Cable modems and switches

[dcoronel]

Hi, I have a 8 port switch and 4 computers.

One is going to be my internet server by running Linux and the other 3 computers are going to use Windows Me, Windows XP and Windows 2000 Professional.

Since I have to get a dynamic IP address from my ISP, can I mask the other 3 computers using a NAT or a proxy server?

The tricky part is: if I use only one network card in the Linux box, I have to assign it to obtain automatically the IP. But at the same time, I have to configure it manually for my LAN.

Thanks!

Dave

[oz]

using a dynamic ip for an internet server is not so good as your DNS will get messy and IANA will hate you and it will cost a fortune updating cnames to the new addresses

But I think you mean internet portal so to speak rather that a server being resolved by DNS.

Trick with the cable modems is to let the linux box resolve to the dhcp server FIRST. Then add another NIC to the linux box and NAT under the other card. So the original NIC will be your outside addy and the new card the inside addy and point all the other boxes to the inside IP

otherwise it will be a pain . as think about arp if you DHCP to the wrong NIC the arp table will be messed up

oz