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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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