Setting up a network and sharing internet

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Aug 18, 2005 at 10:51:46AM -0400, Steve wrote:
> Can someone give me a few pointers on setting up a network and sharing a 
> dialup (don't laugh) internet connection? Here are my details:
> 
> BOX#1:
> OS: Ubuntu 5.04 (Gnome)
> Modem: internal USR hardware (ppp0) INTERNET CONNECTION
> NIC: integrated NForce2
> 
> BOX#2:
> OS: Windows XP
> NIC: integrated (IBM Thinkpad)
> 
> 1. Do I require a "crossover" ethernet cable to connect BOX#2 to BOX#1?

Yes, or a hub/switch.

> 2. What is the best (most secure) way to share internet? NAT? DHCP? What 
> steps are involved?

DHCP is for assigning IPs from a pool.  Nothing to do with sharing
except if the sharing box runs dhcp to tell the other machines what
settings to use to go through it (gateway ip and dns info is about all).

> 3. Do I need to run samba to share files on BOX#1 with BOX#2?

You can use samba.  Probably the simplest one.

> 4. Currently I am using Firestarter on BOX#1. Would it be better to use an 
> iptables scipt? If so, does anyone have an iptables file that I can use for 
> this purpose? Also, how do I enable iptables at boot time (instead of using 
> "iptables-restore <file>")?

Most likely firestarter IS an iptables script.

I use shorewall to manage iptables with the rules I think make sense for
my needs.

The firewall scripts will also take care of the MASQ/NAT settings needed
for the connection sharing.  All you have left to do then is set the
default gateway on box 2 to the ethernet ip of box 1 and fill in some
valid dns settings on box 2.

> Thanks a lot for any help... please feel free to contact me privately 
> (offlist) if you want.

Lennart Sorensen
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