Preamble

Preamble

Cable providers and many Internet service providers (ISPs) don't like to give out multiple IP addresses to customers for free. Most of them don't like to give out static IP addresses at all. They do this for several reasons:

1.             It's easier to configure.

2.             It helps prevent customers from running servers on their home systems and soaking up ISP resources without paying for the extra bandwidth.

3.             It allows them to oversell. With 254 static IP addresses, they could have only 254 customers; with 254 dynamic IP addresses, they can have a lot more, since not all 254 people will be logged in at once.

4.             It allows them to reconfigure their networks on the fly, without affecting end users.

Bear in mind that cable companies do it primarily for reason 2. They want their money, and I guess I can't blame them. Some cable companies will also tell you that running any sort of network address translation (NAT) is strictly against their terms of service and will even claim that they can detect it. As of this writing, I have seen no way in which they would be able to reliably detect a NAT'ed network. The cable companies in question want you to buy one IP per machine, you see ” generally at $30 “$50 a pop. Seeing as they're willing to let you hook up an infinite number of TVs these days, this pay-per-PC thing seems a bit greedy, doesn't it?

This chapter covers two different but somewhat similar setups: The network that is connected via a Linux box and a modem, and the network that is permanently connected. I'll cover both static and dynamic IP addresses for the router's connection, but I'm going to assume that your own network is running with static IP addresses. It's simpler that way, you see. If you really want to run DHCP, head over to the DHCP HOWTO at http://www. ibiblio .org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/DHCP and go to town.)

 



Multitool Linux. Practical Uses for Open Source Software
Multitool Linux: Practical Uses for Open Source Software
ISBN: 0201734206
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 257

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