Problems with LAN setup
 

Can someone please link me somewhere where are step-by-step instructions (console) on how to setup a LAN between two or more PCs? Oh, something else, my distro saw my Ethernet port as a gateway to Internet, which is not. How can I correct it?

You'd better try Categorized howto's at http://TLDP.org
Also, what is your LAN card. What setup do you want: Static or DHCP?

Some very basic things ppl would probably need to know in order to answer :

2 or more PC's : OS/Distro ?
(Mixed OS's LAN can differ alot from pure linux LAN)

What equipment you're using to share your internet connection ?
like perhaps you're using a router ?
as pointed out, static or DHCP ip-setup ?

Wireless stuff involved ?


Just some friendly hints. Good formulated questions --->> Good, precise answers

I want to setup a mixed OS's LAN(one will be using Mandrake 10.1 and the other Windows XP). There is no router between them and the internet connection is not shared. So, aguess, the IPs are static. Oh, the LAN is wired. What to do with the ethernet issue? The particular PC is using Mandrake 10.1

Now that sounds like a fairly easy task. I'm a newbie too, but I have samba/nfs running :)

I don't know if Mandrake comes with Samba installed, but I guess it do.
If it doesn't , read your way to how to get it installed in Mandrake. In Debian I would "apt-get samba" I think Mandrake uses a similar command. Otherwise it probably has some graphical front-end to the package management.

But let's presume you have Samba installed, cause that is really all you need in this situation. I recommend diving into editing smb.conf by hand. (the file that configures the samba server). If that's not an option I'm sure Mandrake has some fancy GUI for this too.

Google for samba howto mandrake.... should not be a problem ;)

Give static IP's and set up /etc/hosts with hostname and IP for both Computers. Do this on both computers.

On the XP machine all you have to do is click network neighbourhood or search for computers on the network...

EDIT: This is for accessing linux from XP, in XP you simply share a folder and use Samba to mount it in linux ---> go google

One tip : Since your connecting directly from pc to pc, remember to use crossover cable, not regular network cable...

Thanx a lot, but how do I configure samba.conf ? Not literally how, I know, with vi, but how do you modify it, what parameters do fill in?

That depends what you want it to do off course :)

Again, google is the place to go... search for samba howto , first hit I got was this : http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/...n/install.html
(the official Samba HOWTO - recommended)

How your smb.conf will eventually look depends on what you will be sharing and way of sharing it. (could be more, just staying basic here).

Let's say you want to share the directory /home/shared with the xp computer.

smb.conf :

[shared]
comment = *put your description here*
path = /home/shared
admin users = *your username* ----as in XP !
writable = yes
valid users = *your username* -----as in XP !

in shell:

smbpasswd -a *username*

# restart samba. this can differ among distro's. verify that the services are running.

### Please note ###

This is ONE out of ALOT of ways to do this...samba is very flexible, you can set up domain accounts, password autentication in different ways, open access (don't recommend it, don't use it, hence won't give you example for it ;))or , well, loads of stuff...This is also a very minimal configuration, yet should be enough for your needs.

If something doesn't work, post it here and search around on your own. I'm a newbie myself as said earlier, but this worked for me.

Hope you succeed !

HELP with Network Setup for a Newbie
 

Hi folks,

I am new to Linux, and just recently setup several computers with Mepis 3.3.1. I have tried Redhat 8, Suse 9.1, Fedora, and while they are all nice in their own way, I like Mepis for its simplicity and lack of overwhelming choices for applications. It gives you the basics with labels that help newbies like me identify what the application does. Something that is missing in some other distributions.

Ok, here is the network configuration I am trying to use. I have an older AMD Athon 1300 MHz processor on a PC Chips board...cheap and dirty but it works. Using the built in network card on the motherboard ( an M825G ) to link to the DLink Router. model DI-604, which connects to my DSL switch. Using Ntelos as my ISP.

I have a plug in NIC, an OvisLink OV8139dA29C3000479 serial number. From that card I am attempting to feed a Linksys 8 port switch to service the other 8 computers in the network. This server should provide internet gateway, fileserver and firewwall protection for the internal network.
Previously, everything was windows, but I am tired of fighting with microsoft for the rights to their D*** software and am going to migrate all but two of those machines to Linux, if I can get AMD machine to work as a file server, internet gateway, and firewall. We have had a few intrusions on the windows network and want a Linux box as a gatekeeper in the hope that will keep most of the baddies at bay.

