Networking 101 [Was: Re [Glastonbury] Firewall and Cable] [LONG]

[Maurice Onmaplate]

--- "Andrew M.A. Cater"
<amacater@galactic.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 26, 2003 at 11:27:09PM -0700, Maurice
> Onmaplate wrote:
> > 
> > --- "Andrew M.A. Cater"
> > <amacater@galactic.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > > OK.  
> > 
> > Lots to absorb!
> > 
> > Sad thing is I was hoping to convert my ailing,
> > ver-slower, Win 98 machine into a fully useful
> machine
> > by going Linux.  Space is tight and no room for
> > another PC [Julie would go ballistic!]. 
> > 
> > The choice is thus linux firewall or linux
> machine.
> > 
> OK.  No problem.  You've got more than one machine
> already and
> three printers IIRC - so a network would benefit you
> both.

Yes, two networked up, the otehr two not because I
only have 2 Cables so far, and one is a MAC.  Plan is
to get all networked.

> 
> Although the counsel of perfection is separate
> machines, it's not
> absolutely mandatory and a must have.  
> 
> It is also sometimes conceptually simpler to be
> dealing with one machine 
> _purely_ as a firewall: you don't do work on it,
> don't store data on it, 
> lock it down and log in as root as little as
> possible.
> 


> BUT, all that said ...
> 
> A firewall in your current machine (as provided by
> SuSE) and one network 
> card should be all you need.  An Ethernet hub/switch
> is small, silent and 
> takes almost no power - one of mine can even be
> powered from a keyboard 
> socket and both are chucked under the desk - and a
> minimal cost item
> (less than the cost of an up to date copy of Norton

Already have one.

> SystemWorks and 
> Personal Internet Firewall - you run these on your
> Windows box already,
> don't you?? ) :) 

Yes, the XP not the one that will become SuSe.

> 
> This, then, assumes the following as a final
> configuration:
> 
> Cable modem -> USB -> Linux PC net card ->
> Hub/switch <- (other machines)
> 
> Switches mean slightly faster internal network
> speeds and a greater
> isolation between network ports and (allegedly)
> better hacking 
> resistance but in a home network connecting via
> ADSL, internal network 
> speed doesn't matter so much.
> 
> [The fastest my cable link can go is 2Mb/s so a 10M
> card on the "outside

0.5MB for this I gather.

> world" address is fine and a gigabit card would be
> overkill :)  So's a 
> 10M hub for daily use - if you get to be throwing
> multiple CD images 
> around or multiple GB of Photoshop images, then just
> buy a faster switch 
> at that stage. Virtually all modern cards are 10/100
> autoswitching out of
> the box :)
> 

Yes.  These are all that I believe.

> I've got SuSE 8.0 as my latest SuSE - it supports
> USB and common ADSL
> modems out of the box as far as I can see.

My Suse ibox is hidden away somewherre, Martin W knows
which verison, if he can remember better than I?

> 
> All the very best - there _is_ a lot of reading, but
> reading and
> understanding is never wasted.

As for USB I believe there is USB 1 and USB 2 and I
understood the cables are the same.  BUT I have found
problems sloting USB cables in on older machine, and
some ports on XP box [which has about 8 USB ports
IIRC].  Is a USB 2.0 Cable slightly fatter or wider at
the PC end than a 1.0 port will take?


> 
> Andy
> 
> 
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>
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