Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.admin,news.answers,comp.answers
From: terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au (Terry Dawson)
Subject: Linux NET-2 HOWTO
Keywords: Linux, Networking, TCP/IP, NET-2, SLIP
Summary: HOWTO on configuration of TCP/IP networking and SLIP under Linux.
Followup-To: poster
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Matt Welsh)

Archive-name: linux/howto/networking
Last-modified: 13 Nov 93

	This is the Linux NET-2 HOWTO (previously known as the NET-2-FAQ). 	
	This document explains how to configure TCP/IP and SLIP with the new 
	``NET-2'' networking code in Linux kernels 0.99.pl13 and above. 
	Please mail me if you have questions or comments. --terryd

This is the Linux NET-2 HOWTO v1.7, 13 November 1993
By Terry Dawson <terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au>
and Matt Welsh <mdw@sunsite.unc.edu> 

*** FTP site maintainers: This document should be stored in the docs/HOWTO
*** directory on your Linux archive as ``NET-2-HOWTO''. You may also wish
*** to link this file to ``NET-2-FAQ'' (its previous name). This document
*** also supercedes the old Linux NET-FAQ.

"Real Programmers don't write documentation." --Ancient Proverb

0. Introduction
	This is the NET-2 HOWTO, which is a rewrite of the earlier NET-FAQ for
	the new NET-2 TCP/IP code in Linux kernels 0.99.pl13 and above. 

	The NET-2 code is the new kernel-based networking support for Linux,
	written by Fred van Kempen <waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org>. It is based 
	on the NET-1 code by Ross Biro <bir7@leland.stanford.edu>, device 
	drivers by Donald Becker <becker@super.org>, SLIP drivers by 
	Laurence Culhane <loz@holmes.demon.co.uk>, and the D-Link driver by
	Bj0rn Ekwall <bj0rn@blox.se>. Many others too numerous to mention have 
	provided support, bug fixes, and help. 

	This NET-2 HOWTO is by Terry Dawson and Matt Welsh. It covers setup 
	and configuration of TCP/IP under Linux using NET-2. It also hopefully 
	answers some of the many questions about the NET-2 code and common
	problems that people have. It does not cover using TCP/IP (i.e.
	using telnet, FTP, etc.) I'd like to keep this document as short as
	possible... :)

0.1 Disclaimer
	The NET-2 code is currently under development, which means that it may 
	not be as stable and easy to configure as you may like it to be. The 
	code is relatively new and bug fixes are being posted every day, so if 
	you run into a large number of problems just hang in there. The 
	software has stabilized greatly over the last few weeks (evidenced by 
	the fact that it's included in Linus' standard kernel). 

	NOTE: In this document, ``NET-2'' does not refer to the Berkeley
	Software Distribution NET-2 release of BSD UNIX. Yes, the names
	are conflicting. In this HOWTO, ``NET-2'' refers only to the new
	generation of TCP/IP code in the Linux kernel.

	``NET-2d'' is the name of the current NET-2 code. The next releases
	will be known as NET-2e, NET-2f, and so on.

0.2 Questions already?
	If you have questions about the NET-2 code, please READ this document
	first and then join the NET channel of the Linux-activists mailing list
	by sending mail to
		linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi
	with the line
		X-Mn-Admin: join NET
	at the top of the message body (not the subject). Note that the SLIP
	channel of the mailing list has been disabled and the NET channel 
	should be used for SLIP discussions as well. Furthermore keep in mind
	that the NET channel is for development discussions only.


	****

	If you have general configuration questions, and you have been unable
	to find the answers after reading the other various HOWTO and FAQ
	files,	then you would be best served to post them comp.os.linux.help,
	or, if you believe it to be specifically related the NET-2 kernel
	code, then you could post it to the NET mailing list. Please include
	as much relevant information as possible, there is nothing more
	annoying than to have a bug or problem reported without sufficient
	information to even begin searching for it. Version numbers and
	revisons of code, a detailed account of the problem, and the circum-
	stances that caused it to happen are essential. Traces and debug
	messages where available should also be considered mandatory.

	If you have a question relating to the configuration, or problems
	experienced with, using _any_ linux distribution, regardless of
	whether it be SLS, Slackware, Yggadsril, TAMU, MCC, Pro, or any
	other, please contact the people who created the distribution for
	support before attempting to report it to the list, or the NET-2
	developers directly. The developers of the NET-2 code _cannot_ and
	_will not_ offer support for NET-2 as distributed in any form, other
	than as specified in this document, or as per distributed Alpha test
	instructions specify. This includes the Net-2d(ebugged) versions of
	Net code as well.

	Please do NOT bug the NET-2 developers directly unless you have a
	_development_-related issue (especially Fred: he has to pay $$$ for
	his e-mail access).

	****

0.3 Related documentation
	There is a forthcoming book from the Linux Documentation Project 
	entitled ``Linux Network Administration Guide'' by Olaf Kirch. It 
	covers all aspects of setting up and using networking under Linux, 
	including TCP/IP, UUCP, mail, news, etc. Once this book is officially
	released, it should supplement the NET-2 HOWTO  and cover all of the
	other aspects of using TCP/IP. This guide simply covers setup of 
	NET-2, i.e., "How to put your machine on the net."

	You should read the Ethernet HOWTO (from sunsite.unc.edu:
	/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO) if you are using an Ethernet network
	with NET-2. The Ethernet HOWTO explains all of the ins and outs
	of using and configuring Ethenet devices for Linux.

	This NET-2 HOWTO supercedes the earlier ``Linux NET-FAQ'' by Phil
	Copeland and Matt Welsh. The NET-FAQ is for Linux kernels previous
	to 0.99.pl13, running the older version of the TCP/IP code.

	This document used to be called the NET-2-FAQ, before the Linux HOWTO
	project was underway. Thus, the NET-2-FAQ and the NET-2 HOWTO are
	the same.

0.4 New versions of this document
	New versions of this document can be retrieved via anonymous
	FTP from sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs or directly from me
	(terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au). It will also be posted to the newsgroups 
	comp.os.linux.announce, comp.os.linux, and news.answers. 

	You can find news.answers FAQ postings, including this one, archived
	on rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet.

0.5 Feedback
	Please send any comments, updates, suggestions, money, or small
	household pets to mdw@sunsite.unc.edu. The sooner I get feedback
	about this document, the sooner I can update and correct it. If you
	find any problems with it, please mail me, instead of posting to
	one of the newsgroups. I may miss your corrections. Thanks.


1. NET-2 Supported Functionality
	The NET-2 code is a complete kernel implementation of TCP/IP for
	Linux, including many features not found in the original networking
	code. NET-2 supports many popular Ethernet cards, real IP routing,
	and SLIP (Serial Line IP) for TCP/IP connections over the phone line
	via modem. 

