Hi Woogieman, If your read very "Carefully" the first post to this Thread you will find mentioned there that Server Access is controlled by IP#'s. There are only a few folks (6-8) that have their number in the "Allowed" table. All other Internet IP#'s are in effect "Banned". Keeps out "Hackers" from Germany running FTP Search Robots etc. Folks generally do not bother to "Hammer" on the Server either, would just be a waste of time.

Hi Folks, just an update after a month of Server Up time. Folks are still Uploading and Downloading. I removed a number of older things to make some more room for new stuff. ;) I printed myself a copy of the entire Thread, just in case it goes away again. After all this, much of the info there could be condensed and cleaned up. Learned a few things along the way. Been thinking of starting a new Thread from the best of the info. from this one. Waiting to see if BetaNet gets more Stable. :( :rolleyes: :eek:

Test post after import [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Hi Folks, another update on how it's going. The Server has been up for 2 Months now. Has dropped off the "Net" a few times due to ISP Problems, but the machine continues to run fine.:cool:

The contents continue to change as new things show up and older stuff that nobody wants any more is removed. Those of you that have Access, check from time to time to see what's new.:D

The "Firewall" has been changed a bit so the Server has a new IP# now. Everything else remains the same.

The "New" address for the Server is [hide] 6X.x.x.x:2020 [/hide].

With a bit of luck it will last a few months like the old one did.:D :D Enjoy.....;)

replying for server address
Thanks crowdirt

Hi crowdirt, sorry I know this is off-topic but since you're such a wiz in networking, could you please tell me if I should buy a Linksys 4-port router or just a 4-port switch for sharing my broadband? With the router, I want to be able to disable the NAT firewall so that it doesn't block file sharers, ftp ul/dl, chat, etc. But if I get the switch and it doesn't have a WAN port for my cable modem, I guess I'll need a second netcard to use DHCP (so that Road Runner sees only one ip). Any advice?

Thanks alot... :)

Hi Chiller, ok lets take a look at the parts to this puzzle. I will use Linksys as an example, other companies do basically the same things. Linksys has available now:

4-5 Port Switches
4-8 Port NAT/Routers (Firewall/Routers)
4 Port VPN/Routers

Most Broadband Cable Providers allow one "Routable" IP# for the Modem to connect to the Net with.

If you use a Switch behind the Modem then only one of the computers connected to the Switch can use the Routable IP (eg. 24.51.x.x). Other computers connected to the Switch could use Non-Routable IP's (eg. 192.168.x.x) to talk to each other as an internal LAN.

If you use a NAT/Router behind the modem then what happens is the NAT/Router takes the Routable IP. The box has a DHCP function in it to assign Non-Routable IP#'s to the computers connected to it. This is not really needed you could assign numbers Manualy too.

Other things the box does are basically a function of NAT which cannot be removed from the box. If you removed NAT from the box then it would simply work the same as a Switch.

The NAT stuff will allow net traffic to be routed to one computer without any restrictions, that's the DMZ thingy. All other computers that are using Non-Routable IP#'s have their net traffic restricted in various ways. A few functions are allowed to work, such as Surfing and E-Mail. NAT accomplishes these Restrictions by changing the IP# from the Routable one to Non-Routable ones as needed. The Box lets you set some "Ports" to pass through without Restrictions to a particular Non-Routable IP# (Particular machine).

So if you allowed "ALL" Ports to be open that would reduce the "Firewall" effect to a minimum for a particular machine. Also if you "Opened" a "Range" of Ports (1-10000) for a "Range" of Non-Routable IP#'s (192.168.1.2-192.168.1.100) for the most part the "Firewall" function will "GO Away".:)

Have not had a chance to try this just yet. I would like to know, along with quite a few others, if this actually "Works". ;)

If you use the "New" VPN/Router behind the modem then things are different again. From the description on the Linksys Website the Box does not appear to use NAT. It does however add "Encryption" to the Net connection and Requires a Specific Configuration at the other end (Server) to talk to. This approach seems to only connect to "Selected" sites, all others are Locked Out, and I suspect that is not what you want to do.;)

OK [b:e6026ff2ce]CrowDirt[/b:e6026ff2ce] , I'll go with the router as I'm sure it will share the connection properly. And I'll use DMZ on the host to open up the firewall. Thanks alot , you're a lifesaver.:D :D :p

thnx for sharing it mate!

replying to get the address so I can check this out. Also, Crowdirt check your PM :)