On Vi, 15 ian 21, 21:02:58, Dan Hitt wrote:
>
> So i just need to know what to do on the debian box so that it can field
> requests to get ips from host names on the internet, and forward packets to
> the internet modem. Hopefully, it will be some simple tool like
> nm-connection-editor, but maybe it has to be a series of commands. If it
> is a series of commands, what are they?
In nm-connection-editor select the connection with the other system
(*not* to the internet) and set the Method to "Shared to other
computers" in the IPv4 tab (and IPv6 if you want so).
Unfortunately the wording of the option is counterintuitive, it should
probably be something like "allow other computers on this connection to
use this computer's internet connection" (whichever that might be).
Thanks Andrei for your message. Thanks everybody else also---i'm still studying all your replies, and i have some questions about them (further below).
Regarding Andrei's suggestion of using nm-connection-editor, and using "Shared to other computers", i saw that last night, and tried using it. It looked similar to the gui that i had on my old mint (ubuntu) machine.
I made sure that the 'Ethernet' tab had the mac addr of the right device --- it's a usb/ethernet cable, and has a long name, so it would be hard to confuse it with enp2s0 (the connection to the 'internet-modem').
In the 'IPv4 Settings' tab, the method i have selected is 'Shared to other computers'. There's a text area below, marked 'Address (optional)'.
In that optional area i put the ip address of my debian machine, with '24' for the netmask. The ip address for my debian machine, that i want to use for this LAN, is consistent with what 'ip addr show' displays. It's kind of unclear what to write for a gateway --- should i put in the address of my debian box, or the address of the internet modem (router)? Anyhow, i tried them both, and neither one worked.
I also tried just deleting the 'Address (optional)' section, since it says it is optional. But this also had no effect.
I also added an extra ip address to the usb/ethernet link on my debian machine, using
sudo ip addr add 10.X.Y.Z/24 dev enx**********
and this becomes instantly visible to the other system. So i think the other system is properly accessing my debian system.
So, thanks for any clarification anybody has to offer on the proper usage of nm-connection-editor.
(One point i'm a little bit curious about is how nm-connection-editor can work at all, because i'm running it as an unprivileged user, and these network things like sudo. Maybe there's a setuid bit somewhere or something, but the software certainly doesn't complain that it doesn't have root privs.)
Now, regarding all the other suggestions, i intend to work through each of them, because i'm not too particular.
But i should clarify these points:
(1) Yes, my 'internet-modem' is a router. But it's a real black-box router that i cannot see into.
(2) Yes, it has 4 ports. That's not an issue, because i can and have attached switches to it. However, i cannot attach my ancient hardware to it because it locks them up for whatever reason. But for several years i did use my mint (ubuntu) box to stand between the internet-modem-router and my ancient hardware. My ancient hardware just cannot share a physical ethernet with my internet-modem-router (including being on the same switch as it).
(3) Regarding getting another router to sit between the internet-modem and my ancient hardware: i wouldn't mind doing that at all, in fact, that's what i'm trying to do with my debian box :), to get it to act as a router. But i have tons of visibility into my debian system, including compiling special purpose software if necessary, but if i just get a dedicated black-box router, how could i manage it?
Nevertheless, i'm quite willing to get a second router.
Mick -- you mentioned a smallish PC for 20 pounds (maybe 40 dollars?) which would have 2 network cards --- for that price i wouldn't mind doing it, but that seems awfully cheap. Is there a reason for network cards as opposed to just ethernet over usb? I don't need high performance. Anyhow thanks.
John --- when i rebuild the mint box, i plan to make a new partition on it for the debian system, so it will be done from scratch. And thanks for the suggestion of using dnsmasq. If i cannot manage to make do with nm-connection-editor i hope to try it out (and/or shorewall).
Doug --- if you have suggestions for a router, please let me know, and thanks.
David --- thanks for all the information. The UNIfi system looks good and is not very expensive. I would have to investigate it carefully though, because my ancient hardware is very sensitive to something about the electrical environment of the network (otherwise i'd just hook it into my internet-modem-router).
RH --- thanks for the information about Ubiquiti, i will have to investigate it. I have to be careful with new hardware connected to the ancient stuff (as with the UNIfi system).
Mike --- thanks for the suggestion of using shorewall. I plan to try out shorewall and/or dnsmasq if i cannot make Andrei's suggestion work.