1.1 Supported Ethernet cards
	NET-2 supports the following Ethernet cards:

	3com 3c503, 3c503/16
	Novell NE1000, NE2000
	Western Digital WD8003, WD8013
	Hewlett Packard HP27245, HP27247, HP27250 (these drivers could
	  do with more testing)

	The following clones are reported to work:
	WD-80x3 clones: LANNET LEC-45
	NE2000 clones: Alta Combo, Artisoft LANtastic AE-2, Asante Etherpak
	  2001/2003, D-Link Ethernet II, LTC E-NET/16 P/N 8300-200-002,
	  Network Solutions HE-203, SVEC 4 Dimension Ethernet, 4-Dimension
	  FD0490 EtherBoard 16, D-Link DE-600, SMC Elite 16.

	Please see the Ethernet HOWTO for more complete information.

	As mentioned above NET-2 also supports SLIP in the kernel. Therefore
	if you don't have an Ethernet connection you can do TCP/IP over the
	phone line, provided you have a SLIP server nearby (many universities
	and businesses provide SLIP access to employees/students) and a
	compatible modem (usually 14.4 v.42bis, depending on your SLIP server).
	Two possible modems are the US Robotics Sportster, or the Infotel
	144DF Internal. 


2. Getting the NET-2 Software
	Before you can configure TCP/IP on your system you need to get the
	appropriate software. This includes the current version of the Linux
	kernel (0.99.pl13 or above), TCP/IP configuration programs and files
	(e.g., /etc/ifconfig, /etc/hosts), and finally a set of network
	application programs (such as telnet, ftp, rlogin, etc.). 

	You may already have all of the items below. Check and make
	sure that you do. For example, SLS 1.03 comes with all of the NET-2
	configuration files, binaries, libraries, and kernel installed, 
	so there's no reason to get the following files.

	If you DO have the NET-2 software already, skip to section 3 on
	configuration. If you do NOT have the NET-2 software, follow the
	directions below.


	The current kernel version is found in
	nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/linux-0.99.13.tar.gz. 
	This is a gzipped tar file; .gz is the new extension used by gzip.
	If you have the old version of gzip, "zcat foo.gz | tar xvf -" works.

	The current libraries (libc-4.4.1), found in 
	sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/GCC/image-4.4.1.tar.z. (You'll probably 
	want to install the include files in inc-4.4.1.tar.z as well! See the 
	READMEs there for details.)

	The current NET-2 configuration file distribution is in
	tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/net/net-2/sources/net/net-010.tar.z.

	The TCP/IP application binaries and setup files are found in
	tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/net/net-2/binaries. 
	Get the three files in this directory: net-base.tar.z, net-std.tar.z, 
	and net-ext.tar.z.

	If you use shadow password (most SLS users do) you need to get the
	shadow-passwd enabled net binaries in addition to the above. Get them
	from pub/Linux/system/Network/net2-shadow-bin.tgz on sunsite.unc.edu.
	

2.1 Unpacking the software
	You don't need to unpack any of the following if you already have all
	of the NET-2 software installed.
	
	First, unpack the kernel sources in /usr/src. This will put all
	of the kernel sources under /usr/src/linux (the usual place).
		# cd /usr/src
		# zcat linux-0.99.13.tar.z | tar xvf -

	Next, unpack the libraries. 
		# cd /
		# zcat image-4.4.1.tar.z | tar xvf -
	Now, make the links to the new libraries in /lib. BE VERY CAREFUL
	that you do not delete the previous links. Do everything in
	one step, as so:
		# ln -sf /lib/libc.so.4.4.1 /lib/libc.so.4
		# ln -sf /lib/libm.so.4.4.1 /lib/libm.so.4

	Next, unpack the net-base package, which contains the basic
	utils and configuration files in /etc. Note that net-base makes
	symlinks in /etc for all of your TCP/IP configuration files to /conf.

	Therefore, BE WARNED: Before you unpack the following tar files,
	make a backup of your files in /etc. Unpacking net-base will overwrite
	many of the files in /etc with symbolic links to other places.
	For example, /etc/hosts is a symlink to /conf/net/hosts. Why is this
	done? Because Fred's Linux/PRO distribution of Linux keeps all
	machine-specific configuration files in /conf. And because this is
	the way he does it, we may as well too. In general it makes things
	easier to locate. If you want to keep all of your net files in 
	/etc, that's fine, but you'll have to put them there by hand.

	ANOTHER WARNING: On SLS distributions, /usr/etc is a symlink to
	/etc. You need to delete this link if you have it. So, run the
	command
		# rm /usr/etc

	Do NOT use "rm -r" which will delete everything in /etc as well.
	Just use "rm /usr/etc" to delete the link. If /usr/etc is just
	a directory (as it should be), or if you don't have a /usr/etc 
	at all, there's no need to touch it.

	Make a backup of everything in /etc before you unpack net-base. 
	Then unpack it from / (the root directory):
		# cd /
		# zcat net-base.tar.z | tar xvvofp -

	Also, unpack net-std.tar.z, which contains the network clients and
	daemons (e.g., telnet and telnetd). Unpack it from / as well:
		# cd /
		# zcat net-std.tar.z | tar xvvofp -


	If you wish to use tin (a newsreader), or DIG (the DARPA Internet
	Groper), unpack the net-ext package from /:
		# cd /
		# zcat net-ext.tar.z | tar xvvofp -


	Finally, unpack the net-010 package, which contains the sources
	for the TCP/IP setup programs (ifconfig, arp, route, etc.) and the
	configuration files. This is unpacked into /usr/src/net-010.
		# mkdir /usr/src/net-010
		# cd /usr/src/net-010
		# zcat net-010.tar.z | tar xvvofp -

	If you use shadow passwd, you need to unpack the net2-shadow-bin
	package from the root directory (/) after unpacking the software
	above.
		# cd /
		# zcat net2-shadow-bin.tgz | tar xvvofp -
	

2.2 Putting things in the right place
	With the standard NET-2 distribution, all of the configuration files
	are in /conf/net, with links in /etc. For example, /etc/hosts
	is a link to /conf/net/hosts. However, if you are using a 
	standard pre-packaged distribution of Linux such as SLS, /conf/net
	probably isn't used... that is, /etc/hosts is just /etc/hosts.
	So, when I say "/conf/net/hosts", I mean "/etc/hosts", and vice
	versa.

	Just keep in mind that the TCP/IP software only looks in /etc and
	/usr/etc for configuration files. Therefore, it makes sense to
	keep all of your files in /etc and /usr/etc as they should be.
	HOWEVER, Fred has decided to put the files in /conf/net with LINKS
	in /etc. Either way, it doesn't matter. When we say "/etc/hosts",
	it doesn't matter if /etc/hosts is an actual file or a link to
	/conf/net/hosts.


