Re: Cable Internet provider (Adelphia) system policies toward GNU/Linux
Not being one to have dealt with Adelphia, Powerlink or cable
modem providers for that matter I'll take the pot-shot from a network
administrator position on this one...
If the provider does in fact have their DHCP system assigning
IP addresses from different pools based on Windows or *NIX operating
systems, my guess to the reason would clearly be to try and stop someone
from hosting services off their cable modem host... For the most part
Windows is seen as a "workstation" by most ISPs whereas Linux and other
*NIX-type OSes are seen as "servers"... The only thing I could think of
would be to try and sniff the network traffic and catch the DHCP
negotiation between you and your provider under both Linux and Windows
and see where the differences are... If they are looking for an
attribute that the Windows DHCP client is sending but Linux isn't then I
would say work to make Linux DHCP send it... I know with DHCP3 you are
able to specify attributes to send in the request... You might try using
ethereal which is available for both Windows and Linux for sniffing this
out as I've used it to troubleshoot VPN problems...
Jeremy
On Fri, Apr 11, 2003 at 08:05:00PM +0000, also.cute.and.fluffy@att.net wrote:
> My cable modem system seems to perform differently under M$ Windoze OS's than
> under *NIX-like systems (GNU/Linux, for example).
>
> I am a subscriber to Adelphia high-speed Internet (a.k.a. "Powerlink", but this
> is not the old one-way Powerlink that uses a phone line for upstream, but 2-
> way "full" cable broadband). I live in Western New York. My computer is
> configured to dual-boot both M$Windoze and Linux; and I notice a very
> interesting and unanticipated effect because of this. It pertains to IP address
> assignment; basically the Internet connection from Linux works *great*, but ...
>
> When logging in under the M$ OS, I always get the same IP address I've had for
> about a year or so. But when logging in under Linux, I get a *different* IP
> address, and what is more, I think it is a different IP _each_ _time_, not just
> a different one than the IP I get under M$Windoze. So, to put it concisely, my
> IP address although not *fixed* (guaranteed by the provider not to change)
> under Winblows, is *stable* over a long-ish period of time (weeks, months,
> maybe years). But under *Linux*, the IP I am given is both non-fixed (assigned
> under DHCP, as it is under Winblows), and also *non-stable*, i.e. it "floats"
> and is likely to be different each time I fire up the system.
>
> I haven't looked at the IPs I am assigned under Linux to see what range they
> span and if they are in a different range from those (that one, which
> is "stable") assigned under Winblows, but I have read elsewhere that my
> provider assignes from a "pool" of IPs that is different from the "WinPool", so
> to speak, to UNIX systems. This is odd. Does anyone know why they do this, and
> what characteristic of MS Winblows they might be keying-in-on, so to speak,
> that causes a "stability" to be achieved for the connection under Winblows,
> that isn't present under non-Winblows (Linux)?
>
> Thanks, all.
>
> --
> So, my little one-eyed one, on
> what POOR, PITIFUL, DEFENSELESS
> planet has my .. MONSTROSITY ..
> been UNLEASHED?
> - Dr. Jumba
>
>
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