> > > > One machine in my LAN:
> > > >       ethernet card 1: tlp0
> > > >        network name 1: hermes      (66.136.7.251)
> > > >
> > > > My DSL router/gateway:
> > > >        ethernet card 1: rtk0
> > > >         network name 1: gate       (66.136.7.249)
> > > >
> > > >        ethernet card 2: tlp0
> > > >         network name 2: prometheus (66.136.7.250)
> > >
> > > How many static IP addresses are you getting from your ISP, and
> > > how many machines do you have on your home network?
>
> Right, these addresses are all on the same /29 network
> (i.e. 255.255.255.248 subnet mask) - so they're only valid there.

I do not understand what you mean by "they're only valid there".  They are
globally valid addresses.  (Or should be.)


> The 6 valid addresses are from 66.136.7.249 ->  66.136.7.254

Of which .254 is taken up by a gateway on the other end of the DSL modem.


> One thing that does seem to be a little odd is they've quoted you
> five valid IP addresses for your hosts, which makes me wonder where
> the other one is. It won't be on rtk0, or routing would break -
> in fact, that probably confuses NAT as much as it confuses me.
>
>
> Are you supposed to have a router from them ?

All that I have from them is a DSL modem.  They're support people gave me
confusing stories about how things would change when I went from dynamic
IP to static IP.  It seems that with static IP (see a previous message)
you drop any pretense at PPPoE and just ifconfig the ethernet port.

(Their support people told me that I would be connecting over the IP
numbers instead of PPPoE.  While true in a way, they didn't seem to
understand that PPPoE was a protocol, while IP numbers are config. data.
Another told me that I'd use DHCP in place of PPPoE---again, kind of true,
I suppose, but since they don't give customers technical explanations of
how the pieces fit together, their information sounds like gibberish.
Yet another told me that I could keep on using PPPoE without any
problem---which appears to be completely false.)


> I know you're using a BSD box as a router, but the fact you're short of
> a IP sets a bell ringing in my head - the last IP would normally be for the
> default gateway (router).

Yes.  On their end.


> If you're using the BSD box for that, 66.136.7.254 would then be the
> IP of tlp0 on prometheus, and the gateway (or default route) of the
> other machines.
>
> So next question is: what does the BSD boxes rtk0 interface plug into?
> If it goes into a router, it shouldn't be routing.

tlp0 plugs into my home network hub.

rtk0 plugs into the DSL modem directly.


David(?)'s suggestion of plugging the modem into my hub may be the
simplest answer, though it'd be nice to have the traffic filter through a
machine that I have control over.


> Let me know and we might be able to give you a list of questions to ask
> your ISP :)

(^&


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu