Hi All,

I really hope you can provide me with some help or assitance on this topic:

I'm not an expert on Unix neither with networking tasks, I just have the basic level on Unix commands and shell scripting fundamentals, but I want to take seriously this opportinuty to put my hands on this environment to learn more.

Currently I have an old laptop Pentiumll 300Mhz with Windows 98 connected to a Broadband Cable Modem to have access to internet this works perfectly fine.

I got a second hand Sun Ultra-10 with Solaris 8 OE preinstalled and configured to work as a stand alone host. I got this computer without the Solaris 8 OE CDs am afraid and I've been using this computer just to learn the basics of Unix on my spare time. I know this workstation has an ethernet card installed and configured already.

Now, I feel that I could manage to build up a small home LAN connecting my two computers with different technologies, is it possible to do this?, what I want to accomplish with this is to share the internet connection I currently have with my laptop and the Ultra-10 and also be able to transfer file between both computers using ftp or telnet etc, I want in some point to create a webpage hosted in the Ultra-10 runnig a web server and be able to locate this webpage from the Laptop, I want to experiment Network configuration with this small model. I want to build this to help me learn more on Networks in Unix, because I believe this environment is a lot more stable than the Window technologies in the market.

My Cable Modem has an Ehternet and USB ports, I'm using the USB port to connect the Laptop because it does not have Ethernet port build in, too old for this, however I could managed to buy a PC Ethernet card to use Ethernet network topology.

What other devices do I need to buy to build this small network?, I've seen many things from many sources such as routers, switches, Hubs but to be honest with you I got more confuse after I started investigating.

I know that I need to make some configurations on the Ultra-10 Solaris 8 OE but which are those?, What files do I need to adjust, please advice, I really need your help or assitance on this matter.

Looking froward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards

Alberto Mosqueda

The simplest thing that you can do is buy yourself a cable router like this one.

The set up is simple:

1. Plug your cable modem in the WAN port.
2. Plug both computers into the other ethernet ports.
3. Follow the instructions for the router configuration. This will probably have you set your PC's IP to DHCP (your router should also serve as a DHCP server) or a static value that the router is already configured for and its default route to the router's LAN IP. Write down all of your cable modem's IP addresses (local and public, DNS, etc.)
4. After the PC has been configured, log on to the router using the accompanying CD or by connecting to its web server (probably http://192.168.0.1 or http://10.10.0.1). Provide the connection characteristics of your cable modem to the router (those you recorded earlier).
5. Test your Internet connection from your PC.
6. Configure your Sun system so that its network interface uses DHCP.
7. Test your Internet connection from your Sun system.

That is it. Now you have a simple and very functional network.

Consider carefully your choice of routers. I picked a wired (i.e. not wireless) Netgear 4-port router/switch. It has a built-in firewall and DHCP server. I have something similar to it at home but with more ports. You may want a wireless router, which still has physical ethernet ports. You will want to enable the security features if you use the wireless capabilities. The final consideration that you may want to make is with regards to VPN. If you would like to connect back to your home network from work, you may not want to get a Netgear product. Their VPN server (at least with regards to my model) requires their VPN client (I'm too cheap to pay the extra money for it). Other than the VPN, I am very please with the Netgear products. I have used Linksys as well with two bigger downsides: 1) two different wireless access points burned out, 2) the same units both had inferior signal strength to my other Netgear wireless router).

I hope this helps.

Thomas

if you want to be able to get to your unix box easily and have it's hostname set everytime ... set your unix box to use a static address instead of dhcp ...

after you get your pc to connect to the net without any problem ...

1. on your pc/laptop --- get the ip addresses of the dns servers as listed and write them down. use "ipconfig /all" in a command window

2. open the router configuration software and note the dhcp ip ranges. pick an ip that's outside of the dhcp range (or scope)

3. if your unix box has been running with dhcp already, run "sys-unconfig" as root on the command line. this will blank out your unix box so it doesn't know the network or it's name.

4. boot up the unix box and fix settings

a. when prompted to use dhcp ... say no.
b. put in the box's hostname and the ip address you selected
c. when prompted for method for name resolution, select DNS
d. give domain name of your isp when asked for dns domain
e. give dns server ip addresses that you got from your pc settings
f. set new root password as required
g. login and check /etc/hosts and other settings

5. reboot unix box to verify that settings stayed and you can get to the net


... btw, getting the box to use a reserved dhcp address will let it keep the assigned ip address like it's a static address but for some reason it won't let you set the desired hostname to the ip address ... even with editing /etc/hosts ... but this could just be a solaris 9 "feature" ...

BTW, some of the best UNIX and Linux people in the world use Windows XP as their workstation and UNIX or Linux as their "back-in" servers. See this quote from one of the vBulletin developers:

Reference - Interview – Kier Darby of vBulletin

The motto, to be a great lover of UNIX and Linux, you don't have to bash Microsoft. In golf, there are many different clubs in the bag.... and in your toolbox there are lots of different tools.... use them all wisely

Hi all

Thank you very much "tmarikle", "Just Ice" and "Neo" for your assitance. I will start by getting the devices and start connecting everything. I'm pretty sure I will come across with issues around the Ultra-10 configuration to talk to the switch and the internet afterwards, when this happend I probably will come to you again with new questions.

Thanks again very well appreciated

Until then

I have a Sun Blade I bought a couple years ago and plan on shopping tomorrow for a Linksys router to get it networked with my PC. I think I will go with the wireless even knowing the pitfalls. I plan on getting a laptop soon so I will be able to use it anywhere in my small house.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Hi,

I have very basic knowledge in Unix. If some one please let me how could i connect my PC with Sun Ultra. I do have dial up internet connection. Specification is below:

PC with XP on and with Newtwork card

Ultra 5 SPARC-IIi 270MHz processor
256 MB memory
8.4 GB HDD
100/10BaseT Ethernet
CD-ROM drive
3.5" Floppy drive

Much Obliged