qwest dsl + freebsd nat/firewall (not for the technically challenged)
by Travis on May.25, 2008, under Tech Stuff
So this weekend I switched out my internet connection at my house from Comcast to Qwest DSL.
a) it was cheaper
b) i’m getting twice the speed up & down as i was with comcast
c) i wasn’t really diggin the phone service over comcast… *shrug*
So anyway… I’m running a FreeBSD firewall here at the house that’s handling some network address translation and firewall stuff (natd & ipfw) so that I can have my sbs server listen for all the mail transfered from my primary server at the co-location facility as well as linking in my pda phone to my exchange server here… enough with the details…
After a long weekend of fighting with the configuration on this thing and finding that there were no resources on the internet, I dug in and got it working on my own. To remedy this for anyone else who may be running a similar setup here’s the solution:
DSL modem being used: ActionTec M1000
FreeBSD version: 6.3
First and formost, get your PPPoE login information from Qwest. This is your username and password you would use to manually activate your modem and set it up without using the disc. It entails the usual going to http://192.168.0.1 and going through the usual screens and such. Get this all done and make sure your modem syncs up and is online before doing ANYTHING below. Otherwise you’ll be banging your head into the wall.
Assuming you’ve done that, head on back out to the modem mangement page (http://192.168.0.1) and select the Advanced setup. On the left-hand side you will see a series of menus. Click the following sequence.
a) WAN IP Address
b) On the screen that appears on the right, select ‘RFC 1483 Transparent Bridging’
c) Click ‘Save’
That’s it, the modem is set. Now it should disconnect you from the internet and the Internet light will disappear on the modem and you’ll be left with just Ethernet, DSL and Power. Now plug your FreeBSD external NIC into the DSL modem and complete the following:
a) edit the file /etc/ppp/ppp.conf and add in the following lines. Comment out everything except what is listed below for the ‘default’ field:
default:
set log Phase tun command
qwestdsl: set device PPPoE:fxp0
set authname username@qwest.net
set authkey password
set dial
set login
add default HISADDR
b) edit the file /etc/rc.conf and add in the following lines:
# QWEST DSL
ppp_enable=”YES”
ppp_mode=”ddial”
ppp_profile=”qwestdsl”
c) make changes to your existing natd.conf file, wherever it may be. 🙂 You will have to change the interface line from whatever external interface you were using (rl0,fxp0,xl0,etc) to tun0. The reason is that ppp creates a tun interface (tun0 first, tun1 second, etc) in order to bind the public ip address to an internal interface. Wierd, but this is what it does.
d) make changes to your existing rc.firewall script or whatever script you’re calling for use with ipfw. Any instance of your previous external interface (just like in natd.conf) should be replaced with tun0.
That should do it. Reboot your system and you should be up and running. If you have any issues, take a good look at your ‘ ifconfig -a ‘ and make sure a tun0 is present and assigned an address. If you need to do further troubleshooting, take a look at /var/log/ppp.log.
For more information on natd, take a look here:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/network-natd.html
For more information on ipfw, take a look here:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/firewalls-ipfw.html
Fore more information on pppoE, take a look here:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/pppoe.html
If you have issues, leave a comment and I’ll make up for whatever I may have missed… this is just a quick blurb to drop down the basics of how to do this. I assume it could be used for any provider which utilizes the M1000 modem or similar setups so use this information at your own risk. 🙂
Death in a cup…
by Travis on May.21, 2008, under General, Humor
A buddy of mine, Jay, pointed me to this. This is freaking insane. Not only is this not healthy for a regular human being but it would probably kill a diabetic… 303g of carbs and 266g of sugar?! That’s a little over half a pound of sugar!!!!
After reading this I’m not sure I could even think it would taste good… probably is the bomb. lol… literally.
At first this didn’t seem real, but it is posted up on a yahoo article to back it up…
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/5027/americas-unhealthiest-drinks-exposed/
Wow.
aggressive workout plans…
by Travis on May.14, 2008, under Fitness
…. are guaranteed to kill you. 🙂
So I’m starting this new workout plan I’ve put together for myself… It takes a lot of it’s lead from a program called P90X that I have acquired. First and foremost Tony Horton (creator of P90X) is an animal. The guy had to have traded his soul to the devil or something because when you’re doing those workouts, even 10 minutes feels like an hour… I didn’t even get halfway through his Plyometrics workout before I was ready to drop dead right there. LOL
Now keep in mind I’m not complaining at all. It’s by far the most intense workout I’ve ever experienced in my life and having the limited experience I have with it thus far am completely convinced there is no failure if you stick to the plan. I’m really looking forward to doing this.
