Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:50:54 -0500 From: mstrickland16@nc.rr.com To: Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to configure switching between network interfaces? Message-ID: <c3a5823efa33c.fa33cc3a5823e@southeast.rr.com> In-Reply-To: <4597F821.8000500@mac.com> References: <c364b958104c17.104c17c364b958@southeast.rr.com> <4597F821.8000500@mac.com>
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Thanks, I believe thats what i'm looking for. I will probably end up with a cu-fiber switch, but I wanted to know if that was possible in theroy. The switches make more sense anyway because, otherwise, i'll have to setup a makeshift bridge on the server on the other end of the fiber. - Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> Date: Sunday, December 31, 2006 12:49 pm Subject: Re: How to configure switching between network interfaces? To: mstrickland16@nc.rr.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > mstrickland16@nc.rr.com wrote: > > How to configure switching between network interfaces? > > I would like to determine how, or if, the following can be > accomplished with FreeBSD. > > Configuration: > > A BSD box setup with 1 GbE NIC and a 4 port 10/100 NIC > > The GbE interface will have a static IP configured (192.168.10.x/24) > > Planned Implementation: > > Along with possibly serving other data such as NFS or HTTP > traffic, I would like the interfaces to work as a switch. The GbE > interface is a fiber optic NIC which connects to the rest of the > network 100 or so meters away. I plan to use the other 4 > interfaces to attach hosts to my network. I would prefer all of my > hosts to be on the same subnet if possible, otherwise I would just > configure routing between the appropriate interfaces. My question > then is: Can the interfaces be configured to function as a switch > would, allowing the connected hosts to recieve DHCP and other > traffic "routing" from the fiber optic interface via the FreeBSD > box. I know that in a basic configuration, 2 interfaces on the > same subnet are not a best practice and would required special > routing information. I assume that somewhere this can be > configured. A good shove in the right direction would be most > appreciated. > You can configure the interfaces together as a bridge and FreeBSD > will act as > a "smart switch"-- see the bridge(4) manpage or the Handbook for > more info. > > Note that this configuration might make sense if you wanted to > impose firewall > rules to limit cross-segment traffic while still letting the > client machines > all be on one subnet. Or you might divert all WWW traffic seen > going by to a > transparent proxy server. > > But unless you plan to do something with this traffic like that-- > if all you > want to do is have a switch-- you'd otherwise be better off > getting a 4-port > gigabit Cu or Fibre switch then setting up a dedicated server for > the task. > > -- > -Chuck >
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