[mdlug] Setting up a home network

[Jeff Hanson]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Michael <newmaniese at gmail.com> wrote:
> This should be something really simple and I can't even figure out where to
> start. I am hoping someone might point me in the right direction.
> The core hardware:
> 1) Motorola surfboard cable modem connected to Comcast internet
> 2) Linksys wrt54g v5 wireless router
> 3) Ubuntu Desktop machine with multiple Ethernet connections
> (mnewman-desktop)
> 4) Various laptops, iphones and peripherals that go from the home network to
> work to coffee shops, etc.
>
> What I want:
>
> A.) A simple home network where each computer has its own name and can be
> accessed via that name. I can bring my Apple Laptop home from work and ssh
> into mnewman-desktop/access media files on it

You need a hostname set on each system (they probably already have
them) and a DNS server.

> B.) Access to my home network (specifically mnewman-desktop) via port 22 and
> 80 from outside the network

http://www.debuntu.org/ssh-key-based-authentication
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=723025

>
> Originally I thought I would set up something like
>
> Modem --> mnewman-desktop --> wireless router
>
> And I had shorewall working, and then I realized I mess around on
> mnewman-desktop too much and taking down the entire network because I
> installed a bad piece of software. So ideally the set up would be Modem -->
> wireless router --> network (including mnewman-desktop)

First decide if you want the router to be the external firewall (which
it probably has built in) or just an access point. For the latter, use
a separate box as a firewall (I use IPCop on a K6/2-350MHz).  If you
want to run a public web server then a separate firewall with multiple
subnets should be used to isolate the web server from the internal
network.  If it's a private internal web server then just use SSH
tunneling to access it from the Internet.

For network file sharing you can use Samba, NFS, or ftp.  I use all
three.  Samba for working with Windows systems and VMware guests, NFS
for Linux systems, and ftp with G4L for storing drive images.