Behind "Linksys" router To DHCP or not to DHCP??

[shag69]

I am trying to get my Webserver Serving.....
So far i am behind the Linksys fine...
SETUP TAB_________________________________________
WAN IP address = "STATIC IP" "DEFAULT GATEWAY" and "DNS provided to me by my ISP
LAN is set to 192.168.1.1 which is the IP of the linksys box
pppoe = disabled
STATUS TAB________________________________________
reflects these #'s
DHCP TAB_________________________________________
enables
starting ip address is 192.168.1.101 with 4 nas the number of DHCP users
FORWARDING TAB___________________________________
Service Port = (first box) 80
IP Address = 192.168.1.110 (which is assigned to the Built in Ethernet in System Properties on the OSX SERVER.
DYNAMIC ROUTING__________________________________
set to Gateway (the choise is that and "Router")
_________________________________________________
So these are my questins
Q 1. i have been told that i have to disable DHCP... I have also been told that i can should have it turned on.....should I or should i not ?and why?
Q 2. There is a "static routing" tab. should i (because i have a static ip address through my ISP) have any values there?
Q 3.DMZ host...??? do i put any values there
Q 4. does this sound like it will work to you? any suggestions?

[MaxPower]

I have the linksys Cable/DSL router. I currently have DHCP off. I did this because I wasnt planning on having a huge amount of computers needing access. The things only got 4 ports anywary right? :)

This way under the advanced/forewarding tab, I can tell the router where to pass the specific port calls. So I can have my webserver running on 192.168.1.1 and just set it up on that page to foreward all requests to port 80 from the outside to that ip.

It works pretty well. The only trouble I am having is that I want 2 computers listening on the same port. (like for OSXvnc) but I havent figured out how to differentiate between the two without some sort of nameserver or something running the interference between the internet and my little network.

Anyhoo. Thats what worked for me. Hope that helps!

[bluehz]

You don't HAVE to disable DHCP, but in my opinion DHCP has been nothing but trouble on the Mac platform. It was esepcially buggy in pre-OS X systems. Works pretty good in OS X. Still - I think you get better response and have more control over defining your own ip numbers. Turning off DHCP simply means you assign the static IP you were given to the router (you will see a field for it on the first router setup page), then give each of your machines within the router LAN their own unique IP numbers. The format usually goes in the range of 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.255. Simply pick a number in that range (changing the last digits only) and enter that into each ofteh machines inside your LAN. Their was some discussion years back that Mac OS did not like the numbers below 192.168.1.100 but I am not sure that isn't complete here say - nevertheless I keep my numbers above 192.168.1.100.

> Q 1. i have been told that i have to disable DHCP... I
> have also been told that i can should have it turned
> on.....should I or should i not ?and why?

You do not need to do anything to the static routing page. I believe that is used when for example you have a large network and several more routers within that network (routers cascaded within the Linksys)

> Q 2. There is a "static routing" tab. should i (because
> i have a static ip address through my ISP) have any
> values there?

The DMZ host is for a single computer you can assign to totally bypass the Linksys NAT/firewall features completely exposing that one machine tothe outside world. The only reason you would want to do that was for instance if you were having trouble accessing certain services on a server inside the LAN when they go through the Linksys. A good example of that is PASV FTP. This type of FTP server requires a two-way communication between the client and server and will fail in most cases if it is going through the LinkSys router. Some people say that assigning a DMZ machine creates a security rik - and that is partially true. If the machine used for the DMZ were a Windows PC - then you would have something to worry about since most hackers focus on Windows machines. Putting a Mac as the DMZ is much safer - most hackers have no idea how to hack into a Mac and will just leave it alone. Simply put a software based firewall onthe DMZ machine and configure as needed for a security measure.

In most cases though you will not need to use the DMZ - simply forward the necessary ports to the individual machines in your LAN as needed via the port forwarding feature of the LinkSys router. For example:

Let's say you have to machines inside the router - you want to have a mail server on one of the machines and a web server on the other.

Machine 1 192.168.1.100 forward the mail ports (25, 110) to this machine
Machine 2 192.168.1.101 forward the http port (80) to this machine

One thing you might want to do is use a non-standard web port. I find that using the standard web port 80 causes my machine to constantly be barraged with PC virii, worms, etc. Doesn't affect the Mac, but causes unneccessary traffic on your network. I like to close off port 80 and use port 8080 instead. Then youneed to indicate the port number in your URL's to access that server. So the url would look like this:

http://myserver.com:8080/

> Q 3.DMZ host...??? do i put any values there

Hope that helps.

[houchin]

I second the recommendation to use Static IP for your systems, but I would leave DHCP enabled. That way, if a buddy brings over a laptop, you can let him on your network without requiring that he change his TCP settings.

It doesn't hurt anything.

[shag69]

I thank you both four your help. Especialy blue hz and the very detailed instructions.. extremely helpful, wish all answers were that detailed, then i would get it the first time without having the answers and not the details (as a staring out in the Web servering stuff for my business is a begining for me) makes it hard to get..... Just like all the books on the subjects.....are'nt you tired of all the books with a section on TCPIP and all it does is define what it is.. he he

Well thanks all- well on my way to having this problem solved... Will try your suggestions and see if i can finnaly get this box On-Line.
Shag:D :) :)

[bluehz]

no prob - let us know ifyou need any more help.

[shag69]

Well Bluehz, I have another post with more details inside called "Wan Settings.". Hope it helps you get a better picture of what i am attempting. I mean this can't be that difficult. I swear all my settings are done correctly but can;t figure out why it is not working... Driving me....MAD
Well hope i can get the answers to fix my troubles so i can serve my companies web site.. (all i wanna do)
Shag

[MASK]

Hi, i read about you explaining DMZ with router.
you said if we dont want NAT/FIREWALL for a particular computer we can connected the pc to DMZ and enable it.... i did that but im still getting NAT ip 192.168.1.x

im runing windows server 2003 with linksys router.

thanks

ahraaash@hotmail.com