Re: Good Book for setting up T-1?
On Sat, 30 Sep 2000 jack@silhouette-mt.com wrote:
> I have been using deb linux for some 5 years now and am quite happy
> with it. It has been a webserver for me for only 1 of those years and
> that is on a DSL. As it trns out, some of the people I've done some
> contract work with wish to install a t1 line and run debian as the OS
> on all the systems.
The hard part isn't setting up the Linux systems, it's setting up the
T1. Once you have a plan in place for making that work, then worry about
the hosts on the network.
You already set up a webserver, so you know how to configure systems on
the network. T1 gives you some advantages- you don't have to worry about
DHCP or anything, you just set your IP address and leave it. If you have
a whole class C network your DNS gets a lot simpler, otherwise you need
some assistance from your upstream provider. You can still handle
everything in 'yourdomain.com' fine but reverse DNS will not work. But
the DNS HOWTO I believe has the trick for the reverse. Mail is easy to do
too, you just have everyone deliver mail to the mailserver. To handle
case of 'user@yourdomain.com' you can either use an A record for
'yourdomain.com' pointing to the mail server, or you can use an MX record.
Never use a CNAME for anything having to do with mail. Make sure your
mail server knows it has to handle mail for 'host.yourdomain.com' as well
as 'yourdomain.com'. Of course you will have to set up POP3 or IMAP, but
these are not harder than installing any other program.
> Anyway, I have not done this before... maybe someone could point me in
> the direction of a list of hardware needed.. CSU/DSU, routers, etc...
You'll need a router and a CSU/DSU. :} The Cisco 2500 series is the
'canonical' single T1 router. But you can do this with Linux, too, if you
want. Total cost is about the same, the Cisco has better routing but a
Linux system is more expandable and makes a much better firewall (get a
cheap Pentium to do the routing, the expensive V.35 serial hardware will
make up the difference in cost between the cheap PC and the more expensive
Cisco). Bat Electronics CSU/DSU's are cheap (I paid like $400 for mine)
and easy to set up, they have a RJ-45 on one side for the T1 and a V.35
serial port on the other to go to the router. The Bat CSU/DSU has a love
it/hate it reputation - they have essentially no features and a high
defect rate, but Bat will replace any defective ones and they are super
cheap, and they do perform all the required functions for a simple setup.
All my information dates from approximately 1997. At the time there were
many T1 cards with integrated CSU/DSU's in development, but I didn't
consider any of them quite ready for prime time yet. You might be able to
save more money by finding one of them.
Reply to: