Hello --

I post here a broken man. I've spent the entire day trying to reconfigure my (modest) home network (way to spend a day off, eh ), and am near to giving up for the night. Here is what I'm trying to accomplish:

Cable modem --> Linux machine (web server, Snort, Ethereal) --> WAP + 4-port switch --> internal network computers (3)

Now, my (main) problem lies in getting this Linux box to route/forward traffic on to the WAP and WAP-connected internal machines (I think). It has two NICs (obviously), both of which are functioning. I have eth0 connected to the cable modem, w/ dhcp addy. eth1 I've statically assigned a private IP. /etc/sysctl.conf net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1. WAP and the internal network are functioning fine amongst themselves. The Linux machine can access the internet (thank god - otherwise I wouldn't know what to do ). I *cannot* ping from Linux into the internal network, or vice versa. Firewalls have been (temporarily) turned off on all machines.

Two things come to my mind:
1) for some reason, routes that I have added for eth1 (to WAP and internal network) in the Network Configuration applet do not show up with a 'route' command. Strange, no? Is this a problem? Should I manually add them from the command line? (I would have already, but the syntax perplexes me)
2) Do I need additional "routing" software for a setup as simple as this? This hadn't even occurred to me as a possibility until I did some browsing around the boards tonight. Freesco, Smoothwall, etc....do I need one of these?? I am not opposed; I just hadn't thought a simple forwarding arrangement would require it. If I do need somethingalong these lines, any recommendations between these two, or for others? Obviously, I am not an expert at Linux/Networking/Routing, but I would like to learn the most "realistic" package, if not too difficult.

Well, that is it for now, I guess. Sorry for being so longwinded. Any helpful replies are greatly appreciated. I'd be glad to provide more detail as needed also.

Thank you kindly.

Hi!

I can't solve your problem - but a hint - can you post the output of netstat -r? Might help some other guru id what you are doing wrong.

What is the WAP + 4-port switch? Make / model.

What are the IPs your assigning on eth1 & internal networks.

Hey guys --

thanks for your replies. I've actually given up, and gone back, "tail between legs", to my previous network config (with a few twists). I think I bit off too much this time around -- I'm going to spend a few months reading up on routing, linux firewalls, etc. before I try again. In the meantime, it is much safer for me to keep my linux box back behind my WAP firewall (which, incidentally, is a DLink Dl-614+).

Thanks for offering to help, though -- I may take you up on it again in a few months.

Cheers,