*BSD News Article 40963


Return to BSD News archive

Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!news.mira.net.au!news.netspace.net.au!serval.net.wsu.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!oracle.pnl.gov!osi-east2.es.net!lll-winken.llnl.gov!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!startide.ctr.columbia.edu!wpaul
From: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu (Bill Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Point to Point over Ethernet?
Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Date: 13 Jan 1995 18:10:39 GMT
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Lines: 97
Message-ID: <3f6fmv$74l@sol.ctr.columbia.edu>
References: <3f4f6r$gq0@nntp.Stanford.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: startide.ctr.columbia.edu
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Daring to challenge the will of the almighty Leviam00se,
Terry Lee (yoda@rescomp.Stanford.EDU) had the courage to say:

: PPP allows the two point computers to share the same internet address right?

Wrong. Every Internet host has at least one unique IP address.

: So if I have my BSD system running PPP to my internet service provider, I can
: run local PPP connections to this central BSD system sharing the same IP
: address assigned by the ISP without having to pay for class C assignment.
: Right?

Wrong. (Unless you're thinking about using something like 'term' or TIA.)

If you:

- have one BSD machine connected to the Internet via PPP
- have other machines that you want to connected to the Internet through
  the BSD machine
- want each machine to behave as independent Internet hosts (i.e. be able
  to telnet/FTP to each other and other Internet hosts without having to
  telnet into the BSD machine first)

then you need to have the BSD machine set up as a router and each of the
other systems needs its own IP address. You also have to ask your Internet
service provider to set up their router (or their PPP server, or whatever)
to forward traffic for all your machines through your BSD system. You
may not necessarily need a whole class C subnet to do this (I'm pretty
sure you can do it with some properly configured static routes) unless
there are a large number of machines involved. Odds are you'll have to
arrange for your service provider to provide DNS too.

: The real question:  Is there any way to accomplish this (sharing one IP
: address accross a small lan) using ethernet as the medium instead of
: serial lines in a star-lan configuration?  Ideally, a central BSD system
: hooked up to the internet, and Windows and Macs on ethernet accessing the
: internet via the central server sharing the same IP address.

: Possible?

The "sharing one IP address" idea won't work, as I've already explained,
but yes, you can connect all your Macs and Windows boxes to your BSD
system via ethernet. All you need to do is plug an ethernet adapter into
your BSD box (if it doesn't have one already). Note, however, that the
BSD machine's ethernet interface will need yet another IP address; you'll
have one address for ppp0 and another for ed0.

If you have just the one IP address (via PPP), then this arrangement will
let the Windows machines and Macs all talk to each other normally, plus
they'll be able to talk to the BSD machine normally. *BUT*, in order to
to access the Internet for things like telnet and FTP, you'll have to
log in to the BSD machine first. The only neat thing you can do with this
configuration is set up the BSD machine as a POP mail server. You can then
install Eudora and/or WinEudora on the other systems. All of this assumes
that your service provider allows you to keep your PPP line up 24 hours
a day.

Once again, if you want to connect and entire LAN to the Internet through
a single machine with a PPP link to a service provider, you need:

- valid IP addresses for all machines on your LAN

- two IP addresses for the BSD machine (one for ed0 and one for ppp0)

- a BSD kernel compiled with 'options GATEWAY' to enable IP packet forwarding

- your Internet service provider to set up their router to forward
  packets for your LAN through your BSD machine

- a nameserver -- could be yours, or you could have your ISP do name service
  for you (if you have many machines you might want your own domain, otherwise
  you can mooch of someone else's)

- several large bags of cash to pay your service provider for the
  aforementioned services

- a brain

: Also, anyone know of a PLIP client for MS Windoze, or other TCP/IP
: over parallel port that will work between a BSD system and a Windoze 
: for Workgroups workstation?  And can PLIP ans SLIP share the same IP
: address as the "host" like PPP can?

*sigh*

: Terry

-Bill

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Bill Paul            (212) 854-6020 | System Manager
Work:         wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research
Home:  wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Møøse Illuminati: ignore it and be confused, or join it and be confusing!
~~~~~~~~ FreeBSD 2.1.0-Development #0: Mon Jan  9 14:59:33 EST 1995 ~~~~~~~~~