Possible network configuration (or am I dreamin')?

[michaelsanford]

This is a bit of an embarrassing question, but it occurred to me recently that this might be possible.

I'm not entirely sure how ADSL authenticates a user: that is, how the computer communicates with the ethernet (non USB) modem to get a connection started.

I've only seen configurations where a router connects upstream to a DSL modem, and the router handles the authentication and LAN IP assignment (with DHCP).

Is it possible to connect the modem directly to a switch (switching hub, not a router) and use my Mac (or other Linux machine) to configure an IP gateway and DHCP server for the other computers on my LAN?

Or do I need 2 NICs on the computer that's doing the IP gateway (one for the switch the other for the modem) or a router?

I'm just trying to minimize cost in the LAN of my new apartment (3 workstations + 1 LOW-load server)...

 

[Darkshadow]

Yeah, if you wanted to do it directly with the computers, you would need two NICs on the computer that's doing the gateway, one for the modem, and the other to connect to the other computer(s). It'd probably be easier to buy a router that does NAT on its own.

 

[michaelsanford]

(Yeah at home I've got a NAT router that does it, and I figured that was the only way, other than getting 2 NICs, but I was just curious if I was wrong )

Thanks Darkshadow.