	If you just unpacked NET-2 above (i.e. you don't already have the
	files from installing SLS), then you don't have the configuration
	files in /conf/net (you only have the symlinks in /etc). 
	The easiest way to get the configuration files in /conf/net is
	to copy them from the net-010 distribution:
		# mkdir -p /conf/net
		# chown -R root.root /conf; chmod -R 755 /conf
		# cp /usr/src/net-010/etc/* /conf/net

	You should make sure that all of the symlinks to /conf/net in /etc
	can be resolved (that is, try to "more" or "cat" each file, make
	sure you don't get any errors). Also note that some files will
	be duplicated: for example, /etc/inetd.conf is a symlink to 
	/usr/etc/inetd.conf. However, from the cp command above you also
	have a /conf/net/inetd.conf, which can be deleted (remember that
	all of the programs still look in /etc, not /conf. So whatever is
	in /etc is the file which is actually being used).


2.3 Creating the device interfaces
	You'll need to create several device special files in /dev for
	use by NET-2. These are all created (as root) with the "mknod"
	command. This command is given 4 arguments: the name of the
	device interface (i.e. "/dev/net"), the type of device ("c" for
	character, "b" for block, etc.), and the major and minor numbers
	of the device driver (specified in the kernel).

	For example, to create the device /dev/net, major 16, minor 0, use
	the command
		# mknod /dev/net c 16 0

	NET-2 requires you to create several device driver interfaces in 
	/dev if you do not already have them. The commands below will
	create these devices. You may not need all of them, but it can't
	hurt to create them anyway.

		# mknod /dev/net  c 16 0
		# mknod /dev/arp  c 16 1

		# mknod /dev/unix c 17 0

		# mknod /dev/inet c 18 0
		# mknod /dev/ip   c 18 1
		# mknod /dev/icmp c 18 2
		# mknod /dev/tcp  c 18 3
		# mknod /dev/udp  c 18 4

		# mknod /dev/wd0  c 20 0
		# mknod /dev/wd1  c 20 1
		# mknod /dev/wd2  c 20 2
		# mknod /dev/wd3  c 20 3

		# mknod /dev/ec0  c 20 8
		# mknod /dev/ec1  c 20 9
		# mknod /dev/ec2  c 20 10
		# mknod /dev/ec3  c 20 11

		# mknod /dev/ne0  c 20 16
		# mknod /dev/ne1  c 20 17
		# mknod /dev/ne2  c 20 18
		# mknod /dev/ne3  c 20 19


3. Building the Kernel
	You're now ready to build the new 0.99.pl13 kernel with the NET-2
	code enabled. 

3.1 Configuring the NET-2 kernel code
	First, you need to read and modify the file
		/usr/src/linux/net/inet/CONFIG
	which specifies the drivers used by the NET-2 code in the kernel.
	Also see the various README files in /usr/src/linux/net/inet which
	explain the format of these files.

	One important line is the "CARDS=" definition, where you define
	the drivers to compile into the kernel. For example, if you're
	using the WD8003/WD8013 driver and the 3c503 driver, you'd set
	the CARDS line to
		CARDS = -DWD80x3 -DEL2
	For SLIP, you'd set it to
		CARDS = -DSLIP

	You can also combine use of SLIP with some ethernet cards. With
	creative use of routing, you could route packets between two networks
	with a SLIP connection and an Ethernet card, or two Ethernet cards,
	etc. Eventually this NET-2 HOWTO will go into more detail about that.

	You also need to set the "OPTS" and "WD_OPTS" lines to the
	appropriate values. WD and SMC cards need to set EI8390 to your
	base address (ex. -DEI8390=0x280) and EI8390_IRQ to your card's
	IRQ (ex. -DEI8390_IRQ=15). One of the most common problems when using
	network cards is an IRQ conflict. The IRQ and base address are
	generally modifyable by jumpers on your card. Make sure that you're
	not using an IRQ used by any other card in your machine.

	Furthermore for WD and SMC cards you need to set WD_SHMEM to the
	shared memory address. This is all very self-explanatory when you
	look at the CONFIG file.

	For all other cards, you can set EI8390 and EI8390_IRQ to 0, which
	tells the driver to autoprobe for the IRQ and base address. If 
	this doesn't seem to work for you try defining them directly.

	See the file CONFIG for a list of the other available options for
	SLIP and other drivers. I don't want to go into too much detail 
	here since this tends to change from release to release. If you have
	questions you can mail me (mdw@sunsite.unc.edu).

	The Ethernet HOWTO also contains much useful information for
	configuring Ethernet devices in the kernel.

3.2 Building the kernel
	After the /usr/src/linux/net/inet/CONFIG file is set up correctly,
	you can build the kernel as you normally would (see the file
	/usr/src/linux/README if you've never done this before). Essentially
	this entails editing /usr/src/linux/Makefile to set root device and
	default display mode. (*Note: keyboard is now handled by loadable
	keymaps as of 0.99.pl13; grab the file keytable.tar.z from your 
	nearest Linux ftp site). 

	Next run make config. Make sure you answer "yes" to all three of
	"TCP/IP Networking?", "NFS Support?" and "/proc filesystem support?".

	Finally do 'make dep' and 'make'. You now have a new 0.99.10 kernel 
	with NET-2 set up. I wouldn't reboot it quite yet as we still have
	to configure the NET-2 programs before it will work correctly.

4. Configuring NET-2 TCP/IP
	The final step is to modify the various setup files to get NET-2
	working. After this is ready you can boot your new kernel and 
	go happily netting (if all goes well).

	NOTE TO SLS USERS: You MUST configure all of the files below BY HAND 
	in order to report bugs or problems to me. DO NOT use the SLS
	"syssetup" program if you want to be able to ask me (or anyone else)
	for help with configuring NET-2. If you simply tell me that you ran 
	syssetup, and then things don't work, you're on your own. Instead of 
	running syssetup you should do the configuration by following the 
	instructions below.

	In this section I'll describe each of the major TCP/IP setup files,
	what they do, and what you need to do to configure them. 

	If you're using SLIP, see section 5.0 on configuring SLIP. The
	discussion below is for Ethernet connections only. SLIP users
	should FIRST read all of section 4.0 and then apply the changes
	discussed in section 5.0.

4.1 Before you begin
	Before you can configure NET-2 TCP/IP, you need to find out
	the following information about your network setup. Your network
	admins can tell you most of these things.
	
	* IP address: this is the unique machine address in dotted-decimal
	  format. An example is 128.253.153.54. Your network admins will 
	  provide you with this number. 
	  
