Is that supposed to be:

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE?

It tells me something isn't compiled into my kernel:

"iptables v1.3.8: can't initialize iptables table `nat': Table does not exist (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded."

I will poke around my kernel to see if I can figure out what I missed as well as try it with the default kernel.

ptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE?

this is "0" (number)

<edit> Oops, this refers to post #15 </edit>

That might work or it might not . In my SuSE 10.0 system /proc/sys/* is read-only. I use

It tells me "-0" isn't a valid option. Though "-o" is in the man page and it designates the device... Though I'm no expert with iptables, so maybe there's something else I'm doing wrong? I enter this command exactly:

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -0 eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Wait... Should I do this to the device that connects to the gateway? Or the device that connects to my switch?

I tried sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 and it seemed to go through fine, but I still have the problem. Although, I would think that this would just enable the function but not actually lay the routing path.

soroccoheaven,
There is a "-o" (letter) in man:iptables, there is no "-0" (numeral there).

Your last example is contradictory: You color highlight a letter, but label it a number. Just to make it potentially more confusing, there is an "eth0" in your example, but you don't highlight it.

What are you intending?

I think I misconfigured my kernel. Doing a little searching I've found that I'm missing the iptable_nat module. I looked through the netfilter section and the only things I didn't set as module was the bridge control section and a few settings that had to do with debugging, I assume those are for people who are programming network drivers?

But would I even need to have iptables enabled at all to connect to the net? I know there's something so simply stupid that is wrong, I know I did check the connection cables.

I just remembered that when installing Linux on my machine that I had designated eth0 with my hostname then later changed it to eth1, cause that's the one I wanted to have it. I'm referring to netconfig, in case it's confusing. Could that have anything to do with the problem?

You didn't post much info about your environment.

Execute this script on your router and optional on your client. You will either get some messages which tell you which network config is in error so you can fix the problem on your own. Otherwise post the log in this thread and post much more info about your network config and topology which will help us to help you.

I. INTRODUCTION
If this is a tad pretentious or ridiculous I apologize, but since people wanted more information about my problem this is the only way I can really convey it properly.

My main issue is not being able to connect to the internet with my gaming pc. There are others, but I will mention them later as they are not a priority.

II. SETUP
In a previous post I uploaded a "diagram" of my setup. Here it is again:

http://h1.ripway.com/xpyrate/setup.jpg

I believe that is a star topology, if I am not mistaken. So, it is a star within a star. I have connected two ethernet cards to the file server and one to my gaming pc. Eth0 on the file server is connected to the bridge which is connected to the internet. My connection is to a public access wifi point and I have no control over it. Eth1 on my file server is connected to my switch which is connected to eth0 on my gaming pc.

Both computers are on a subnet separate from my wireless connection.

My file server specs are in my sig. My gaming rig is an athlon 64 x2 3800+, MSI K8N Neo-f. I'm actually not quite sure what ethernet card is in this thing, maxwell or something.

My switch is a Netgear gs108. My bridge is a belkin f5d7330.

I don't know what log files or program outputs are relevant to my problem, so if there is a file you want to see then tell me.

Here is the output of collectNWData.sh that was done on my gaming rig:

--- Collecting information about your networkconfiguration...
--- Analyzing the collected data for common errors...
!!! Neither a network card nor a wireless card was found on the system.
>>> Check whether your hardware card was plugged in correctly.
!!! The system can't ping an external IP address.
>>> Check your default gateway setting. Gateway's IP is 192.168.xx.xx and interface is eth0
>>> Enable forwarding on your router
>>> Open firewall for pings (ICMP)
!!! The system can't resolve an external DNS name.
>>> Check the nameserver definition in /etc/resolv.conf
--- Configuration errors detected. Please read and follow the messages marked with >>> above.
--- If you don't have success post the contents of file collectNWData.out.

III. PROBLEMS

A. Internet Connection

1. As stated, I cannot connect directly to the internet with my gaming rig, but I can connect with my file server.

a. The only way I've been able to connect to the internet with my gaming rig is by setting up a
proxy server. I've used squid and apache, although I've found that squid performs a bit better.

b. Using the proxy connection works perfectly. I have used programs like freecap and proxifier
to connect programs that do not have proxy settings to access the internet. However, some
applications (mainly games) refuse to work properly with freecap or proxifier.

B. Printing

1. I can print fine on my file server but I cannot print with my gaming rig.

a. I can open the cups configuration in the web browser, but only by IP address.

b. I cannot access http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:631/admin from my gaming rig as because of the
previous issue. For whatever reason I can only access the administration areas by hostname
and not by IP address.

c. I am fairly certain this has nothing to do with my smb.conf. If someone feels the need to see
my smb.conf I will post it.

C. DNS Resolution

1. I can ping both computers by hostname on my file server, but I can only ping by IP address on my gaming pc.

a. I honestly think this is the biggest clue as to what is going wrong. Though I suppose I could be wrong.

b. Sometimes I can ping my file server by hostname from my gaming rig, but not always. I think I can only do this when my bridge is disconnected from the net.

c. I can ping by hostname in windows always, but in Linux almost never. I cannot connect to the internet in windows either.

D. Samba

1. I can download a file to my gaming rig, but not to my server.

a. In order for me to put files I download onto my server, I must first save them to my gaming
rig and then transfer that file to my server.

b. This may have something to do with permissions and nothing to do with the issue at hand.

E. Misc

1. Iptables

a. When issuing a command on my server it tells me that my kernel needs to be configured correctly. Though I'm quite certain this issue has been solved.

IV. OPINION

I believe this has something to do with my gaming pcs inability to resolve names, but I haven't found any decent guides on dnsmasq(though I'm not sure that is even necessary). Bind is way too complicated for a simple issue on internet connectivity. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, you need a static IP and a registered domain name to use it properly. In any case, BIND not a feasible answer as it would inevitably lead me back here with a million other questions and problems. Whether the cause is an inability to resolve names or that is a symptom, I don't know.

My /etc/hosts file is exactly the same on both machines and I really doubt there is something wrong with it.

As far as I can tell I've enabled port forwarding on my file server:

#cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
1

If anyone has any clues as to what is wrong please respond, it's probably something obvious that I'm overlooking.

Furlinastis, please don't post multiple threads about the same issue.

I have merged your 2 threads.

Oh, sorry. I just thought it would confuse people.

OK, I got it working. It was just a matter of configuring DHCP and setting the correct gateway and dns server on the client box(gaming rig) Just trying to fiddle with my "server" was barking up the wrong tree so to speak. Thanks for everyone's help. It's finally solved!