basic question about assigning ip address

[Peter Horst]

Answers below - thank you for your reply -

Jacques B. wrote:
> Grrr.. I've cut off my pinky so I don't hit return this time,
>
> > [Warning: second question attached :-) ]
> >
> > Thanks for all the help and advice - sorry, I could have described the
> > situation better - the actual problem I'm trying to solve here has to do
> > with trying to find a  wireless router that I can use with my Linux
> > server (with a static address).
> >
> > I used to have a Linksys WRT54GX4, which was great until it stopped
> > working, and I had to spend hours on the phone with customer service
> > reps dumber than me, and the RMA replacement arrived DOA.  The Linksys
> > had the ability to function as a switch (wrong word?) - that is, it
> > would pass traffic straight through to two machines on my internal
> > network, both of which had static, public IP addresses - one, the
> > server, connected via CAT5, and the other, a Windows laptop, connected
> > wirelessly.
>
> If you had a static, PUBLIC IP address for each of your two systems,
> then they were not on an INTERNAL network.  They were on the
> PUBLIC/EXTERNAL network (unless your ISP uses internal addresses for
> all clients which I haven't seen before).
>
> >
> > Because of the customer-services & quality-control issues Linksys was
> > having, I tried switching to a Zyxel X-550 wireless router.
> > Unfortunately it does not seem to have the ability to cope properly with
> > public IP addresses on my internal network.
>
> See above, if you had public IP addresses, you did not have an
> internal network.  Your machines were connected directly to the
> external network going through the switch (your Linksys was a
> gateway/router/switch).
>
> >
> > So I thought that if it were an simple matter to configure my Linux
> > server in the way I've described, it would make the (temporary) process
> > of fiddling around with various bits of networking equipment easier.
> >
> > So, all that being said, do you have any technical recommendations?
> > Hope I have adequately described the problem...
> >
>
> If you do not get an IP from your ISP, you cannot go ahead and assign
> one yourself.  Again this is based on how you explained your network,
> that you were getting public IP addresses for both machines.  Unless
> your ISP has allocated a block of static IPs (which would apply to a
> business setup, not a home setup) in which case you probably could
> simply assign them the static IPs.
>
> The other issue would be the subnet mask to use.  If you are getting
> public IPs, you need to know the subnet mask being used.  Not to
> mention the gateway IP.
>
> I think we need to clarify your exact network setup before being to
> help you here.
>
> What IPs were you getting before (i.e. 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, or some
> other IP - there is a third internal IP range I just forget it and not
> important - just need to know what you were getting).  We don't need
> the full IP, just the first 2 octets would suffice.  That will tell us
> if you were truly getting a public IP or not.
>
> Who is your ISP?  Others who have the same ISP can shed some light on
> how it works with them if you are not certain.
>
> Jacques B.
>
>   

I have 4 addresses total, 66.92.blah.blah.   My setup, until the Linksys 
broke, was (from "outside" to "inside"):

ADSL modem
Linksys (connected to the DSL not via its "WAN" port, but via one of its 
"LAN" ports)
Windows Laptop (66.92.blah.bleh) - Linux "server" (66.92.bleh.blah)

That's it - pretty simple setup - the only wrinkle was the bit about the 
Linksys not running NAT or DHCP, but just passing the traffic through to 
the "internal" devices.

Thank you - as a last-second thought, it occurs to me that I might be 
able to connect the Server directly to the DSL modem, then connect the 
Zyxel to that - it's not really important to me that the laptop have its 
own address.

Peter