On Mon, 11 Mar 2002, James Bruce wrote: > i need to set up a gateway for my home computer and id like to do with > debian . the machine i have is: > > pII 450 8mb gfx card, 10gb disk. > > i would like it set up as a firewall initially, and eventually a web > server and samba etc, incluyding basic workstation stuff like x / gnome > etc.... > > question is, i need someone to help me through the install (what options > do i select) and initial firewall setup (so the computer that im on now > can access the net through hte gateway machine and download tutorials > etc on getting the rest of it working)...... oinly basic stuff. i have a > cable connection in the pc which needs to be shared with around 6 > computers. can anyone help? like, with EXACTLY what i have to do during > install --> basic setup. preferably with as little command lines as > possible, since i am for all purpose a relative debian noob. > > i will be using the latest version > > cheers > james >
Well, I'm running just such a setup at home with a older 200 MHz Pentium Pro. I have a cable modem connection to the Internet now, but for years used a dialup 56k modem. A lot of how you set things up depends upon the details of your internet connection and your machine, but it isn't that hard, and you can do it in steps. Basically what you do is set up your gateway/router machine with two network interfaces, one of which is connected to the Internet through your ISP and the other which connects to your home LAN. You run something called IP Masquerade on the router that will forward IP datagrams from the home LAN to the Internet and vice versa, looking as though there is only one machine on the ISP connection. You can add firewall rules to further protect your home LAN and other services, such as web servers, print servers, SMB servers, etc., as you need to or want to. There are a lot of different ways to accomplish this, The first thing to do is to install Debian on your router and get the primary Ethernet interface (I'm assuming it is an Ethernet interface) working with your ISP. The details of this vary, in my case, I need to run DHCP on that interface because my ISP dynamically assigns IP addresses using that protocol. This is all taken care of in the basic Debian installation process. Once you get the router connected to the Internet, you can add the second Ethernet card and get it configured for your home network. You assign IP addresses on your home LAN from the 'private IP address' spaces, there are three of them, the one most commonly used by home users I think is 192.168.0.0, but it really doesn't matter. Connect your other computers to the home LAN and ensure that they can talk to the router. Now you need to get IP Masquerade working. There is a HOWTO for this <http://www.linuxdoc.org>, which you should consult. As an aside, there are HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs on many aspects of installing or configuring services on Linux machines, and that is one of the first places I start when trying to find information on something Linux related. For example, there is a HOWTO on getting multiple Ethernet cards configured also. Once you get IP Masquerade working on your router, you have it basically set up and working and you should have Internet connectivity between the machines on your home LAN and the Internet. Now, it is a matter of adding those services that you want (e.g. web server, DHCP server for the home LAN, stronger firewall rules, etc., etc.). What you want to do is very common, there are thousands of people doing just this thing. Ask a lot of questions of this list, there have been probably 3 answers already in the time I've taken to answer this. Good luck.