	  If you're only configuring loopback mode (i.e. no SLIP, no ethernet 
	  card, just TCP/IP connections to your own machine---called 
	  "loopback") then your IP address is 127.0.0.1.

	* Your network mask ('netmask'). Again, your network admins will
	  supply this. Most networks are class C subnetworks which use
	  255.255.255.0 as their netmask. Other Class B networks use
	  255.255.0.0. If one of these doesn't work, try the other. If this
	  doesn't work, ask your local net guru for help.

	  If you're only using loopback, you don't have a netmask.

	* Your network address. This is your IP address masked with the netmask.
	  For example, if your netmask is 255.255.255.0, and your IP address
	  is 128.253.154.32, your network number (IP addr AND netmask) is 
	  128.253.154.0. With a netmask of 255.255.0.0, 
	  this would be 128.253.0.0. 

	  If you're only using loopback, you don't have a net address.

	* Your broadcast address. This is your IP address masked with the
	  netmask, and then possibly ANDed with 0.0.255.255 or 0.0.0.255
	  (depending on your network setup). For example, if your IP address 
	  is 128.253.154.32, netmask 255.255.255.0, then your broadcast
	  address is probably either 128.253.154.0 (same as network address,
	  above) or 128.253.154.255. Your net admins will be able to tell
	  you if you need to use a broadcast address or not, and which one
	  to use.

	  If you're only using loopback, you don't have a broadcast address.

	* Your gateway address. This is the address of the machine which
	  is your "gateway" to the outside world (i.e. machines not on your
	  subnet). In general the gateway machine has an IP address identical
	  to yours but with a ".1" in the last position; e.g. if your IP
	  address is 128.253.154.32, your gateway might be 128.253.154.1.
	  Your network admins will provide you with the IP address of your
	  gateway.

	  If you're only using loopback, you don't have a gateway address.
	
	* Your nameserver address. Most machines on the net have a name
	  server which translates hostnames into IP addresses for them. 
	  Your network admins will tell you the address of your name server.
	  You can in fact run a nameserver on your own machine by running
	  named, in which case the nameserver address is 127.0.0.1. However,
	  But it is not required that you run named at all; see section
	  4.2.2.1.

	  If you're only using loopback, you don't have a nameserver
	  address. (After all, you're only connecting to yourself.)
	

	NET-2 supports full routing, with proxy ARP, multiple routes, 
	subnetworking, the whole nine yards. The above describes most basic 
	TCP/IP configurations. Yours may be quite differnent: when in doubt, 
	consult your local network gurus and check out the man pages for 
	"route" and "ifconfig" included with the net-010 package. Configuring 
	TCP/IP networks is very much beyond the scope of this document; the 
	above should be enough to get most people started.


4.2 /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 and /etc/rc.d/rc.inet2
	For the non-UNIX wizard: "rc" files are run at bootup time by the
	"init" program and start up all of the basic system programs, such
	as sendmail, cron, etc. as well as the NET-2 daemons (such as inetd).
	For NET-2 the rc files are found in /etc/rc.d. It doesn't really
	matter where you keep them, as long as init can find them. (We'll
	go into this later). 

	First things first. The file /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 configures the basic
	TCP/IP interface to your machine, using two programs: /etc/ifconfig
	and /etc/route. These two programs tell the kernel how to route and
	manage TCP/IP connections to your system, by setting things such as
	the IP address, network mask, and so on.

	Note that in the previous NET-1 code, the "config" program was
	used. However, the "standard" for UNIX system TCP/IP configuration
	is to use ifconfig and route, and this has been implemented with NET-2.
	
	THEREFORE: Get rid of your old "rc.net" if you have one. You
	should only run rc.inet1 and rc.inet2 at boot time. If you run your old
	"rc.net" instead, you'll get error messages about "old-style ioctl"
	and things probably won't work at all.

	NOTE: SLS uses "rc.net" instead of "rc.inet1" and "rc.inet2". Just
	make sure that your "rc.net" uses "ifconfig" and "route" instead
	of the old "config" program. In other words, be sure that your
	rc.net is a new, NET-2 style rc.net. If it is not, get rid of it
	and replace it with rc.inet1 and rc.inet2, as described below.
	If you run SLS, the file "rc.net" contains the code for both rc.inet1 
	and rc.inet2.

	Below you're going to edit rc.inet1 to use the correct ifconfig and
	route commands for your machine. But first, you need to know the
	information about your network setup in section 4.1, above.

4.2.1 Editing rc.inet1
	Edit the file /etc/rc.inet1. This file uses the "ifconfig" and
	"route" commands to configure your network interface at boot time.
	Remember that SLS uses just rc.net.

	You may need to do some heavy surgery on this file to get it to look
	right; it may be easier to delete it and start from scratch. Given
	the information above, a possible rc.inet1 should look like:

#!/bin/sh
# rc.inet1: configure the network interface

HOSTNAME=`hostname`

# Attach the loopback device. 
/etc/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1  
/etc/route add 127.0.0.1

# IF YOU HAVE AN ETHERNET CONNECTION, use these lines below to configure the 
# eth0 interface. If you're only using loopback or SLIP, don't include the
# rest of the lines in this file.

# Edit for your setup.
IPADDR="128.253.154.32"  # REPLACE with YOUR IP address!
NETMASK="255.255.255.0"  # REPLACE with YOUR netmask!
NETWORK="128.253.154.0"  # REPLACE with YOUR network address!
BROADCAST="128.253.154.255"  # REPLACE with YOUR broadcast address, if you
			     # have one. If not, leave blank and edit below.
GATEWAY="128.253.154.1"  # REPLACE with YOUR gateway address!

/etc/ifconfig eth0 ${IPADDR} netmask ${NETMASK} broadcast ${BROADCAST}
# If you don't have a broadcast address, change the above line to just:
# /etc/ifconfig eth0 ${IPADDR} netmask ${NETMASK} 

/etc/route add ${IPADDR}
/etc/route add ${NETWORK}
/etc/route add default gw ${GATEWAY} metric 1

# End of rc.inet1


	This is a basic rc.inet1 to run the ifconfig and route commands
	needed to set up a basic TCP/IP connection. Edit this for your setup.
	To ensure that this will be run at boot time, make sure that you
	include the command
		/bin/sh /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1
	in your /etc/rc, or in your /etc/inittab (if you're running the
	sysvinit package). In general, make sure that rc.inet1 is run
	BEFORE rc.inet2 at boot time. You may wish to run rc.inet1 and
	rc.inet2 from /etc/rc or /etc/rc.local. Or you can run them from
	/etc/inittab. Either way is fine, but don't run one without the other.


