Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 10:47:14 UTC-0800 From: Mark McCutcheon <mjmccut@cs.ubc.ca> To: freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: @Home using FreeBSD Message-ID: <"14764*mjmccut@cs.ubc.ca"@MHS>
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<rosteen@elpn.com> says: > Has anyone setup a FreeBSD system on @Home's cable modem service? > If so, what are the caveats? I think the first caveat is that a lot of the operational details are determined by the local cable provider, rather than by @Home, so may vary considerably with geographic location. I've had a Rogers@Home connection in Vancouver, BC, for about a month. Getting it running initially under WinNT, one of their "supported" operating systems, was somewhat painful (the less said about that, the better!). However, switching to FreeBSD (v2.2.5) was straightforward, the only problem was getting the ISAbus 10BaseT card Rogers supplied (SMC8416T EtherEZ) working on an unused interrupt - this required switching the printer port to polled mode to free up IRQ7 for the NIC, as it has a limited range of acceptable interrupts, all of which were already dedicated. You also need to use the DOS setup software to put the NIC in memory-mapped mode, as the I/O mapped default mode isn't supported by the ed0 driver. Rogers@Home uses DHCP for host address, gateway, nameservers, etc. BUT at present they are administering these effectively statically. I was able to set the system up using static parameters, which made it easier to get IPFW/NATD running. Initially this was for network support over a single IP address, but the desirability of using the system as a screening router soon became apparent (more later). It looks easy enough to use the WIDE-DHCP client along with the dynamic capabilities of NATD to enable such a system to work in a DHCP environment. The second big caveat is: use a firewall or screening router! My previous Internet connection was through a terminal server to my employer's network, a relatively protected environment. Within minutes of bringing up the system with ipfw enabled, it began logging telnet attempts, accesses to the IRC/NetBus ports, etc. Security arrangements are a subject for another note, but be advised that you're going to need them with a "24x7" connection to the Internet. The only other anomaly I've noticed is that Rogers' flashy (Java?) browsing tool invariably crashes Netscape 4.5 as ported to FreeBSD. The data rates seem excellent, though I've read reports of slow service in other @Home areas. TCP streaming tests using netperf, between my home machine and a workstation at work run at 250-500kbps uplink and 750-2000kbps downlink (the higher numbers usually late in the evening). Using ADSL competitor Sympatico's network speed test (local to BC: http://www.bc.sympatico.ca/bc_local/speedtest/ tends to give higher numbers, downloads running 2.5-3Mbps. X-windows (run through ssh tunnels) with client programs at a remote site is fast and responsive, just like being there. So in summary, no real problems except security. If you don't already do so, you might want to read comp.dcom.modems.cable for general commentary on the @Home service in different parts of North America. Mark To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-net" in the body of the message
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