On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Keith Fischer wrote:

> Why would I run named or gatd?  Isn't my ISP taking care of that?  So I
> just tell my client computers that the DNS address is the real cable modem
> ISP address and the NetBSD forwards the packet to the modem since it isn''t
> destined for a 10.0.2.x LAN computer.  Is that a bad idea?

Your clients need to actually communicate with a real DNS, which you don't
need to run yourself.  Telling them that your cable modem is a DNS isn't
the same thing.  The IP-NAT box is set up to transform the IP addresses on
packets from your clients to it's own IP address, and then send them on. 
The gateway, as far as your clients are concerned, is your IP-NAT box -
that's where their outbound packets will go for forwarding when trying to
reach any host not on your local network, including your DNS, if you
aren't running one yourself.  I gather you knew most of this, though...

I'd make sure that all the clients are properly configured with primary
and secondary (and even more, if you like) DNS hosts, your gateway, the
subnet masks, the search domains, etc.  Then I'd check the IP-NAT
configuration.  For checking throughput, I tend to test transfer speeds
with ftp on fairly large files, since web browsing typically opens lots of
little connections, and your DNS or the WWWeb server might be a little
slow in responding.  Try retrieving a largish file by ftp on your NetBSD
box, and look at the statistics; then get the same file with Fetch or
something on a client, and compare the two. 

I hope this helps.  I'm no guru  :-)


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