4.2.2 Editing rc.inet2
	The rc.inet2 script is also run at boot time, AFTER rc.inet1.
	It starts up various TCP/IP daemons such as inetd, portmapper, 
	and so on. Remember that SLS uses just rc.net.

	You will probably want to comment out most of this file, especially
	if you're not planning on using NFS (Network File System). You 
	MUST leave the stanza to run inetd and syslogd uncommented. Note
	that if you DON'T uncomment everything but inetd and syslogd, 
	you may run into network problems at first. The best bet is to 
	comment all of these things out, get yourself on the network, and
	then worry about configuring the rest of the clients in rc.inet2.

	If you're not going to be using NFS, you can comment out the lines
	to run: rpc.portmap, ugidd, mountd, routed, nfsd, pcnfsd, and bwnfsd.
	You can comment out the stanza to run "umail" unless you have that 
	package. In general, most of the things found in rc.inet2 are "sold 
	separately". I would only start up inetd and syslog at first until you 
	get everything going.

4.2.2.1 "To named or not to named... that is the question."
	Named is the nameserver daemon that runs under TCP/IP. It allows
	your machine to serve the name lookup requests of other machines...
	that is, if a machine wants to find the IP address for 
	"goober.norelco.com", and you have this machine's IP address in your
	named database, then you can service the request and tell other
	machines what goober's address is. 

	Under older implementations of Linux TCP/IP, to create aliases for
	machine names (even for your own machine), you were required to run 
	named on your Linux box to store name->IP address translations. The
	problem with this is that named is generally difficult to setup and
	maintain. To solve this problem, a program called "hostcvt.build"
	was made available on Linux systems to translate your /etc/hosts file
	(see section 4.3) into named database files. However, even with
	this problem out of the way, running named on your system will cause
	some amount of CPU load and network traffic. 

	The bottom line is this: You DO NOT need to run named on your 
	Linux system. The SLS instructions will probably tell you to run
	hostcvt.build to set up named. This is simply unnecessary, UNLESS
	you want to make your Linux system a nameserver for some reason.
	Now, instead of putting hostnames into the named database, you can
	simply include them in the file /etc/hosts (section 4.3). When
	looking up names, your Linux system will first look in /etc/hosts
	and then ask the nameserver out on the net (if you have one).

	The only reason you may want to run named would be if:
	  a) You're setting up a network of machines, and need a nameserver
	     for one of them (and don't have a nameserver out on the net
	     elsewhere);
	  b) Your network admins want you to run your Linux system as a
	     nameserver for some reason; or,
	  c) You have a slow SLIP connection, and want to run a small
	     cache-only nameserver on your Linux machine so that you don't
	     have to go out on the phone line every time a name lookup
	     occurs. (If you are only going to lookup a small number of
	     machine names, and you know what they are, you can put their 
	     addresses in /etc/hosts instead.) Generally name lookup isn't
	     that slow, and should work fine over most SLIP connections.
	  d) You want to run a nameserver for fun and excitement.

	In general, you DO NOT need to run named: this means that you
	can comment it out from rc.inet2, and you don't have to run
	hostcvt.build. If you want to alias machines, for example you want
	to refer to "loomer.vpizza.com" just as "loomer", you can add an
	alias in /etc/hosts instead. There is no reason to run named unless
	you truly want a full nameserver on your machine. If you already
	have a nameserver (most machines on the Internet do, and your net
	admins will tell you its address), don't bother running named.

	If you're only using loopback, you can run named and set your
	nameserver address to 127.0.0.1, but that's pointless. (No pun
	intended.) You don't need a nameserver at all if you use only
	loopback; the only hostname you know is your own, and it's in
	/etc/hosts (see section 4.3, below).

4.3 /etc/hosts
	/etc/hosts contains a list of IP addresses and the hostnames they 
	map to. In this way, you can refer to other machines on the network
	by name, as well as by IP address. Using a nameserver (see section 4.1)
	also allows you to do the name->IP address translation automatically.
	(Running named allows you to run your own nameserver on your Linux
	box. See section 4.2.2.1 above.)

	This file needs to contain at least an entry for 127.0.0.1 with 
	the name "localhost". If you're not only using loopback, you need
	to contain an antry for your IP address, with your full hostname
	(such as loomer.vpizza.com).  You may also wish to include entries 
	for your gateway and network addresses. 

	For example, if "loomer.vpizza.com" has the IP address 
	"128.253.154.32", my /etc/hosts file would look like:

# /etc/hosts: List of hostnames and IP addresses
127.0.0.1 		localhost
128.253.154.32 		loomer.vpizza.com loomer

	Once again, edit this for your own needs. If you're only using 
	loopback, the only line in /etc/hosts should be for 127.0.0.1, with
	both "localhost" and your hostname after it.
	
	Note that in the second line, above, there are two names for 
	128.253.154.32: "loomer.vpizza.com" and just "loomer". The first name 
	is the full hostname of the machine. The second is an alias---it 
	allows me to just use "rlogin loomer" without having to type in the 
	entire name.

4.3.1 Important note
	The line "%%IP%%	%%HOST%% %%ALIAS%%" needs to be deleted from 
	this file! This is a "tag" line used by Fred's experimental net
	config scripts. I'm now writing a new set of scripts which don't
	use these lines. In any of these files, you see curious lines with
	entries such as "%%NAME%%", these lines MUST be deleted. If you
	don't delete them, you may have lots of strange errors and overflowing
	syslog files (right Erik?).

4.4 /etc/networks
	The file /etc/networks contains known network addresses, much like
	/etc/hosts contains known IP addresses. In general you only need 
	network addresses for loopback and your own local network (your
	network address). For example, my network address is 128.253.154.0,
	thus my /etc/networks looks like:

loopback	127.0.0.0 
localnet	128.253.154.0

	You don't need a localnet line if you're only using loopback.
	
4.5 /etc/host.conf
	This file specifies how your system will lookup names. 
	It should contain the two lines:
		order hosts,bind
		multi

	These two lines tell the resolve libraries to first check the 
	/etc/hosts file for any names to lookup, and then ask the nameserver
	(if one is present). The "multi" entry allows you to have multiple
	IP addresses for a given machine name in /etc/hosts.

	This file comes from the implementation of the resolv+ bind 
	library for Linux. You can find further documentation in the
	resolv+(8) man page (if you have the man page available).


4.6 /etc/resolv.conf
	This file contains two types of entires: The addresses of your
	nameservers (if any), and the name of your domain (if you have one).
	If you're running your own nameserver (i.e., you're running named
	on your Linux machine: see section 4.2.2.1), then the address of
	your nameserver is just 127.0.0.1 (the loopback address).

