DSL Network Setup Help, Avoiding use of DSL Router (Learning Experience)

[DirtylilTechBoy]

Hello,

I just got a DSL connection. Whoooo Hoooo..!!

Anyways, I have quite a few PCs and would like to simulate a server farm with my lan, 5 port switch, and a 5 port hub

I have the following

5 Port Switch

5 Port Hub

(PC1) Windows 2000 Advanced Server running on a P3 500 w/512 megs of ram and a single nic

(PC2) Windows 2000 Professional running on an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ with 512 megs of ram and a single nic

(PC3) Windows 2000 Professional running on a P3 500 w/512 megs of ram and a single nic

(PC4) Windows XP Home running on an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ with 256 megs of ram and a single nic

(PC5) Linux Mandrake 7 on a P2 450 with 756 megs of ram and a single nic

(PC6) FreeBSD on an AMD K6 350 with 360 megs of ram and a single nic


I have a static IP address assigned from my provider, so I am essentially ready to setup. PC1 has DNS and DHCP running without problems. I have PC1 named "X" and is the primary domain controller for "Mydomain" I have been able to successfully setup web sites such as http://subdomain.x and http://subdomain1.x, as well as the web site at http://x and view them across the lan

All of these web sites were setup at 192.168.0.1 using a combination of DNS and host headers in IIS

My current plan shows each computer as 192.168.0.#X# where X equals the PC number (1-6)

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2
192.168.0.3
192.168.0.4
192.168.0.5
192.168.0.6

Now, I know that I am supposed to assign the static IP to the primary domain controller and essentially use the daemons on Win2kAdv Server to act as the router. When I had this setup running on my dialup modem, everything got assigned dynamically and internet and file sharing went on without a hitch. Now that I want to assign everything manually, I am getting a little confused, but feel very close to setting this thing up right.

How do I setup TCP IP settings on each machine? Is the Primary Controller (PC1) the default gateway for the lan or is the default gateway for every machine the default gateway my ISP assigned me? Do I need to disable DHCP if I am manually assigning static IP addresses to each machine on my network? Ever since I changed (in TCP IP settings) the IP of the primary controller from 192.168.0.1 to the static IP my ISP gave me, my file sharing on the server won't work.

I want to eventually assign a real domain name to this network, and even though I cant serve much (only 76kps up) I atleast want to get a server farm up and going because this is the career I would like to have.

Also, I assume that since I want to keep my internal DNS settings and naming conventions, when I am setting up the TCP IP settings on each node in my network, for the primary and secondary DNS servers I should list my DNS server, then a DNS server from my provider, or is it the other way around?

Any and all input is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Jason

 

[skyking]

You are not avoiding the use of a router. you are just employing the win2k server as one.
If you do not want a cheap hardware router, why not set up a freebsd/coyote linux/any other flavor distro/ computer firewall/router?
It is great experience, since you will have to forward services and ports manually.
I run one on a p120 with 32 megs of ram, and I only need that massive computing power to compile a kernel and buildworld in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise, it is idling.

EDIT: It worked fine before, because you had two interfaces on computer 1, a modem, and a nic. You are trying to use 1 nic for both the wan IP and the lan IP, which won't work. You can fix this by installing a second nic.

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

My plan is to eventually move to a nix platform, but I am just not fluent enough yet to tackle it all at once. I want to get it setup right first with a windows machine, then move on.

OpenBSD is where I am going to in regards to port forwarding stuff (packet filter etc)

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

I actually have the DSL modem hooked up to the switch that the Primary Domain controller is hooked up to, not that I have the DSL modem hooked directly up to the Primary domain controller. The single nic on the domain controller is hooked up the same switch as the DSL modem, and the other machines.

 

[skyking]

You need two interfaces to make this work.

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

Bridge?

I am sure you are right, but I need to understand why. Previously, the domain controller was fed the internet from the modem on the machine and was hooked up to the lan via a switch, now it is being fed the internet from a DSL modem hooked up to the same switch as the lan. Why do I need to two adapters to hook up to the same switch, it seems unnecessarily redundant.

As I said, the dsl modem is hooked up to the switch, not the server. By assigning the server the static IP, the DSL modem finds the server over the switch. Obviously, if the DSL modem was hooked up directly to the server, I couldn't physicically connect the server to the lan without another adapter, but isn't this what the switch is for?

Thanks for your replies

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

Are you saying that my problem is having the DSL modem hooked up to the LAN switch, and that there needs to be physical wall between the lan interface and the wan interface, much like a DSL Router would provide? Or like dual adapters would provide?

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

Ok, so, I think what you are saying is that I need one adapter to assign the WAN IP to and another adapter to assign the private IP too. Where as if I had a DSL router, The static IP would go to the router and the private IP would go to the server...... correct?

 

[skyking]

you got it now

 

[DirtylilTechBoy]

so my logic is correct and I should otherwise not confuse myself anymore?