Setting up home network - how ?

[Koala Kid]

Hi all

I want to learn how to set up a simple home network. A server for downloads and files and one workstation connected to it. Only one little problem - I don't have a clue in networking. Whole my life I worked with only one workstation .
So how can I do that ? Some links will be welcomed.
My connection is pppoe, operating system on both machines - Gentoo Linux.

Thanks in advance
_________________
"People are the worst, the worst thing about music is that people play it". M. Patton.

[NeddySeagoon]

Koala Kid,

There is so many choices. Lets go with minimum changes.
Hardware
The PC you have connected to the internet, we will leave alone except for the addition of a second ethernet card. This will become eth1 with a bit of luck. So get a 2nd NIC and install it. Build its kernel modules as a module and add it to the end of /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-<ver>

If you only want 2 PCs networked you need a crossover cable to connect the two. IF you want more than two you need a switch and a straight through cable per PC.

Getting the IP addresses assigned automatically is fairly straigh forward. but now you need to make some choices.

Software
Are you going to use DHCP to allocate IP addresses automatically or are you going to run a static network. With an eye to the future, I reccomend DHCP. Its a lillte more trouble to set up now, but it will save maintainance later. PCs tend to accumulate. I started out with two , now I'm up to 12 - I really must move to DHCP myself.

With an IP address in the 192.168.0.xxx range each end, the two PCs will talk on the network but the remote one will not be able to get onto the internet. That needs IPtables in the internet connected PC to provide firewalling and network address translation.
IPtables is a set of options in the kernel. Some rules to make it do what you want are best configured with a tool.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[srlinuxx]

Start with this one and then ask specific questions if you need help. In addition to that link, I can recommend pure-ftpd for the file server as it's really easy yet secure. That should get you started.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/home-router-howto.xml
_________________
--You talk the talk, but do you waddle the waddle?
-Gentoo Monthly Screenshots

[Koala Kid]

Thank you guys, I'll start in few days and we'll see...
_________________
"People are the worst, the worst thing about music is that people play it". M. Patton.