Arch Linux

Galdona

Member

Registered: 2006-03-15

Posts: 196

setting up lan and internet shared

hello,
i have two computers, and i want to connect them. what i wish is that (1)they are networked (files can be accessed on the other computer, and also i intend to syncronize files on the two computers anytime i want, so i have duplicates/backups all the time) and (2)also share my adsl internet. should i take care of file sharing first, or does it matter? does one depend on the other?

i have been reading and reading on how to do this but i am overwhelmed by the jargon and the information, i dont know where to start. can someone give me advice? there are two situations i would like to know how to set up. 1) direct connection between two computers, with crossover cable (cat5e is crossover i think)
2) when i get to buy the appropriate hardware, what kind of hardware do i need? (hub,router,switch) i dont know what i need to meet my intentions about file sharing and internet sharing.

thank you

Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

I was recently in exactly the same situation. In the end the solution was rather simple. What we did was get a router with built in ADSL modem. You also need to make sure both PC's have network cards of course, but these days a PC without a NIC is quite rare. Then, you just need the right (CAT5) cables.

Just attach your PCs to the router with those CAT5 cables, and the incoming ADSL line goes in also. et voilà, all done. Well, windows might take some configuring, but under arch it worked out of the box 

---

You like cheese? You like peas? You'll love cheezy peas!

Galdona

Member

Registered: 2006-03-15

Posts: 196

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

ok, thanks. but will that also be able to share files between the two computers directly, as in a LAN?

i wanted to access files on the other computer, while also sharing the internet conection. i already have adsl modem (provided by isp). i would prefer a solution that did not yet require buying more hardware. my first pc has two lan cards, so that can be the router.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

I'm sure Sander won't mind me adding that file sharing between the PCs won't work "out of the box". You will need ti install and configure some apps, depending what sharing method you decide to use. If it's an all-Linux network, NFS is the traditional solution - other options include sshfs, ftp, or even samba, although samba is usually used when you have a mixed Linux/Windoze setup.  There are probably other possibilites - my main point is the "not-quite-out-of-the-box" status, compared to shared net access.

Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

I'm sure Sander won't mind me adding that file sharing between the PCs won't work "out of the box". You will need ti install and configure some apps, depending what sharing method you decide to use. If it's an all-Linux network, NFS is the traditional solution - other options include sshfs, ftp, or even samba, although samba is usually used when you have a mixed Linux/Windoze setup.  There are probably other possibilites - my main point is the "not-quite-out-of-the-box" status, compared to shared net access.

True, I probably should have mentioned that. The 'out of the box' thing only goes for internet connection sharing. And maybe not for all routers, though I suspect it does.

---

You like cheese? You like peas? You'll love cheezy peas!

Galdona

Member

Registered: 2006-03-15

Posts: 196

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

ok, one computer has two lan cards so that will be the router. and both are using archlinux so it will be nfs i guess. but im really interested in doing this without buying more hardware. but i am still confused on how to start with this.

gnud

Member

Registered: 2005-11-27

Posts: 182

Re: setting up lan and internet shared

I did some research on this a year or so ago, cos I thought I would get another computer from where I worked. Never did, sadly...

Anyway, what seemed to be the easiest route (must have been, I've forgotten what the other options were ) is using shorewall( http://www.shorewall.net , it's in AUR. I havn't tried the Arch package, I was using Gentoo at the time). It's a frontend to iptables, with a simple text configuration format, and good documentation.

also, look at this article - http://www.linux-bsd-central.com/index.php/content/view/6/[/url]

[edit]fixed lots of typos [/edit]