/etc/hosts and other related config file confusion

[maxvenum]

Greetings!

I have been reading through the forums and web for a few days now, trying to understand how to properly set up my gentoo server's /etc/hosts, domainname, and hostname files (and probably some others I have forgotten). I am still relatively new to gentoo, and would appreciate any help people can give.

Here is my setup:

DSL modem on ppp0, eth0 connected to ppp0, eth1 connected to internal network. DSL ip is dynamic, internal network ips static. eth1 ip is 192.168.0.3, and eth0 is currently set to 172.0.0.1 (why is explained below). I have a dns address through dyndns: name.homelinux.com. My hostname is name2 (my other systems are name3, name4, etc.). I plan to run apache2 and a ftp server on this box. For apache2 and the ftp server, it seems to me that I should be using the dns address in the config files, but I have also heard that the dns address must be locally resolvable? How should I setup my /etc/hosts file, nssswitch.conf file, etc.? Have I left out any other pertinent information?

Here is a side issue: my dsl modem is set to 192.168.0.1 (I haven't seen how to change that to something other than 192.168.0.0/24), and I wanted to use 192.168.0.0/24 for my internal network with my internal ethernet card set to 192.168.0.3. However, if I do this, my gentoo server gets confused and will only talk to one interface, so I had to change my external ethernet card's ip address away from 192.168.0.3 to 172.0.0.1. I recently had the realization that I could simply change my internal network to 192.168.1.0/24, but I don't want to do this to avoid my own confusion and stupid mistakes (I have used 192.168.0.0/24 for years, and if I change that, I may not always remember that when I am working with my network--my brain will default to 192.168.0.0/24...) Is there anyway I can keep my internal network on 192.168.0.0/24?

Thanks,
Tobyn

[nativemad]

Hi

I would simply plug your Modem to the switch, pull out the second nic out of the Server, and you will be able to use your old subnet!
pppoe is encapsulated, so it should not affect you lan!

For Apache and FTP, i would simply add your ddns-name to the 127.0.0.1 entry in /etc/hosts (do not wipe out localhost!)! This should do the job!

I hope this will help a bit!
_________________
Power to the people!

[maxvenum]

You can plug the modem straight into the hub (hub, not switch--I have a 4-port wireless router)? I could get rid of one of my NICs? I did not realize that. Since you normally plug the modem straight into the computer's NIC, do you need a crossover cable from the modem to the hub? Is there any security problem doing it this way? Since the modem is now attached directly to my LAN, is there any reasonable way someone could get to my network without going through the computer hosting pppoe?


I have already added my ddns name to the 127.0.0.1 line in /etc/hosts but to no avail. I have tried different variations for that line. My current variation is:

127.0.0.1 name2@name.homelinux.com name2 localhost

My apache2 and ftp servers are running; I am able to access them using my ip address (both internal 192.168.0.3 and modem ip) from within the network. Though, now that I think about it, I haven't tried accessing my servers from outside my network. I will try that when I get to work in the morning.

Thanks,
Tobyn

[nativemad]

[maxvenum]

Thanks for the help. I saw many different variations on the hosts config file, and one of them used an @. I will see if trying name2.name.homelinux.com works any better. I was able to check my servers from work, and I am able to access both my ftp and apache2 servers using the ddns address. So, my problem is accessing my servers from within my network using the ddns address (using ip address works). I remember seeing some discussions on this forum, but I don't remember seeing if a real solution was found. Anyone have any advice on this? Would the easiest thing be to add a special rule in my iptables chains?

Thanks,
Tobyn

[nativemad]