	Your domain name is your fully-qualified hostname (if you're a
	registered machine on the Internet, for example), with the hostname
	chopped off. That is, if your full hostname is loomer.vpizza.com,
	your domain name is just "vpizza.com", without the hostname ("loomer").

	For example, if your machine is goober.norelco.com, and has a
	nameserver at the address 128.253.154.5, your /etc/resolv.conf would 
	look like:

		domain norelco.com
		nameserver 127.253.154.5

	You can specify more than one nameserver (up to three?). Each one
	must have a "nameserver" line of its own in resolv.conf.

	If you're only using loopback, you don't have a nameserver.

4.7 /etc/HOSTNAME
	This is a new file; it contains the full hostname of your machine 
	(with the domain name). For example, the machine above would have 
	the file /etc/HOSTNAME:
		goober.norelco.com
	That's all.

4.8 /etc/rc.local
	Change the line in /etc/rc.local (or /etc/rc, depending on your
	setup) which sets your system's hostname, to 
		/bin/hostname -S

	(You have a new hostname in /bin.) This sets your hostname from
	the name found in /etc/HOSTNAME. If you don't like this (personally
	I don't), just do:
		/bin/hostname -S <your-hostname>

	For example,
		/bin/hostname -S loomer.vpizza.com

	It IS important that you give a full hostname (with domain name)
	in /etc/HOSTNAME. This allows the hostname command to set the
	host AND domainname in one shot. 

	IMPORTANT: The hostname found in /etc/HOSTNAME *must* be a valid
	hostname. This means that it must be found in /etc/hosts (or that
	your nameserver must be able to resolve it, but you should put it
	in /etc/hosts in case your nameserver is down).

4.9 Other files
	There are of course many other files in /etc which you may need to
	dabble with later on. Instead of going into them here, I'm going to
	provide the bare minimum to get you on the net. More information will
	be provided in later versions of the NET-2 HOWTO.

	Once you have all of the files set up, and everything in the 
	right place, you should be able to reboot your new kernel and
	net away to your heart's content. However, I strongly suggest
	that you keep a bootable copy of your old kernel and even possibly
	a "recovery disk" (say, the SLS a1 disk) in case you hosed your
	/etc/rc files, for example, and can't login when you boot. 


5. Configuring SLIP
	SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) allows you to use TCP/IP 
	over the phone line, with a modem (no need for an Ethernet card).
	Of course, to use SLIP you'll need access to a dial-in SLIP server
	in your area. Many universities and businesses provide SLIP access
	all over the world. 

	Configuring SLIP is much like configuring an Ethernet interface
	(please read section 4.0 above). However, there are a few key
	differences. 

	First of all, dialing in and connecting to your SLIP server is 
	usually done at boot time, usually by a program called "dip" 
	(found in the "dip" subdir of the net-010 package). "Dip" not only 
	dials and logs you into the SLIP server, but it also initiates the 
	SLIP connection and runs the appropriate ifconfig and route commands 
	to initialize the device. Therefore, the only lines needed in 
	/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 are the two commands to initilize the loopback 
	connection at the top (see section 4.2.1 above).

	If you're not using DIP, you may indeed have to edit rc.inet1 for
	your SLIP parameters.

	Also, there are two types of SLIP servers: Dynamic IP address
	servers and static IP address servers. Dynamic servers allocate
	a new, different IP address to you every time you dialin and
	initiate a connection. Static servers give you the same address
	every time. Almost every SLIP server will also prompt you for
	a username and password when dialing in: DIP can handle logging
	you in automatically.

	Essentially, configuring a SLIP connection is just like configuring
	for loopback or ethernet. The main differences are discussed below.
	Read section 4.0 above for information on configuring your TCP/IP
	files, and apply the changes below.

5.1 Static SLIP server connections
	If you have a static-allocation server (same IP address every time),
	then you may want to put entries for your hostname and IP address
	(since you know what your IP address is!) in /etc/hosts. You should
	also configure the other files listed in section 4.0: rc.inet2, 
	host.conf, resolv.conf, /etc/HOSTNAME, and rc.local). Remember that
	when configuring rc.inet1, you don't need to run the ifconfig and
	route commands other than the two for the loopback interface (if
	you're using DIP to dial your connection).

	In general, your gateway is the IP address of your SLIP server.
	Because DIP handles the configuration of the route, you probably
	don't need to know this, but in some cases you might have to run the
	appropriate ifconfig or route commands in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 to
	get it to work correctly. Instead of using "eth0" as your interface 
	name, SLIP connections use "sl0".  Keep in mind that you can't
	ifconfig sl0 until you have dialed the connection and connected to
	the SLIP server.

	Also, you may need to use the "pointopoint" argument to ifconfig if
	DIP does not do it correctly. For example, if your SLIP server's 
	address is 44.136.8.5, and your IP address is 128.253.154.32, you may 
	need to run the command 
		# /etc/ifconfig sl0 128.253.154.32 pointopoint 44.136.8.5

	See the man pages for ifconfig in the net-010 package.

5.2 Dynamic SLIP server connections
	If your SLIP server allocates a new IP address to you every time
	you dialin, you don't know your IP address at all, so you can't
	include an entry in /etc/hosts for your machine. (If you want, you 
	can place your hostname in /etc/hosts with the address 127.0.0.1). 

	Most dynamic SLIP servers tell you your IP address when you initiate 
	the connection. For example, it may print a string such as, "Your IP 
	address is 128.253.154.10. Server address is 128.253.154.1." DIP will 
	need to know these numbers when it configures the connection. See 
	section 5.3 below on using DIP.

	If you use DIP, it does all of the work of configuring the 
	connection when you dialin, so rc.inet1 only needs the two lines
	to configure the loopback address (see section 4.2.1 above). 
	Also, see section 5.1 above. You need to configure all of
	the files listed in section 4.0. Your gateway address (should you
	need to know it) will be the address of the SLIP server. Also,
	you may need to run ifconfig on sl0 using the SLIP server's address
	as the "pointopoint" argument (see section 5.1 above). However, if 
	you use DIP, it should be able to do all of the ifconfig and route 
	commands for you.

	One good way to figure out how to configure SLIP on your machine is
	to find someone else who uses the SLIP server (it can be on a PC,
	Mac, UNIX box, whatever) and find out what numbers they use. 


5.3 Using DIP
	DIP can simplify the process of dialing into the SLIP server, logging
	in, starting the connection, and configuring the sl0 device with
	the appropriate ifconfig and route commands. 

	Essentially, to use DIP you'll write a "chat script" which is 
	basically a list of commands to send to DIP along with commands for
	logging in, starting the connection, and so on. See "sample.dip"
	in the net-010 package for an explanation. DIP is quite a powerful
	program, with many options. Instead of going into all of them here
	you should look at the READMEs and the sample files from tsx-11 and
	the net-010 distribution.

