From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 31 17:49:27 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BCFAD16A40F for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:49:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from pi.codefab.com (pi.codefab.com [199.103.21.227]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7AB7113C428 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:49:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A064D5EDD; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:49:24 -0500 (EST) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at codefab.com Received: from pi.codefab.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (pi.codefab.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id v+wUvC8CQpPe; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:49:22 -0500 (EST) Received: from [192.168.1.251] (pool-68-161-114-230.ny325.east.verizon.net [68.161.114.230]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9D815C9B; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:49:21 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <4597F821.8000500@mac.com> Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:49:21 -0500 From: Chuck Swiger User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (Windows/20061207) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: mstrickland16@nc.rr.com References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to configure switching between network interfaces? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:49:27 -0000 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