[SunRescue] WTD: DSL Connection question + thisoldsun thoughts

[Tim Harrison]

Ken Hansen wrote:
 
> Anyone know a good "Hook up your Sun workstation to your broadband connection" document?
>
> I mentioned on a maillist last year that I got my workstation to share my DSL connection, and now about once a month I get emails from folks looking to do the same with their sun equipment...

Well, I've got two DSL lines (256k SDSL and 864K SDSL), and I've got
most of my machines online with those.  Depending on your type of
connection (cablemodem, DSL) it can be remarkably easy.  The way our DSL
works, we provide static IPs for everyone.  Makes it pretty easy for us
to track people down.  For those that don't, if you've got a router that
supports NAT/PAT, you can just give your box an internal IP, and let the
router do the work.  As for cablemodems, it's a different story. 
Putting a box between your cablemodem and your Sun is usually good, at
least for firewalling purposes.  Then, do the NAT/PAT/ipmasq/whathaveyou
on that, and let the box do the DHCP.  That's how I set up my network in
Canada on cable.  They said no networks allowed, but when I talked to
the guy to get the account set up, he realized that I knew what I was
doing, and wouldn't be calling for support. :)
 
> I'd love to have a document I could point them to, does anyone know of one on the web?
> 
> I am asking as a way to avoid writing a brief one myself...

I've been working on documentation for several common services for a
while now.  Lately, I've been waaay too busy to keep up, or even to
finish some (the Solaris and SuSE installation guides came from places
where I worked -- I wrote them for the admins to understand
installation, configuration and maintenance, so they're kinda
proprietary).  They're online at http://www.nerdsnest.net/docs/.

> 1) "What machine should I get/look for?" - Select hardware for 

Always a good starting point.  When I first got into Sun gear, I bought
an SS10, and I found it to be fantastic.  That's usually where I tell
people to start, if they're just playing around.  If they want to be
serious about it, I suggest an SS5.

> 2) "What about the Internet?" - Connect said workstation to a 

See my comments at the top.  I don't use ddns or anything of that
nature, having my own nameservers here, so I'd be interested in reading
how that works.  Once again, haven't had the time to go into it.
 
> 3) "Is that all there is?" - Optomize server - increase 

I've got some of that in the Install guides.  Not much, mind you, but
some.

> 4) "Let's show off" - Load Apache web server, review security 

Also in the install guides.
 
> 5) "Don't forget your friends" - Review adding users to 

That, too.
 
> 6) "Two heads are better than one" - install a second 

Now that I have absolutely no experience with.  Most of my stuff is
headless anyway.
 
> 7) "Development Tools" - Install GCC/G++ compiler, Perl, PHP, 

I've got something to that effect up, but it's for apache, BIND,
Postfix, and Cyrus-SASL/OpenSSL/OpenLDAP.  
 
> 8) "Let's get productive" - Install Fax software, Star Office, 

I don't think I've ever been productive that way. :)

> 9) "A place for my stuff" - installing a relational database 

I've got a MySQL doc in the works at the moment, and a friend has an
Oracle one on the go.
 
> 10) "It is better to share" - Install SAMBA, configure NFS 

The SAMBA guide is also in the works.

> 11) "The power to burn" - adding a CD-Recorder and burning your 

Zero Sun burning experience. :)
 
> Anything folks think I am missing?

That's a hell of a listing to start.  That provides enough content to
get a good start on a site.  If I think of more, I'd be quite willing to
contribute.
 
> My hope is that I will be able to document one of the above "chunks" each week or so, and at the end have a very nice server with a good description of how I did it...

Having a step-by-step experience would be most beneficial for anyone
starting out.  Plus, it's much cooler to install from source than it is
to install the packages. ;)  Although, it's difficult to install GCC
from source when you don't have a compiler.  Chicken, egg, and all that.

-- 


Tim Harrison
Network Engineer
harrison at timharrison.com
http://www.networklevel.com/