Kaa wrote: > > > I have two machines plugged into a cable modem. Both have IP > addresses > provided by the ISP. One is 24.6.xxx.xxx, and the other is > 24.5.xxx.xxx. > Theoretically that's all fine 'cause 24. is an A class > network. However the > ISP says that the netmask for these addresses should be > 255.255.255.0, that > is, they are subnetting their class A net. And herein lies > the problem: > looking at their netmask the machines believe they are on > separate networks > and so to talk to each other they need the upstream machines > -- the gateways > for each of them -- to be up. That doesn't happen all the > time and anyway, I > want these two machines to be able to talk to each other > without involving > the upstream machines at all. > > So, my question is: can I simply set the netmask to 255.0.0.0 > on both of > them and put appropriate entries into the /etc/hosts file? Is > this likely to > break anything? Alternatively, can I use arp to specify the > Ethernet address > - IP address correspondence, or something will get confused?
Neither plan is good. Please remember that cable modems are broadcast networks. Your ISP, @Home, uses that Class A as subnetted Class C's for good reason. If @Home is unwilling to assign you two addresses in the same subnet (I assume you asked, right?) there are a number of two to deal with this. Option 1: Two NIC's. Add a second NIC in each computer and assign a ambiguous (private) IP network. The classic is 10.0.0.0. Look at RFC ftp://ftp.internic.net/policy/rfc1597.txt Option 2: Set one box up as a Proxy Server That box gets two NIC's, the other one. You use ONE IP address. Your ISP sees only one computer. Use the private IP behind the firewall. > And a semi-related question: on a pure Win98 machine, how do > you find out > the Ethernet address of the NIC card? I tried looking through > the registry, > but didn't find anything that looked right. There is a netstat utility, I'm not sure if it's in the Resource Kit or ships with the product. /* Mike Lieberman [EMAIL PROTECTED] */ /* President */ /* Net Wright LLC */ /* http://www.netwright.net */ /* Voice and Fax: 307-857-1053 */