I'd be interested in hearing your experience. My company has invested a lot into Linux as a firewall/router/NAT device because we can depend on them better than just about anything else available. Short of Hardware failure, Linux firewalls/routers/NAT devices are one of the most powerful and reliable on the market, being able to do complex firewalling, IDS/IDP, NAT (both directions), reporting, and much more.
The only times I have found Linux not function well in this roll has been resulting from a lack of basic education. The workstations behind it weren't configured for IP or there wasn't a DHCP server or the DHCP configuration wasn't handing out a default route correctly. No offense to you, Alma... I know I must be sounding like a biggot at the moment (sounding the trumpet while on the Linux list and all), but most problems I've found have been lack of knowledge about how a TCP/IP network works, including configuration and routing. And Microsoft tries to automate it... but AUTO is a four-letter word, because AUTO only works part of the time. And the AUTO methods tend to make you not consider some potential problem areas because they work sometimes. While I'm not sure what is going on at Keith's I have to say that in the event of "random" or "inconsistent" issues, most problems I've dealt with have been a Windows problem. My biggest unknown here is Mandrake, since Mandrake is attempting to be a Microsoft competitor, they may be attempting some "automated" stuff. I'm not sure whether this was covered or not, but if you have the XP box set to dynamic, you need a DHCP server. If it is hard-set to 192.168.1.2, it needs to have the correct netmask (most often chosen as 255.255.255.0 but if generated by network class, it could be 255.255.0.0), Default Gateway of 192.168.1.2, and DNS servers need to be set to whatever the Linux box is being handed in DHCP. Otherwise, you can point to mine: 69.33.10.245 and 69.33.10.246. Again, no offense to anyone here. Thanks, Matt On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 14:41:47 -0500 Alma J Wetzker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My own experience is that I could never get the linux boxes to route > correctly when I tried what you are doing. I found it easier for my > peace of mind and blood pressure to invest in a router (SMC) and share > the connection that way. Linux or windows is just a dhcp client and > only the router cares. YMMV -- Matthew Carpenter [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.eisgr.com/ Enterprise Information Systems *Network Service Appliances *Network Consulting, Integration & Support *Web Integration and E-Business _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
