[Techtalk] network query

[Patricia Fraser]

Hi all,

I am in the process of connecting to ADSL via a D-Link 300+ modem, which 
has a built-in pppoe client. The advice from the ISP is to use DHCP to 
get the IP address. This works fine on the machine I've got connected 
now.

My problem is, I now want to set up a home network, using the connected 
PC as the gateway/firewall. But my head isn't around the DHCP vs. 
standard routing thing; if the gateway machine gets a new IP address 
from the ISP periodically, then how do I manage this? Will all the 
machines in the network have to use DHCP, or can I mix the two methods?

I've looked at some of the howtos, but I think I need pointing to some 
sort of overview that will help me understand the network topology I 
should be looking at, and how packets will be routed about (and not 
slide by the firewall, for instance).

I can possibly use a pppoe client from the gateway and bypass all this, 
but I don't understand which way would be better.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers,

-- 
Trish Fraser, Sunbury, Australia
GNU/Linux user #283226  counter.li.org
andromeda up 1 day
kernel 2.4.21-0.27mdk