Acting As a Router


Another useful feature of Mac OS X Server is that it can do IP forwarding, an option in the NAT service settings that allows requests from one network to be sent to another network. It's necessary when you have a Mac OS X Server with two network interfaces and you want to have information passed from one network to the other. IP forwarding differs slightly from NAT in that your internal network is likely to have public IP addresses, whereas NAT makes all requests as if those requests were coming from the server (the clients have private IP addresses).

When you're deciding how and where a Mac OS X Server should go, one consideration is whether the server will be a link between two different networks. For example, you could have your Mac OS X Server's built-in Ethernet interface go from the server to a switch, and then have the switch connect 40 or so computers that have public IP addresses (they exist on the Internet as separate devices). These computers would use the Mac OS X Server's built-in Ethernet IP address as their router address. All information sent out of those 40 Macs would flow through the Mac OS X Server's built-in Ethernet interface.

Now, perhaps this is an Xserve with a second built-in Ethernet card, or maybe another Macintosh with a second Ethernet card added. Regardless, the second Ethernet interface is probably connected to another network; possibly this interface is connected to the Internet. It has different IP information than the first built-in Ethernet interface. If this scenario is something you want your Mac OS X Server to do, then you'll be enabling IP forwarding.

You've probably already set up your network information to connect you to the Internet. When you want to enable IP forwarding, your secondary network should be below your primary network in the network interface list in your Network Preference pane.

Tip

  • If you can, it's a common best practice to have one Mac OS X Server do NAT, DHCP, and possibly DNS for the secondary network. Another Mac OS X Server may handle IP forwarding, or this function is handled by a router. Other Mac OS X Servers are then placed in the network to handle home directories, Web and mail, and file sharing.





Mac OS X Server 10. 4 Tiger. Visual QuickPro Guide
Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger: Visual QuickPro Guide
ISBN: 0321362446
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 139
Authors: Schoun Regan

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