[I have a feeling this is OpenBSD-specific, so admins please feel free to move it if you find this thread is in the wrong section. I simply put it under Linux > Networking for more exposure.]

I'm having a problem getting several client machines to be able to communicate "through" an OpenBSD server. Essentially, this is my setup:

Internet > DSL Modem > LinkSys Firewall/Router > OpenBSD Server > (client0 client1 client2)

The OpenBSD server has four NICs: one to the LinkSys router, and one each to each client. All machines are set up for static IP addresses. I want each of the client machines to be able to see and communicate with one another, and also to the network (and Internet) beyond the OpenBSD server. But I really have no clue on where to start on this, as I have very little experience in network administration. I don't really care to get into setting up NAT and PF yet unless I have to.

The problem I have right now is that the client cannot find the network to connect on. The "status" field printed by ifconfig (on both client and server) says "no carrier".

I have posted this question on bsdforums.org, that thread resides here: http://www.bsdforums.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39225. I greatly appreciate any ideas and advice that anyone has. Thanks!

(edit: btw, I have set net.inet.ip.forwarding = 1, so that's presumably not the issue)

I got it figured out. The server I was working on is a Compaq ProSignia 740, about 6-8 years old as far as I can tell. The Intel (fxp) network cards it came with don't support the 100baseTX cable I was trying to use to connect it to the client machines. By switching to the Broadcom Gigabit card (bge) I was able to get a client to talk with the server. After playing around with NAT a bit, everything is working as it should. <sigh/>