Documentation will save you. If you are unfamiliar with networking and you are moving, you are well served to take some digital pics of the setup (specifically the back of the boxes and which cables are going where) and take notes of them... and label the cables (if they aren't already.) Draw a diagram of your network.
The good thing about a LAN is that in most cases it is a relatively simple thing... only a few elements at that. So relax, most of the difficult parts of TCP/IP and networking aren't relevant to most LAN users. Jack is right, the FAQ is a great resource. It is very straight forward. Don't merely feel free to consult it... actually use it. You will likely post more questions here. Using the FAQ, searches of prior posts, and Googling as references in your posts will greatly improve your chances of receiving a respectful answer here... it's a nice discipline builder. Good luck. If you are truly determined to learn this, you will also learn to enjoy it... it's fun. Danno -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jack J. Woehr Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 6:24 PM To: mrs borhtej Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: taking over a LAN I didn't set up On Mar 5, 2007, at 2:52 PM, mrs borhtej wrote: > > Unfortunately, I didn't have him show me what's what while he was > still > able, and I have only used this OS as a desktop user. I CANNOT go > back to > Windows. He unplugged his mail and webservers before he passed > away, and I > need to know how in the world do I figure out what's what with this > LAN? > 1. Every basic thing you need to know about setting up and maintaining an OpenBSD-managed LAN is documented in the OpenBSD FAQ q.v. 2. The three basic things about a typical OpenBSD-managed LAN are: a. IP setup of both the OpenBSD box and the LAN ('ifconfig' etc.) b. Packet filtering and Network Address Translation ('pf' etc.) c. Name services ('bind'). Also, you might have DHCP in the mix to give other boxes on the LAN their IP addresses as needed instead of allocating them permanently. Read about those in the FAQ, compare to what you see in your setup, make yourself a map of your LAN with all the boxes and their IP addresses, and you can probably keep it running for some time to come! -- Jack J. Woehr Director of Development Absolute Performance, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] 303-443-7000 ext. 527