When I try to turn on eth0 feeding the internal network, it disables my internet connection on the server. I have figured out ( duh! ) that if the server cant access the internet then none of the clients can either. So I am at a loss as to what to do. I can be reached at tlwomack@alternative-images.net

HELP!

Hotshoe TOm aka Thomas Womack

What Distro is the server running ? Mepis there too ?

Have you set up IP masquerading ?

Additional info about my (attempted0 setup
 

Thanks for the reply. I am running Mepis on the server box too, and in fact since the last post, have reinstalled again due to problems that have something to do with the network card(s). Not at all sure what the problem was, but it seems to be behaving normally after the reinstall. I have not turned on Samba server yet or added the second NIC. The NIC that is integral with the motherboard is a VIA Rhine model and the disk that came with the motherboard has a driver for the 2.4.x kernel but the driver that Mepis 3.3.1 installed seems to work well, so I dont feel compelled to install it.

The rest of the computers in the network are a hodgepodge of Windows XP, Windows 2000, Mepis 3.3.1, and Linux SuSe 9.1. Many of these machines are dual or triple boot boxes with Linux and multiple windows OS's installed.

I would like to use DHCP on all network connections to minimize the management overhead for the 8 or so computers on the net.

The last time I tried to walk through this installation, I got the basic server box up and running as a client, with a functioning internet connection provided from my Router connected to the DSL switch and then shut the system down, installed the second NIC, rebooted and attempted to connect to the internet with it once again only to find that the autoconfiguration that Mepis tries to do hoses the internet connection. So, if I disable the second NIC through the Mepis OS Control panel, then internet connectivity returns...verry, very puzzling. I am of course using DHCP for both cards.

So at this point, I am waiting about installing the second card (again) until I get some guidance from someone on the setup for that card.

Anyone that can provide some help to get this box up and doing it's job would be appreciated.

tlwomack@alternative-images.net

Thanks in advance,

Hotshoe Tom aka Thomas Womack

I think this might be over my head, but I would like to a thought :

Would be interesting to see the output from ifconfig from both server NICs + output from route or arp command.

OOOOOPS!!!!
 

I have egg on my face, but I really did not know any better...I talked to a guy today who knows linux here locally and he said I was using the wrong OS. I was trying to run the client OS as a server and he said it would not work...so I am downloading the SOHO server software and will try that. LOOOOONG download at 74k/sec though. :)

Anyway, if I run into the same problems with it after install, I will be back for help. Thanks for all the advice and for trying to help this newbie out!

Regards,

Hotshoe Tom aka Thomas Womack

Ahh... lets hope it gets all good .. If Mepis gives you trouble on the file/print server part I can really recommend Debian. Very very reliable.

Anyway : Good luck

SoHo Mepis Server 3.3.1 installed...still no internet connectivity, no 'shares'
 

Hi Crispy and any other interested parties,

Got the OS downloaded and installed and the configure process is really over the top in complexity. I tried to keep the defaults but found they didnt work. Part of the problem is, I am guessing, that I am trying to do this in stages. That is, migrate just a couple of the 10 workstations this net will have on it, at least at first until I can get a working system. Then and only then, do I want to migrate the rest of the network. In the meantime, users want internet capability and email and since we havent moved email in house yet, internet connectivity is necessary for that to happen. So here is the deal, when the server first starts up, there should be at least the ability to connect to the internet on the server, right? The defaults I believe are dhcp for both the wan and lan connections. However, that does not work and I have yet to be able to get the server to access the internet, let alone pass packets to the shares that it cant see. Things are NOT going well...HELP!

Thanks in advance,

Hotshoe Tom aka Thomas Womack

Can you post the output from ifconfig , route and arp commands from both NICs ?

EDIT: I don't know about the SOHO software mentioned, but regular Mepis is based on Debian unstable and a custom kernel as far as I know. Debian unstable is no problem on a desktop, but on a server you should *really* consider running Debian stable (or another distro known to be stable as server).

That beeing said, the unstable branch of Debian (which I think Mepis is based upon) has not brought me any troubles yet. So I absolutely think there is a solution to your problem(s), we'll see when you get some info about the kernel routing etc.

Thought of something, if I get you correctly , this is your setup :

8 pcs <---> router <----> server <----> dsl

the 8 pcs can have ip configured by the router (dhcp) if you want to, the router have a static ip, but as far as I know , in this setup, the server NEED to be configured to have static ip (not dhcp), so that you can tell the router about the server. I'm not sure though if you need to subnet your internal network for this to work.