One thing I’m looking forward to the most is the amount of stretching routines added in to the plan. One of the biggest things I’ve always wanted to work on has been my flexibility. I can’t say I have ever really had any problems with adding bulk muscle or upping my cardiovascular endurance but toning and keeping flexible has definitely been a weak spot of mine. I’m really excited to see how well this will pan out. Only 11 1/2 weeks to go. Maybe I’ll post up some results when all is said and done. No need to embarass myself quite yet, LOL. 🙂
irritation…
by Travis on May.12, 2008, under General
You know, one of my greatest irritations in life has got to be when someone agrees to do something then just doesn’t… How they can find every excuse in the world, even doing other things “for you” to avoid doing what they agree upon. I understand sometimes forgetting to do something, I do it all the time… but when it’s something you’re reminded of constantly and you don’t do it… that’s just lazy.
I touch this subject because of the ill feeling left from the round of repairs I had to do this weekend. This one major item of my tasks to complete this weekend was to fix the hole in the roof where the old chimney used to exit in order to ensure that the elements would not be allowed to impact the bedroom it happens to be above any more than they already have… The “temporary fix” finally gave way and the ceiling was leaking onto my daughter’s head, how nice was that? So, why am I so irritated about this you may ask when these things happen? It’s because it was not due to the fact a problem occured with the structural integrity of the roof… it was neglect to complete a job that was supposed to be finished a year ago by an individual who is a liar and a thief and an otherwise pain in the neck… not something that was supposed to be completed by me.
Strong words in accusation one might think but alas this is all the description one can use after the behavior this individual displayed in regards to his commitments and agreements with many people, not just me… This individual, who agreed to take care of a few things for me in return for my help to him in a dire time of need, was to complete this one task prior to his exodus from my home. He was unable to completed some of the things started, which I was perfectly okay with since they were projects I was planning to do anyway… However, as part of a project he started for me and I expected to be completed, the final piece of the fireplace removal was this one repair that was a necessity to be finished as I had not the time and resources to do such things and this point. I made this very, very, very clear. It was agreed upon that he would complete the removal of the fireplace and chimney and that was what I expected to see done. ALL tasks had been completed to this point on this particular project and all that was left was to install a brace to the floor to support the repaired portion and repair the exit hole left by the chimney… Now, I had a conversation with him about this very specific request and I asked this task of him before I left for a long weekend. Since I would be gone, it left my daughter’s room open for as much time over the span of the weekend as needed to get things done. When I returned from my trip to Mexico, I instead found he had taken off without completing the repair, merely covering the *still* attached chimney top *and* stolen some gas line I had acquired to complete some installations of new appliances I was going to be installing over the coarse of the next year.
You gotta love it. I was nothing but nice to this individual and did all that I could to help out and the one thing I actually NEEDED to be completed, didn’t get done. By the way, thanks for finishing a drop ceiling that I actually pulled out because it was not going to be used and you knew that… thanks for putting trim up around doorways that weren’t finished yet… thanks for putting the ceiling back in place under the hole in the roof that just had to be replaced in the end anyway… Instead of all that “effort and time” spent on doing things that weren’t necessary over the span of 5 days, you could have spent a single day fixing the hole in the roof you left so that weather wouldn’t come through and eventually ruin the ceiling you so kindly put in and maybe installed another support under the floor so I wouldn’t have to go back and ensure that no one happened to go through it if they stood on it…
I’m a little pissed off at the fact that I, with the help of a couple friends, was able to accomplish in just one day, albeit a year later, out of my schedule and my time with my family what you couldn’t accomplish in several weeks time that you were given. You instead spent time over the span of several days fixing things that didn’t need fixing and taking things that weren’t yours and then took off with no explaination and only contempt for the very person who kept you from ending up on the streets when you had no one who would step forward to help.
I do thank you for making things much clearer to me…. You were and will be the last individual I will ever help on that scale. You taught me that no matter how much I try to help people, in the end they most likely take you for a ride and force you to have to clean up their mess. I hope you’re happy with the kind of person you are Jonathan as I know I wasn’t the only one you took advantage of.
grrr… loser.
Heh…. I actually still feel sorry for you for you probably have no idea and you probably think you’ve done nothing wrong. I hope one day you grow up before you end up with nowhere else to go.