	You may notice that the sample.dip script assumes that you're using
	a static SLIP server, so you know what your IP address is beforehand.
	For dynamic SLIP servers, you'll probably need to use the command 
	"dip -t" and use the DIP "local" and "remote" commands by hand after
	the SLIP server prints your IP address. For example,

loomer:~% dip -t
DIP>port cua0      (My modem is on /dev/cua0.)
DIP>speed 57600    (Set the baud rate.)
DIP>reset          (Reset modem and terminal line.)
DIP>send att\r\n   (Send modem init string...)
DIP>dial 2446000   (Dial SLIP server.)
DIP>term           (Enter interactive mode.)

Welcome to Annex Server...
Annex login: mdw1
Annex password: 

User mdw1 authenticated.
Annex> slip       (From SLIP server prompt, give "slip" command to start 
                   SLIP connection.)

SLIP inititated. 
Your IP address is 128.254.254.10, server address is 128.254.254.1.

^] (Hit DIP break key to get back to DIP prompt.)
DIP> local 128.254.254.10  (Give local command to specify my IP address.)
DIP> remote 128.254.254.1  (Specify server's IP address.)
DIP> mtu 1500              (Set SLIP MTU value.)
DIP> mode SLIP             (Start the SLIP mode from DIP.)

loomer:~%

	Now we're running in SLIP mode, and everything should work. The command
		# /etc/ifconfig sl0
	will tell you the current interface parameters; you may need to set 
	some of these by hand if DIP didn't get the correctly. Also, some have 
	found that they need to use the route command to change their operating
	parameters. DIP sets a route for the address of your SLIP server, but 
	you may need to delete this route and add it as your gateway instead. 
	For example, with a SLIP server address of 128.253.154.1, use the 
	commands:
		# /etc/route del 128.253.154.1
		# /etc/route add default gw 128.253.154.1 

	It should be simple to modify the code for DIP in the file attach.c
	to run the route and ifconfig commands that work for you automatically.

	Of course, typing all of those DIP commands may be time consuming. It 
	may be possible to write a DIP chat script to run all of the commands 
	up through dialing the connection and logging in, and then "exit" the 
	script to let you type the "local" and "remote" commands by hand.

	Furthermore, there are patches for DIP by Paul Mossip 
	(mossip@vizlab.rutgers.edu) which modify the "get" command to grab
	the IP address of your host and the server from the output of 
	the SLIP server. This should allow you to do all of the dialing and
	configuration within a chat script just as you would with static
	SLIP servers. This patch was recently posted to comp.os.linux.announce.
	(Check the c.o.l.a archives on sunsite.unc.edu.)

	Fred is planning to modify DIP for easier use by those with dynamic
	SLIP servers (including the above patch) soon. 

	You'll have to play with various values for your routes and gateways 
	to get everything going correctly. If you have any information on how 
	you configured your SLIP interface, please drop me a note 
	(mdw@sunsite.unc.edu). Include info on your SLIP address, server 
	address, gateway, and so on, and what commands you used to set up 
	SLIP. There are various possible configurations for SLIP servers and 
	I'd like to update this NET-2 HOWTO with as many hints as possible. :)

6. Are You Stuck?
	Really? Then you should read the man pages for ifconfig and route, 
	included in the net-010 package, and understand their functions. These 
	commands have a lot of flexibility, and because everyone's network 
	setup is different, you may find a way to use ifconfig and route to
	get your connection working. If you do, feel free to send me some mail
	so I can include it in the next update of the NET-2 HOWTO. Because of
	my limited amount of experimental data, most of the discussion above
	is about my own setup, and I'd like to generalize it as much as 
	possible.

	I'm currently writing a set of scripts to simplify NET-2 configuration.
	You can pick up the pre-alpha release from tc.cornell.edu, in the file
	/pub/mdw/netconf-0.3.tar.z. These scripts maintain a small database of
	network configuration info, and allow you to easily modify and 
	configure your network interface. The scripts are far from complete:
	I've been waiting until the NET-2 interface itself stabilizes a bit
	more before upgrading it further. 

	Another good place to look for help on setting up NET-2 is the 
	O'Reilly and Associated book ``TCP/IP Network Administration''...
	the one with the crab on the cover. Keep in mind that NET-2 is now
	a "standard" implementation of TCP/IP---this means that ifconfig
	and route work the same under Linux as they do on other UNIX systems.

	Also keep in mind that NET-2 _is_ developing very rapidly---it's
	one of the newest additions to the Linux kernel. Thus, all of the
	bugs haven't been worked out yet, so there may be some problems.
	However, a good rule of thumb is that if you were able to get TCP/IP
	working under kernels before 0.99.pl13, you should be able to get it
	working under NET-2 as well. There are still some issues dealing with
	performance to be fixed, but overall the system works. And, as with
	everything in Linux development, time will cure what ails NET-2. 
	If it's absolutely unusable to you, go back to an earlier kernel 
	version, and wait until things develop further. The code is still
	very new.

7. Common Problems and Solutions
	Now that the NET-2 HOWTO has been out for a while, I've been
	able to gather some common problems (and answers!). Here are
	some things which I have learned from hearing from readers.
	If you run into a problem which should be included here,
	please send it along (even if you have the solution!). I can
	only go by reader feedback, because NET-2 always works perfectly
	for me. (Just kidding, Fred!)

	
	QUESTION: Whan I try to use the network, or use SLIP, I get the
	error message "Network not reachable". What should I do?

	ANSWER: Well, this is usually an indication that your ifconfig
	or route commands are wrong. You can look at the status of your
	ifconfig by using the command "ifconfig" by itself. This should
	tell you what NET-2 thinks your IP address, netmask, etc. are.
	You can use the command "route" by itself to get routing information.
	This will tell you what routes you have set up and what gateways
	(if any).

	The best way to test a SLIP or network connection is to use "ping"
	with IP addresses only. If you use hostnames, as in "ping loomer",
	if some part of name lookup isn't working you'll have trouble.
	To test just the network, NOT name lookup, use only IP addresses,
	as in "ping 128.253.154.32".

	For SLIP connections the best thing to do is to ping your
	SLIP server. If nothing comes back, then something is wrong. Try
	using "dip -v" which will print debugging information while DIP
	is dialing the server. Remember that for some SLIP connections you
	may need to use the commands
		# route del <your slip server address>
		# route add default gw <your slip server address>
	To get SLIP talking to the server. Once you can talk to the
	server, everything SHOULD work (if your server is set up correctly!).

