Installed Redhat 9.0 and Lost routing

[storya]

I recently downloaded Redhat 9.0 and after sourcing a secondhand PIII 550 figured i could get my own home router that these forums are brimming with uber useful stuff for.

I am a stupid stupid man.

Unfortunatly for some reason i cannot even get routing to work and the number of these fixes i tried has probably stuffed it big time. I have the following system...

eth0 192.168.0.1 Mask 255.255.255.0
eth1 used for ppp0

i can connect to the internet after adding GATEWAYDEV=ppp0 to /etc/sysconfig/network but when i enable forwarding by "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward" it doesn't. not a sausage.

I can ping the linux box from my XP Desktop but not vice versa and i have tried iptables -F to remove the possibility that firewalling is the problem.

Can anyone tell me the bare minimum requirements for my linux box to route internet requests from my LAN (192.168.0.0/24)

if i can get it routing then i can start implementing a NAT-firewall.

Any help appreciated. :D

[chrism01]

I can strongly recommend the HOWTOs at www.tldp.org (The Linux Doc Proj). That's how i got mine working. Here's a few to start with:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/ISP-Hookup-HOWTO.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/IP-Masquerade-HOWTO/index.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Firewall-HOWTO.html

HTH

[brandon_yap]

hi...
is a gateway a router or a modem i am
:confused: I need help!!! I need help!!!

[chrism01]

'Gateway' is a generic term for a box that connects eg your lan to the internet. Take my setup as an example; I've got one client box and one server. The server has 2 NICs, one going to the client, and one the cable-modem that connects me to my ISP and the internet.
Therefore, I think of my server as the 'gateway' because any machines on my lan would have to go through it to get to the internet.
Basically, it does routing/fwding for me.
You can have separate dedicated router box. The GATEWAYDEV is eth0 (on the server) for me.

HTH

[brandon_yap]

thanks a lot Chris!!!I am very grateful when someone tells me i dun know!!!Once again...Thanks!!!

[storya]

Thanks for the HOWTO lists, the one on firewalls was the best help.

Now i am routing but the way it all worked has me a little worried about messing with it further so i can add the firewall rules.

It wouldn't couldn't route until I ran the firewall testing script (attached) which gave me the following iptables setup...(excuse wrapping)
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination

Chain FORWARD (policy DROP)
target prot opt source destination
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
ACCEPT all -- anywhere anywhere
LOG all -- anywhere anywhere LOG level warning

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination

I am assuming this leaves me pretty wide open, which part of the script enabled the routing so i can create a working firewall?

it wasn't .. echo "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward as i have tried that and it didn't work until the script ran.

I am working now and can look up some answers in the HOWTO's but if anyone knows by looking i would love the help. (but i do like to RTFM when i can).