Re: [gentoo-user] Router 3rd and 4th net interface problem

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

On Monday 02 October 2006 10:18, Grant <emailgrant@×××××.com> wrote 
about 'Re: [gentoo-user] Router 3rd and 4th net interface problem':
> > > > I'm pretty confused.  I'm trying to get the system in question to
> > > > behave like a solid-state router that you can plug an ethernet
> > > > jack into and be on the network.

FYI, that doesn't require the router to have a unique IP.  You could simply 
configure each router port as a separate subnet, if you really wanted to.

> > > > How should eth1 and eth2 be
> > > > configured in /etc/conf.d/net ?
> > > They should be configured as part of a bridge device (see the
> > > bridging section of /etc/conf.d/net.example) and have the address
> > > assigned (and DHCPD listing on) that bridge device.
> > Except that this doesn't work on WLAN (MAC layer done by the WLAN
> > adapter).

eth1 and eth2 are both wired, no?  How does 802.11a/b/g come into this?

> > But probably "proxy_arp" can help here. And subnet
> > separation, of course. Just extending the netmask a bit and enabling
> > proxy_arp would do the job. OTOH, it's also easy to configure the
> > routes to the other subnets via DHCP. Just a matter of taste. In any
> > case, it only works on IP layer.

I must admit that I've never used proxy_arp, but all ARP traffic occurs at 
the ethernet layer, below the IP layer, so it doesn't make sense to me for 
an option/program so named to only work on IP traffic.  ARP is also only 
used intra-subnet, so this entire section doesn't make much sense to me.

In *any* case, it's extremely unlikely that the OP is going to be carrying 
any significant amount of non-IP traffic.  I feel that is an extraordinary 
enough condition to be mentioned.

> I've never used a switch before.  Is there any proprietary software to
> configure (like with a router), or is it just a button or two?

Generally a switch will have no configurable software; if it has anything 
worth configuring the manufacturer will call it a router and add 10-15$ to 
the price tag.  In any case, I doubt you'll find a switch that supports 
802.11a/b/g, since they will always require a little bit of configuration 
(ESSID and keys).

You could get a wireless router (e.g. Linksys' WRT line), but they will 
have some software configuration.  If you choose the right model, it'll be 
Linux instead of proprietary software.  However, I know of no wireless 
routers that come from the manufacturer with Gentoo installed.  In fact, 
I'm fairly sure that Gentoo doesn't provide any profiles, support, or even 
instructions for running on such hardware, which has severe [compared to a 
desktop] hw limitations.

-- 
"If there's one thing we've established over the years,
it's that the vast majority of our users don't have the slightest
clue what's best for them in terms of package stability."
-- Gentoo Developer Ciaran McCreesh