• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Questions On Linux Router Setup

D

Dragnov

Diamond Member
Well instead of buying a router, I've decided to put my trusty PII 333mhz system to good use as a router. I have a couple questions regarding this though since I'm knew to this...

Do I install two network cards? That would be one to cable modem, one to switch...

or should/can I, install say 4 network cards (which would be cheaper for me) all into the linux router/computer? Are there any downsides to doing this?

Also, when I do this, regualr patch cables would only be necessary for the first setup, while crossover cables would be needed for the second selection right?

Anything else I should know regarding this?
 

you have made a good decision in putting your system to this task.

two network cards should suffice. you can connect one to the cable modem and one to a switch or hub, as you have already mentioned.

you wouldnt be able to connect from your routing computer to a client computer without a crossover cable, since youd need that for NIC-to-NIC connection, as you've already mentioned as well.

now, the nitty-gritty will be configuring your routing and firewall rules, and i've found that this page has been an invaluable help for me.

my suggestion would be to use the two nics, get a hub or switch, and start reading up on iptables. you could even take some of the examples that they have on there, and it'd work also.

good luck!
 
Gr1mL0cK,

I just finished doing this myself. In fact this is only the second or third time I am connecting to the net through my new rounter. 😀

I have one piece of advice:
1) Make sure you have a backup connection plan in case you can't get connected through your Linux router. Without an Internet connection this will prove to be very difficult because I did all my research on the net.

There are three things you will need to do to achieve this goal:
1) Configure your machine to use the necessary network cards. Two will be sufficient. I added a third for a planned DMZ 😀 configuring them includes deciding what each IP address and subnet mask will be. On my internet facing card, that was easy because it uses DHCP. On my LAN facing card I used 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0. Once these decisions are made, you will need to configure your *nix box to use these settings. Although the installation and regular GUIs are the easiest, nothing beats doing it at the command prompt. I found the required files in Red Hat 7.2 under "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-XXXX" where XXXX represents one of the device names for your ethernet cards. In my case, they were eth0, eth1 and eth2. Inside of these three files were all the details for setting up each device.
2) Configure either IPChains or IPTables with rules to allow desired traffic through and to drop all other traffic. This was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I expected it to take a day or two: it took a little longer. I decided to go with IPTables because it sounds like IPChains is going to be removed in future kernal versions to be replaced solely by IPTables. I found a great and extensive IPTables tutorial which will make the process go a lot faster. It is here.
3) The final thing to do is to configure your other machines to use the *nix box as a gateway. To do this, take the IP address of the LAN facing network card (in my case 192.168.1.1) and plug it into all other machines in the gateway slot.

This has worked like a charm for me.
 
If you have that kind of cpu power to use then Astaro may be a good option. Kinda stiff hardware requirements, but it does it all.

My current favorite and the one I'm using now is BBI Agent, runs on a floppy, only needs 386 cpu and 8mb of ram. Pretty easy to set up as well. Just pay attention to the nics you use...

My configuration is P133 with 32mb ram, I see no diff in the performance from my SMC router.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top