noob question about internet config

hi resign to the fact that i am a pathetic and stupid newb... i bow down and idolize all you who know much more about this than i! first off i'll explain my situation... i have downloaded (i have cable... but very slow) and installed redhat linux 7.1 from their ftp server, it took awhile to get that down... but i managed to do everything correctly, expect the network configuration page. when it booted, it tried to bring up the eth0 interface but failed. i had chosen DHCP for the config page during install, little did i know this wouldn't work. sooo, first instinct was to go into linux and try to set up the network from there... i set up eth0 properly using the network config app... i think this went well b/c when i rebooted it OK'd the eth0 check... so i figured i was all done and i would get right on the net... not the case... i didn't think it would be that easy! so that is where my problem begins... what now? and another tidbit of information about my problem is my weird ISP... it runs my connection thru some odd thing and has given me an IP that begins w/a 10 for the network, this is what i see when i use winipcfg... but what others see is a different IP.. one that begins with a 204... so when i set up eth0 from w/in linux i used the 204 one... and that is the end of my story... any help will be GREATLY appreciated... thank you all have a good day

For starters, a little more info on your network setup would be good:

-Who is your ISP?

-Are you on a network or behind a router/firewall?

-Post the configuration info your service provider gave you (IP, netmask, DNS servers, etc).

-Post the results of winipcfg from your Win box.

-Run the ifconfig command on your Linux box and post the output here.

-Run the route command on the Linux box and post the output.

I haven't run across an ISP that assigns addresses from the 10.x range. Those addresses are reserved as the non-routable range for a Class A network. By non-routable, I mean that they are used on internal LANs, but can't directly appear on the Internet. Either you're on a LAN and access the Internet through a local gateway, or your ISP has something set up on their side that I haven't run accross yet.

my isp is Qwest Choice-Online cable -- i think its the only Qwest cable connection in the country and it SUCKS

am i on a network or behind a firewall... to tell the truth i haven't a clue, i wasn't here when the installer came and couldn't ask questions...

at installation the installer left NOTHING for us besides the modem... no documentation, no manuals, no nothing

winipcfg results:
Host Name - COMPUTER.tconl
Dns Servers - 10.3.0.2
Node Type - Broadcast
NetBIOS Scope ID - (its blank)
IP Routing Enable - (not checked)
WINS Proxy Enabled - (not checked)
NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS - (checked)

Adapter Address - 00-02-E3-12-80-F8
IP Address - 10.100.3.246
Subnet Mask - 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway - 10.100.0.1
DHCP Server, Primary WINS Server, Secondary WINS Server, Lease Obtained, Lease Expired - (ALL BLANK)

NIC Card = Netgear FA311 Fast EtherNet

ifconfig and route commands - was too lazy to write what they said down on paper, couldn't print them cuz printer is not enabled, don't know how or even if you can save linux generated text into windows partition

hope this helps a little

i think its an internal LAN run thru a local gateway... that would probably explain why others see a different IP than I do right? maybe that would explain the slowww speeds of as low as 150 BYTES per second on some nights... one other thing... the reason we still have this ISP are that our apartment complex will not let us use any other cable company, so we're sticking this out until contstruction on our house is complete

Originally posted by btb103 i think its an internal LAN run thru a local gateway... that would probably explain why others see a different IP than I do right? maybe that would explain the slowww speeds of as low as 150 BYTES per second on some nights... one other thing... the reason we still have this ISP are that our apartment complex will not let us use any other cable company, so we're sticking this out until contstruction on our house is complete

Hmm, the plot thickens (or thins, in your case), and I think you've nailed it. Before I make specific suggestions about your connection, let me go out on a limb here (if I fall off and hit the ground, let me know):

Your gateway address (combined with the slow speeds at certain times and the fact that your apartment complex won't let you use another provider) suggests that your complex is one of those which perhaps offers "pre-installed broadband Internet access" as one of the perks of living there, yes?
My networking-savy ex moved into a "pre-wired" complex, and she told me they had a T1 or T3 line into the building, but wondered if I knew how they distributed it to each apartment from there. I didn't, but it sounds as though you live in such a place, and that the ISP must have a central hub/router situation set up some where in the complex by which they tie all of the units together and route them out to their servers from there. The sometimes-slow access speeds would come from the fact that a cable branch/segment off of the main trunk line basically works like an isolated LAN; the users on that branch share the available bandwidth, so the more users on the segment at a given time, the less bandwidth each individual has. If your speed is much better during really off-hours (like 3AM) than it is during the early evening, this is probably exactly what's going on. Basically, you're sharing a LAN with eveyone else in your complex who has signed up for the service.


If I haven't fallen off the limb and gone *SPLAT* on the ground yet:

Your second-to-last post indicated that you're running a dual-boot box, yes? In that case, the 10.x.x.x IP and gateway information you've obtained from winipcfg is the info you need to feed Linux, not the 204.x.x.x address that the outside world sees. In other words, you need to duplicate the Win settings in your Linux net configuration. If you need help on how to do this I'll be back later tonight, but right now I have to log off, grab some food, and help a friend set up a scanner.

thanks a lot... sounds like everything you've said is right on the mark... it all makes sense now! yeah now all i need to do is know how to "feed" all the winipcfg information into linux to get my internet connection in linux working... if you could help me do that i would be forever indebted and realize that there are nice people in the world! it might be easier to go about this in real-time... so is there an IRC server, ICQ number, or AIM name you'd like to give me so we can do this a bit easier?
thanks again

Sorry, I don't do the chat thing, but if you tell me which network config utility you're using I'll post step-by-step instructions here. If RH 7.1 has linuxconf or netconf that would be best, as I'm vey familiar with them.

Or, we could real Penguinistas and do it by hand.

uh doesn't matta which one we use to me... take yer pick, whichever will be least painful for the both of us

Since you're dual-booting with Windows, write down the following information from winipcfg:
-Host name
-DNS servers (you probably have more than one, click on the "..." box to the right of the entry to view all of them).
-IP address
-Subnet mask
-Default gateway

With that info in hand, boot into Linux (as root) and fire up netconf.

-Go to Client tasks-->Host name and IP network devices.
-In the hostname tab, enter the Host name you got from winipcfg (in some circumstances this isn't necessary, but try it for now).
-Click on the "adaptor 1" tab.
-For "Config mode", chose the "manual" button.
-For the IP address, enter the 10.x.x.x IP Quest gave you, as reported by winipcfg.
-Enter the netmask as reported by winipcfg
-For the Net device, select eth0.
-For the Kernel module, select your Ethernet card's module (driver) from the drop-down list.
-Click on "accept".
-Go to Client tasks--> Name server specification.
If Quest gave you a default domain, enter it under that heading.
-For "IP of name server 1, enter the first DNS server address that you got from winipcfg. If you have more than one DNS server, the rest is self-explanatory. Once you've made your entries, click "accept".
-Under Routing and gateways, click either "Set" or "Defaults", and enter the address of the Default Gateway given by winipcfg.
-click "accept".

That should be all that you need to do, but if you have problems, repost wit the specifics.

i log in as root and run shell... type in netconf and it doesn't work... i try netconfig, that works and i come to a blue screen that asks for my ip address and subnet mask and a few other things... but this isn't anything like what you explained... no tabs no other pages to fill out!

startx as root and then do netconf

what??? i login at the beginning as root... and netconf doesn't work

ohhh what's startx?

startx is what you type at the console to start the x server.

i think i may know whats wrong... when i go to the KDE control panel and click on network or something it says can't load netconf because linuxconf is not installed on the system and that happens for several other options in the control panel and startx failed, it said there was a server crash or some such thing