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Chapter 15: Building Your Own, Private Network
Overview
In This Chapter
Designing your private network
Building an Internet gateway
Building a firewall to protect your private network
A private network is a group of two or more computers linked so that they can communicate with each other; also referred to as a Local Area Network (LAN). The computers are generally in close proximity within a room or building. Unlike the Internet, which is designed to allow the world’s computers to communicate with each other, LANs are designed to keep the communication local and private. (You can always connect your LAN to the Internet, of course, but we talk about that topic elsewhere in this book.)Building a private network isn’t as difficult as it may sound. First, you have to decide on a general network layout. Second, you have to physically connect the computers with cables and wireless devices. Third, you have to configure each computer’s network settings. Design, connect, configure — one, two, three — it’s as simple as that.This chapter shows how to build a simple LAN. If you want to know how to add a Linux computer to an existing network, check out Chapter 7. To find out about adding a firewall to your LAN, check out Chapter 8.RememberIn this chapter, we show you how to wire computers together; you should depend on the Linux networking instructions from Chapter 7 to get your computers connected on your network. The steps in Chapter 7 are also designed to work with the new LAN you’re building here.
Technical StuffIn this chapter, we describe how to connect computers to form a LAN. However, you can connect many other devices to a network. Devices such as broadband Internet modems (cable and DSL), routers, switches and hubs, network-capable printers, and even some personal digital assistants (PDAs) all can be connected to a network. In the future, we fully expect to be able to connect nearly every electronic device to a LAN. We discuss only computers here because we’re focusing on Red Hat Linux computers. However, remember that you’re not limited to just networking computers.
