networking with TCP/IP
janu
Protocol/Internet Protocol) networking protocols. TCP/IP has become the
most successful mechanism for networking computers worldwide. With
Linux and an Ethernet card, you can network your machine to a local
area network, or (with the proper network connections) to the
Internet--the worldwide TCP/IP network.
Hooking up a small LAN of UNIX machines is easy. It simply requires an
Ethernet controller in each machine and the appropriate Ethernet cables
and other hardware. Or, if your business or university provides access
to the Internet, you can easily add your Linux machine to this network.
The current implementation of TCP/IP and related protocols for
Linux is called ``NET-3,'' and before that, ``NET-2.'' This has no
relationship to the so-called NET-2 release of BSD UNIX; instead,
``NET-3'' in this context means the second implementation of TCP/IP for
Linux.
Linux NET-3 also supports SLIP--Serial Line Internet Protocol
and PPP--Point-to-Point Protocol. SLIP and PPP allow you to have dialup
Internet access using a modem. If your business or university provides
SLIP or PPP access, you can dial in to the SLIP or PPP server and put
your machine on the Internet over the phone line. Alternately, if your
Linux machine also has Ethernet access to the Internet, you can set up
your Linux box as a SLIP or PPP server.
For complete information on setting up TCP/IP under Linux, we encourage
you to read the Linux NET-3 HOWTO, available via anonymous FTP from
sunsite.unc.edu. The NET-3 HOWTO is a complete guide to configuring
TCP/IP, including Ethernet and SLIP or PPP connections, under Linux.
The Linux Ethernet HOWTO is a related document that describes
configuration of various Ethernet card drivers for Linux. The Linux
Network Administrator's Guide, from the Linux Documentation Project, is
also available. See Appendix A for more information on these documents.
Also of interest is the book TCP/IP Network Administration, by Craig
Hunt. It contains complete information on using and configuring TCP/IP
on UNIX systems.
TCP/IP Hardware requirements.
You can use Linux TCP/IP without any networking hardware at
all--configuring ``loopback'' mode allows you to talk to yourself. This
is necessary for some applications and games which use the ``loopback''
network device.
However, if you want to use Linux with an Ethernet TCP/IP
network, you need an Ethernet card. Common cards such as the 3com
3c503, HP PCLAN (27245 and 27xxx series), Western Digital WD80x3, and
Novell NE2000/NE1000 are supported, as well as many more. See the Linux
Ethernet and Hardware HOWTOs for details.
There are a few common situations that you should watch out concerning
supported cards: 1) Several cards are support but offer shoddy
performance or have other restrictions. Examples are the 3Com 3C501
which works but gives absolutely horrible performance and the
Racal-Interlan NI6510 using the am7990 lance chip which doesn't work
with more than 16 megabytes of RAM. In the same vein, many cards are
NE1000/NE2000 compatible clones and can have various problems. See the
Linux Ethernet HOWTO for a more complete discussion of Linux Ethernet
hardware compatibility.
Linux also supports SLIP and PPP, which allows you to use a modem to
access the Internet over the phone line. In this case, you'll need a
modem compatible with your SLIP or PPP server--most servers require a
14.4bps V.32bis modem at a minimum . Performance is greatly improved
with a 33.6bps or higher modem.