop to be able to talk to each other through vent. Im home for the weekend and im just trying to make sure it works so when i go home we can set up a network with no problems. I put the ip address i got from whatismyip.com into both clients and nothing happens. The client says connecting but nothing happens. Do i also need the subnet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx rather than just the IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ? My networking skills are a little rusty so bare with me. At this point im lost and any help would be appreciated. In the end I would like to be able to have the server running on my computer at my house which my brother(who is on the same network) can connect to, and also allow my dad (who is in a different state) to connect to the vent server from either his laptop or desktop. Thanks for reading my long and confusing rant. Any help is most appreciated.

You should be able to connect using the local IP of the computer that is hosting it, normally for a home network this would be something like 192.168.x.x

Anyone outside of your local network would need to use the WAN IP of your router to connect, and you would need to configure the router to forward whatever ports Ventrilo uses to the local IP of the computer that is serving Ventrilo. Hope that helps.