Local Network Setup Help

[valltek]

Alright, I am planning on setting up a local network and I have a couple questions before I start this little adventure.

I have the hardware for a few machines, I want this network for now to be 100% offline but have the ability to plug a modem in and presto, internet :)

I want to setup a router (smoothwall), Local DNS server, and a virtual server host pc. Possibly have the DNS Server running on a virtual machine.

Now I figure that this can be done fairly simply. I would assume that the setup for the router would be red/green and I just wouldn't connect an internet to the red.

But from there I don't know what I should do on the Green sides configuration.

[Infiltrator]

You will need at least x2 nics, if you plan in configuring smoothwall. The first NIC for connecting the modem and the second for the lan. I would recommend installing smoothwall on a hardware platform instead of a virtual platform, for performance improvements.

But its really up to you, you can also install Smoothwall on a VM, make sure you have 2 network interfaces enabled.

Now for the router set up, the interface colors will be green (Red is modem/ISDN)

Or you could follow this detailed documentation.

http://aarnet.dl.sourceforge.net/project/s...stall-guide.pdf

[valltek]

I'm sorry about my first post, I don't think I worded my question correctly. So, I am going to try again. Thank you for the link also, it was vary informative and did answer some other questions I had.

Here is the layout for my network that I am thinking.

I have a P4 that I am going to use the Router with SmoothWall

I have a AMD Phenom x6 that I am going to Use for the VM

My Question that I ment to ask is, I want a local DNS Server on my local network (hosted on my VM) That Controls the IP Assignment and DNS Records. I want to know if this is possible. I assume it is but I don't know where in a diagram each peice needs to go and what the configurations for each should be.

I currently use Bind9 on ubuntu for my Internet DNS Servers, I am planning on using the same for my local DNS.

Would the order be more efficient to be:

Modem

DNS.Server

RouterMachine

Switch

--All the Local Devices

Or would it be:

Modem

RouterMachine

Switch

(VM)DNS Server, --All Other Devices

The main thing I am confused about is my local DNS Server, does it go between Modem and Router or is it just another server on my local network.

If it is just another server on my local network how do the other compouters know that it is the authoritive DNS Server.

If I am going about this all wrong please let me know. I am open to other configurations.

I have to use, 2 older machines and one new AMD Phenom x6 with 8GB RAM and then the other pcs that will be connecting to the network.

Edited September 2, 2010 by valltek

[Infiltrator]

If you want a single machine to control the IP addresss assignment and the DNS records, you could configure your linux server to do just that for you.

Make sure the DHCP Server option on your modem is turned off, before the DHCP service is running on your linux server.

Now for the network connectivity part, you want to have the following:

Modem

Router (Smoothwall)

Switch

Linux server (DNS, DHCP)

Let me know if that clear things up for you.

Regards,

Infiltrator

Edited September 2, 2010 by Infiltrator

[valltek]

Awesome, Just the info I needed. Thanks.

Also, I have decided to test out Untangle