Router Webtools: Introduction

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Aggensteiner.de

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Peter Aggensteiner

You have an ADSL or ISDN flatrate? You want to share your fast line with your flatmates or your family? Then all you need is an old 486, two network cards, a hub and some LAN cable. Of course, the machines that are supposed to be connected, will also need a network card each.
Regarding software, a fairly recent Linux distribution has all you need.
With a little bit of Linux knowledge, things are easy:
Install the two network cards, connect one of them to the ADSL modem, the other one to the hub.
Install Linux, configure Net Address Translation (NAT), switch on IP forwarding and have fun together with your shared connection.

You find all instructions on how to do this on the web, e. g. http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/DSL-HOWTO/
See also my Links page.

But what to do, should the connection fail one day?
Then you will probably log in on the command line and do some debugging, check the log files, restart your connection deamon etc.
And, if new machines are to be connected to the local network? Do you remember which IP addresses are taken already? Remember the DNS servers? Well, log in again and find out.
Every new user with little networking experience will need you in order to configure his/her network card on his/her Windows or MAC machine. Again, they will ask you, the administrator.
That means basically that it is impossible to leave users without network experience alone with their network and their Linux router. What a shame actually, as we all agree that Linux is a great system for that purpose: Stable, reliable and undemanding as far as the need of resources goes.

Here is the solution: The router webtools. With them, any user can operate a Linux router. In addition, some command line freaks may find it quite nice to be able to shut down their router box without having to log in. With just a mouseclick, using any web browser!