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Before connecting to the Internet, you are encouraged to set up a firewall on your machine so as to avoid bad surprises such as intrusions on your system. You can set up a very simple, yet effective, firewall using DrakFirewall. Please refer to Section 3, “Securing your Internet Access via DrakFirewall” for more information. |
The drakconnect set of tools allows you to easily configure your network access, whether it be to the Internet or to a local network. Open Mandriva Linux Control Center and select the Network & Internet section to access drakconnect tools. A view of the main interface is shown in Figure 15.1, “DrakConnect Tools”. The Internet connection sharing tool is described in Section 2, “Internet Connection Sharing”.
drakconnect supports different types of
Internet and network connections. The first step consists of
choosing which type of connection you wish to configure. Always
make sure you have all the information provided by your ISP or
network administrator at hand.
Select the LAN connection type and continue to the next step. Your NICs are detected automatically; if you have more than one, you have to select the one you wish to configure. You can also load a driver for your NIC manually.
Then, you have to specify if the network parameters will be automatically set up (Automatic IP (BOOTP/DHCP)) or not (Manual configuration): fill the next steps with the parameters which your ISP or network administrator gave you.
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Check the Network Hotplugging box to have your network brought up and down automatically when you connect and disconnect the network cable. This is specially handy for laptop users. |
If you configure the network with DHCP you can optionally provide the machine's hostname. Then you can supply the Zeroconf hostname: this is the name which will be assigned to the machine when no network configuration has been found.
After the configuration is done, you can bring the network connection up or down as described in Section 1.4, “Monitoring Connections”. Please bear in mind that LAN connection types are set up to always be started at boot time.
This entry allows to configure WiFi PCMCIA or PCI devices.
Choose the card you wish to configure. If your card is not listed, choose the Use a Windows driver entry. The next step then asks you to select the driver from the manufacturer's card drivers CD.
Network configuration is then similar to the LAN connection type (see Section 1.1.1, “LAN Connection”).
Finally some wireless specific parameters are asked, make sure to set them correctly according to your wireless access point configuration.
Simply make sure you select the right parameters in all steps, concerning your area and provider.
The last step gives you the option to handle the connection status through the net applet, this can prove useful if you only need the Internet connection from time to time.
A list of detected modems is shown. If no modem was detected then only the Manual choice option is shown, click on and choose the communications port the modem is connected to. The required packages will be installed.
You will then see a list of countries/ISPs. If yours is listed select it and continue to the next step: some parameters (connection name, phone number to dial, and authentication scheme) will be automatically set. Verify them, add the missing ones and accept them. If yours is not listed, select the Unlisted - edit manually option, click on and fill the parameters with the settings provided by your ISP (see Figure 15.2, “Entering Dial-up Connection Parameters”).
All parameters should be obvious, except for the authentication type. The value in the Authentication pull-down depends on what your ISP supports: Script-based (an old type of authentication method based on “expect” and “send” types of chat between your system and your ISP); Terminal based (a terminal window will pop up when the connection is made and you will have to login interactively); PAP, CHAP, or PAP/CHAP (authentication information exchange protocols, CHAP is preferred because it is more secure, PAP/CHAP will automatically choose the supported one).
Then come the IP, DNS and gateway settings. Nowadays, most ISPs provide them automatically when a connection is made, so selecting the Automatic option on them is usually a safe bet. You will then be asked whether you wish to allow users to start the connection. The safest choice is No. Otherwise any user will be able to take the link down, therefore disconnecting every other user.
During
the next step you will be asked whether to start the connection at
boot time or not: it is probably safer and cheaper to choose
No. Finally you will be asked to test the
connection: we recommend you to do so to make sure all parameters
are accurate. You can now control your Internet connection using
the net applet. You can also use the kppp remote access
connection dialer (package kppp
) through the
main menu: + →
This connection type is used for satellite connections.
Choose the connection card you wish to configure, and then the adapter settings.
Network configuration is then similar to the LAN connection type (see Section 1.1.1, “LAN Connection”).
This tool allows you to specify Internet access
parameters if they need to be modified after your initial
configuration. Please bear in mind that these parameters are
system-wide and apply to all interfaces.
This tool permits you to modify network
interface-specific parameters, after you have set them up through
the new interface wizard (see Section 1.1, “Set Up a New Network Interface”). Use
the drop-down list at the top to select the interface you want to
configure. The tabs allow you to change parameters and options
according to the network interface type selected.
This tool shows the network interfaces
activity. You can specify some options for the traffic graphic and
statistics: update interval, scale, etc (see Figure 15.5, “Real-Time Network Connection Monitoring”). It can also be used to
control the status of the network connection, bringing it up or
down using the button at the lower left.
This tool simply allows you to remove a network
interface. Select the interface to be removed in the Net
Device pull-down list.
This tool allows you to define the hostnames or
IP addresses of proxies for the FTP and HTTP protocols your
computer will use. Fill the fields with the required values and
click .
A proxy is a server which retrieves information from the Internet on your behalf, keeping a local copy of the web pages which are most frequently requested. They are referred to as “caching proxies”, and optimize bandwidth usage. In some organizations, you cannot access the Internet directly. You must pass through a proxy which authenticates you before allowing you to connect to the Internet. This is usually combined with a firewall which only guarantees the proxy direct access to the Internet. They are referred to as “authentication proxies”. In corporate or business environments, proxies perform both caching and authentication functions for performance and security reasons.