home network howto?
 

i would like to create a network similar to the microsoft internet sharing network. with one computer sharing its internet connection. i like this setup because there is no proxy bits to work with, no firewall to care about. ive heard about doing a dhcp server, but i still know nothing about it. is this a good idea? or is there something better i could do? the only computer i can do it with is an old 600 mhz celeron. i would be grateful for any ideas, thank you.

hi,
did you try samba? www.samba.org...
try to use the search engine: "samba" ....
i think you will find really useful information there...
regards

DHCP refers to the automatic assigning of IP addresses (unique computer id numbers used to address infomation on a network - think of it as a postal address for a house) in a large business environment, and would be a terrible choice for a 2 computer home network.

What you are trying to accomplish will require a lot of study/learning/etc, but can be done relatively easily. You will def need to do some reading on basic computer networking and TCPIP to get off the ground. Basically, you need to:

-computer #1 (assuming you have DSL/broadband of some kind) install a 2nd network card in the computer that is connected to the internet. Assign an ip address to the 2nd (newly installed) net adapter (the first net card will use an ip address assigned by your isp) and enable ip forwarding between the two interfaces. this is where a basic conceptual knowledge of TCPIP is critical - you must chose an ip scheme and understand it... if you are completely lost, use ip add 10.1.1.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0

- configure the network card of computer #2 with a different ip address (suggestion: 10.1.1.2) and set the default gateway to the ip address assigned to the second (newly installed) network adapter on computer #1 ( 10.1.1.1 if you used my suggestion above)... sub mask 255.255.0.0

connect the two computers with a special "crossover" lan cable - ordinarly cable will not work unless you are using a hub. use IP utilities (PING, TRACERT, etc) to verify connectivity, etc.

did I leave anything out guys?

oh... and based on the questions you are asking, I would strongly suggest going cover to cover thru a couple of "basic computer networking" books before attempting what I outline above... you are likely to find lots of frustration if you dont at least have a basic conceptual knowledge of what is going on...

good luck!

iptables is the packet filtering tool you need to familiarize yourself with. It handles the IP MASQUERADING and such. Aside from the physical set up, this is the only tool that you need to learn about. There are a ton of already-built HOWTOs on this. Try a google search on something like 'iptables masquerading network'.

Your celeron 600MHz should be more than enough of a beast for this purpose.