Re: Basic(?) network help, please...

[Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>]

On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:54:50 -0500, Mark Neidorff wrote:

(...)

> I can't get PCs on the local LAN (192.168.1.x) to connect to the net
> using the cable provider's nameservers. If I use the nameservers of my
> old provider (which are still active for me, for now) they can connect
> to the net.  Why is this?  How do I correct it?

There are some things in the air that may require further investigation.

First, as per your description (five static IP), I guess you have been 
given a very nice cable modem gateway device but most surely it is 
somehow limited/restricted/customized by your provider, so you should 
contact them and ask for a basic configuration setup start-up guide. I 
say this because some providers give their users a login username/
password and let them to manage their devices from their internal 
subnetwork.

Second, you should ask yourself about the network setup do you have in 
mind... that is, cable modems (unless otherwise specified) are just 
gateways with no routing capabilities and act in the same way like the 
old dial-up serial modems: they connect your machine (the one to which is 
attached) directly to the web (which is good if you have a web server 
behind the cable modem that you want to be reachable from outside) but 
maybe you don't want all your machines are also acting in that way, like 
public servers.

So, dependending on what you have in mind, you may also need to have a 
router with nat capabilities that:

1/ "Hide" your internal network machines (so you can use 192.168.0.x 
addresses) and keep them out of the Internet.

2/ Provide addictional DHCP/DNS functionalities, in the event the cable-
modem do not.

And last, you can use whatever DNS servers you prefer (like the ones from 
OpenDNS or Google's) but usually the ones that your isp provides are 
better (lower latency and fast response).

Greetings,

-- 
Camaleón