Terry Collins was once rumoured to have said:
> Crossfire wrote:
>
> > However, most ethernet based ADSL modems will work with linux in Full
> > bridge (terminated by PC) or routed (terminated by modem) modes.
> >
> > Once you have terminated the connection on your PC, its also a trivial
> > matter to further share out that connection.
> >
> > Now, there is probably a roaring debate over routed modems vs using
> > full bridge.
>
> Nope, Q as per amended subject.
> Can you just swap from PPPoe/PPPoA mode to full bridge without your ISP
> doing anything?
Well, I say full bridge as in you push whatever the ISP is providing
and terminate it appropriately. Often this means you're running PPPoE
over that interface, but the modem is simply bridging your PPPoE
session onto the ADSL rather than trying to be clever and speaking
PPPoE/PPPoA to the other end.
If you're really unlucky[1], you might even have an ISP that
terminates the IP direct onto the bridge. Such ISPs include TPGI and
Internode[2].
All of this is far preferable to the option of letting some PoS DSL
modem terminate the session. Especially if NAT is involved.
Especially if you need protocol specific NAT support[3].
C.
[1] Why unlucky? I don't particularly like these services because you
can't easily say "it's down". There's no encapsulating session to
your host in which goes away when things break. You also get a lot
more useful diagnostics information off of PPPoE than you do from
a full bridge when things stop working.
[2] In the case of Internode, only for their business plans. SOHO +
Home still use PPPoE.
[3] Such as with FTP. or IRC DCC transfers.
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