	For Ethernet connections, try pinging your gateway. If you can talk
	to your gateway, you should be able to talk to the outside world.
	You may need more than one route (that is, more than one gateway).
	For example, some universities use one gateway for on-campus
	networks and another for off-campus networks. 

	But this "network not reachable" message means that you can't
	talk to your gateway. This can be due to several things:
		a) Wrong route or ifconfig commands
		b) Ethernet card problems (see below)
		c) You didn't compile the kernel correctly (see below).



	QUESTION: I keep getting the error "eth0: transmit timed out".
	What does this mean?

	ANSWER: This usually means that your Ethernet cable is unplugged,
	or that the setup parameters for your card (I/O address, IRQ, etc.)
	are not set correctly. Check the messages at boot time and make
	sure that your card is recognized with the correct Ethernet address.


	QUESTION: I get errors "check Ethernet cable" when using the network.

	ANSWER: You probably have your Ethernet card configured incorrectly.
	For Etherlink cards, in the file /usr/src/linux/net/inet/CONFIG,
	change the line
		EL_OPTS 	= -UEL2_AUI
	to
		EL_OPTS		= -DEL2_AUI

	This tells the card to use the AUI cable interface. 
	Just make sure that all of the options for your card are set
	correctly in the CONFIG file, and rebuild your kernel.


	QUESTION: When I use NET-2, I get a "General protection" error
	or a panic from the kernel. How can I fix this?

	ANSWER: Remember that the NET-2 code is still on the buggy side, 
	just because it's in mid-development. If you get a kernel panic
	while using NET-2, write down the EIP address (and the other
	information given in the panic message). The EIP is the address
	where the kernel paniced, usually of the form 0008:xxxxxxxx
	where "0008" is the segment descriptor for the kernel text, and
	"xxxxxxxx" is the offset into that segment (80386 programmers will
	know what this means).

	Use the command 
		nm /usr/src/linux/tools/system | sort -n
	or 
		nm /usr/src/linux/tools/zSystem | sort -n
	depending on whether or not you use a compressed kernel (zImage).
	This will print a listing of all symbols in the kernel text, 
	simply scan down the list and look for the function that contains
	the EIP address in the kernel dump. There's the culprit.

	However, in some cases the EIP can be misleading; the kernel
	may panic at a place which is complete irrelevant to where the
	actual problem occurred. However, it is a good starting place;
	first, locate the function which contains the EIP address, and
	then check out the kernel code to see what might be wrong.

	Keep in mind that this will only work if you compile your own
	kernel and have the "system" file associated with it. 

	
	QUESTION: How can I hang up the phone line when I'm done using
	SLIP?

	ANSWER: If you use dip to dial out on the SLIP line, just
	"kill -9" the dip process itself (dip won't die unless you kill
	it with SIGKILL or some other signal). When dip dies, the line
	should hang up. 

	If you don't use dip to dial out, either instruct your dialing
	program to hang up the line, or kill the dialing process.


	QUESTION: With SLIP, I get a connection open, but no data flows.

	ANSWER: This could be a number of things. First, check your routes
	and be sure that the gateway is set correctly. Attempt to ping
	your gateway; if you can't, then something is wrong with the routes.
	
	Another problem could be that your system and the SLIP server 
	disagree about header compression. With 0.99.pl11 and above, 
	SLIP automatically compresses packet headers. To turn off header
	compression, look in slip.c for the function sl_encaps(). Comment
	out the line that calls sl_compress(). That should be all that's
	needed.


	QUESTION: With SLIP, I get a connection, but after sending a small
	amout of data, the connection hangs.

	ANSWER: Probably an MTU problem. The MTU is the maximum packet
	size available for the network. For SLIP, your MTU is set in
	your dip dialing script with the "MTU" command. The default value
	is 1500, which means that the system can send packets of up to
	1500 bytes in size. However, some SLIP servers (Berkeley SLIP,
	for example), use a smaller MTU (around 1006). If your MTU is
	too large, the SLIP server will fragment the packets, and currently
	(NET-2d), IP packet fragmentation isn't supported (see next section).
	The solution is to set a smaller MTU (around 512, or lower) in
	your dip chat script. 

	Another thing to check if you are having erratic SLIP problems is
	flow control. You need to use hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control
	on your modem, and your modem and your computer must agree. XON/XOFF
	flow control is not practical for SLIP.



8. Known bugs 
	There are several known bugs with the NET-2 software. Note that these
	may or may not be fixed with a newer version of the NET-2 code;
	therefore, I leave them here. 
	
	The bugs here are for NET-2d, found in kernels 0.99.pl10, pl11, 
	pl12, and pl13. NET-2e (currently in alpha), when released, may
	or may not have fixed these bugs. 

	* Bug with route guessing code. If you ifconfig the "lo"
	  interface before the "eth0" interface in rc.inet1, whenever you
	  add a route, it will be added to "lo" instead of "eth0". 
	  (Simply use the "route" command by itself; it will display all
	  of your routes. If your "default" route, which should be out
	  on the ethernet, is for device "lo" instead of "eth0", then you're
	  seeing this bug.) 
	  
	  This is just a problem with the route guessing code. Several
	  things can fix it: 1) ifconfig/route on "eth0" before "lo" in
	  rc.inet1; or, 2) Set your netmask to 255.0.0.0 (which is reported
	  to work, but I can't guarantee it). This should be fixed in NET-2e.

	* Missing IP packet fragmentation. Packet fragmentation allows the
	  various protocol layers to "chop up" packets into smaller packets
	  if the MTU (maximum tranfer unit) of one network differs from
	  another. NET-2e should contain packet fragmentation/defragmentation
	  code, but NET-2d currently does not.

	* Weak NFS support. There have been a number of success stories with
	  NFS under Linux, however, not all of the support is there. For
	  one thing, the current NFS buffer size is much smaller---and 
	  therefore much slower---than other implementations of NFS. From
	  what I understand, this problem is related to the lack of packet
	  fragmentation code, above.


9. Miscellaneous

	Future plans for the NET-2 HOWTO include a section on setting up
	your own Linux LAN (with SLIP and/or Ethernet), adventures in
	routing, and the use of netstat and other network administration
	under Linux. For now, the information here should be more than 
	enough. :)
	
	If you have questions about setting up NET-2, feel free to mail me, or 
	if you have any corrections, additions, or errata for this NET-2 HOWTO, 
	send me any and all changes (cdiffs are nice, but I'm flexible). 

	Of course, thanks to Fred, Linus, Ross, Phil, Paul, Don, and everyone 
	else who helped to develop the NET-2 code and work on previous 
	versions of TCP/IP for Linux and the NET-FAQ. Thanks to Matt
	who's original effort I intend continuing.

	Cheers,

	Terry Dawson. terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au

