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3. Internet

This is the fast route to a single host on the network. More complex issues are not covered. The networking programs are on the Slackware-N disk set, and elsewhere on the CD's.

(Slackware) /var/adm/setup/setup.netconfig, may help you establish an initial configuration, (or destroy any existing configuration). Other utilties like linuxconf, may or may not help.

You have to do several things to get networking up. This may include rebuilding the kernel, configuring modules and making the serial port work at high speed. To make it easier to understand, I have split those into seperate sections. You should read them (and keep them in mind) when configuring Internet.

Internet is just a special case of TCP/IP in general. If you wanted to, you could create your own private Internet, and in fact many Internet providers use Linux to implement the real thing!

To get Internet working, simply put the correct values into the correct files and it will work. Usually.

3.1 Documentation

3.2 ISP Account Information

There are different types of account. I have an account that gives me a static IP address, and hostname.

Some sites may give you a dynamic address (you don't want this). If so, there are two problems. Firstly SLIP needs to find out the allocated IP_address (man dip, wait string ; get $remote). PPP would (probably) get it from the remote connection automatically.

Secondly, you won't have that address in /etc/hosts, so a few utilities may get confused about what is your address. They may bind onto the first available configured device. It works for many people, so I guess it should work for you! Ask your service provider.

Some accounts don't register your machine on the Internet, only your email name on their machine. These are a good idea for DOS, but won't help you learn much, except about that particular system.

You will probably get a choice of CSLIP, SLIP or PPP. PPP may use optional security features (which repeats the logon password identification step with a second password, but sent as part of the PPP protocol.

You will be collecting mail by SMTP, but popmail is also an option.

Your ISP will tell you:

You MUST substitute your values into these scripts. Using my ISP's nameserver for your requests won't make me popular, and may or may not work, depending on whether the ISP checks who made the call, and whether it advertises the outside to the outside.

In particular, I don't want to receive your mail!

3.3 Overview

Many people will be connecting their workstation to the LAN, using an ethernet card. If you only have a null-modem RS232 cable, or a PLIP cable, you will need to interpret the text relating to ethernet, but it's much the same.

You will also be connecting your Linux workstation to the Internet, using a modem. You can be connected to both the LAN and the Internet at the same time, but Issue-3 doesn't go as far as bridging them, eg with a proxy gateway.

Normally, establishing the Internet PPP or SLIP link, requires root login permissions. You will configure an suid script, and /etc/group to allow a list of "plain" users to bring the link up and down.

This text will help you understand what the manuals are talking about. When you need details that isn't there, you will already be familiar with topics discussed in the README's and FAQ's, and should find things sooner.

The HOWTO's describe dialing IN as well as out. Don't get frightened by that! Internal modems are the same as external modems, but appears as an additional UART chip on the machine.

Your ISP will allocate you a static IP address, and will advertise that address on their nameservers, so that others will find you. This helps with email, but also with direct access to services on your machine. IE if you are currently on-line and dialed in, others can call you for ftp, web pages, telnet-login and other services.

My ISP allows me to connect using either PPP or SLIP. When I connect, after login and password, they present an additional question "Protocol?". Your CHAT and DIP scripts will be different.


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