After days of trawling google etc i turn to the Singletrack Uni-mind.

Need help setting up a simple home network with a few linux & os x machines.

I have 1 linux Box, and 1 imac. Both connect to internet via Wifi Router. And can connect to each other via Wifi router. No problems.
However, i want to connect both these to a file server via wired ethernet. Standard set ups wont let me connect to internet via wifi card AND connect to file server via ethernet at same time.
I know the following;
a. i have to set up Routing on the Linux Box and imac to allow simultaneous use of wifi AND ethernet.
b. wifi cards and ethernet cards must use different subnet adresses (e.g, wifi = 255.255.255.0, eth0 = 255.255.0.0)

I am ok with using terminal in osx and linux but cant manage to get clear info to set this up right.
Anyone help?

cheers

Why do you need to have both connections?

Why can’t you plug the Server into the Wifi Router ?

Why do you need to have both connections?

Wifi -> connect to internet via wifi router.

ethernet -> fast transfer to file server

could connect to file server via wifi but i need the high speed of a wired ethernet route 🙂

Why not hard wire to either the hub or route anr route directly via that to the internet. No value in using wireless then

i have definately connected 2 macs via ethernet while using wireless for the ethernet.
just by allowing the right permissions and hitting apple-K then browse.
i’m not tech savvy enough to help you though 🙁
ethernet will be quicker going direct rather than through the hub.
are you using a cross-over cable? macs can use any cable but direct pc to pc or mac to pc will not.

I’d second that – connect your router to your hub and don’t bother connecting the machines via wi-fi. Also has the benefit of allowing access to the file server via wi-fi if you need it

I would use a crossover cable, except i am connecting 2 machines to the file server, so i need the ethernet hub.

ethernet will be quicker going direct rather than through the hub.
are you using a cross-over cable? macs can use any cable but direct pc to pc or mac to pc will not.

Internet modem & Wifi router is downstairs. File server, linux & imac are upstairs.

Why not hard wire to either the hub or route anr route directly via that to the internet. No value in using wireless then

You don’t need to do anything special on either the Ubuntu box or the imac, but you must make sure that the wireless network and the ethernet network are different. In the OP you show different subnet classes, which is not the same.

Assuming your wifi network is 192.168.1.0/24 you just need to make your ethernet something like 192.168.2.0/24. If you use a dhcp server on the fileserver (same as you probably have on your wifi router) you won’t need to do anything at all to the two clients.

If you want to set fixed IPs on the ethernet network it’s slightly more difficult, just make sure a) they’re all on the same network and b) they’re all different.

You can also add an entry to /etc/hosts on the clients with the IP of the fileserver and access it by name to make it slightly easier.

going through the router will be 10/100 not 10/1000 going direct.
are there posh/fast home routers available?

Well would either use powerlines or run some cat 5 cable round the house

Agree with MrSmith here, there is nothing that should preclude it from working as you showed it.

1 Get all the wireless part working.

2 Set the File server up with a different address range, lets say 10.1.247.1 255.255.255.0.

Either via the GUI or the cli on your linux workstation and mac set addresses of .2 and .3 respectively, you will need to be able to ‘su’ to root to do this from the command line. You will need to know the name of the interface, this is en1 for my mac, this may depend on the type of mac you have

linux server
su – root (enter root password)
ifconfig eth0 10.1.247.1/24
ifconfig eth0 up

mac:
su – root (enter password)
ifconfig en1 10.1.247.2/24
ifconfig en1 up

Attempt to ping the server from the mac:

ping 10.1.247.1

If you are still having no joy after this try a ‘netstat -rn’ on one of the mac and on the server and post the output here

Are you are also looking to allow the file server to get ‘through’ these boxes to the internet? this is a different issue.

Is one of either the Mac or the ubuntu box a 24 hour ‘on’ machine ? If so you could simply share the wireless connection via that PC; so it would act as the bridge onto the wired network. I do this to connect my media center to the wireless network using my squeezebox as a bridging device.

Cheers Mr SMith & fu_manchu

I was at least barking up right tree. sort of.

Will test & report back 🙂

Are you saying it’s best to run dhcp service from the file server, yes?

ps my ethernet hub & ethernet on mac & linux’s are all 1000mb

I can get internet access on the file-server by going through the imac (via oSX ‘internet sharing’)

Agree with MrSmith here, there is nothing that should preclude it from working as you showed it.

1 Get all the wireless part working.

2 Set the File server up with a different address range, lets say 10.1.247.1 255.255.255.0.

Either via the GUI or the cli on your linux workstation and mac set addresses of .2 and .3 respectively, you will need to be able to ‘su’ to root to do this from the command line. You will need to know the name of the interface, this is en1 for my mac, this may depend on the type of mac you have

linux server
su – root (enter root password)
ifconfig eth0 10.1.247.1/24
ifconfig eth0 up

mac:
su – root (enter password)
ifconfig en1 10.1.247.2/24
ifconfig en1 up

Attempt to ping the server from the mac:

ping 10.1.247.1

If you are still having no joy after this try a ‘netstat -rn’ on one of the mac and on the server and post the output here

Are you are also looking to allow the file server to get ‘through’ these boxes to the internet? this is a different issue.

dhcp will potentially cause problems, it depends on how customizable it is. If you can get it to set just IP address and netmask fine, but it may try to set a default gateway and the DNS server if the server has one defined. This will overwrite/screw up these settings on the workstations. So if it is just IP addresses and mask, this will be ok and the easiest option, just make sure you steer clear of the range allocated on the WLAN

You could just connect the file server to the router with a cable, then as you were going to run two cables to the server anyway, junk WiFi and connect to the router using cables too?

By “hub” do you mean “switch”?

If you’ve got Internet access to the file server by connection sharing, what specifically isn’t working?

wifi cards and ethernet cards must use different subnet adresses (e.g, wifi = 255.255.255.0, eth0 = 255.255.0.0)

Why? As Sprooty said, they need to be different subnets, not different subnet masks.

Eg, you could have your router at 192.168.0.1 and the other wifi connections at 192.168.0.x, and then put all your wired connections as 192.168.1.x, all with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

Assuming that you’re not changing your logical diagram, I think what I’d do is either have the server DHCPing or just stick static addresses on the wired devices. Default Gateway needs to be the router, so that all your 192.168.1.x traffic goes out over the wired inerface and everything else gets thrown at the wireless.

Unless I’m missing something, you’re overcomplicating things.

…as another suggestion I’d get a cheap WiFi access point and plug that into the upstairs Ethernet hub, bridge that with your connection downstairs and viola, job done. DHCP should still work from the Router downstairs and keep everything taking to each other.

Don’t bother with DHCP on the second file server LAN.

All you need is static IP/subnet. 192.168.2.X/255.255.255.0 is fine.

On the router/internet side, stick to DHCP – DNS, Gateway, IP, Subnet.

Fu_manchu! Cheers! All working very fast & simply now. Huge relief.

What was throwing me was that the built in ethernet on the Ubuntu Box is not working (shows up but doesnt work!!). Gah. no wonder i was losing. Once i sussed that, i was able to put in a spare card, follow your directions, and was up n running in a few mins 🙂

So now all wifi routes are DHCP and all ethernet routes are static IP. Can shh into file server, run it’s desktop on the imac and/or Ubuntu box, and now actually get some work done ;-/

cheers all