[dba-Tech] Modems

Excuse me butting in here please Drew!

Comments in-line.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven W. Erbach [mailto:serbach at new.rr.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 11:54 PM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Modems
> 
> 
> Drew,
> 
> My experience with Macs ended in 1990. I haven't hardly even 
> sniffed a Mac
> since then.
> 
> >> holler if you need more details on anything <<
> 
> First, an acronym check: what does MAC stand for, as in MAC address?

MAC stands for Media Access Control. It is a globally unique address
"burnt-in" to your computer's NIC (Network Address Card). It is effectively
the "hardware address". It comprises of 48-bits.

The address is usually expressed as six hexadecimal octets separated by
dashes.

For example: 00-00-0C-EC-B7-93

The first half of the address is used to identify the manufacturer of the
NIC, and the second half is a sequential number issued by the NIC
manufacturer. In the example above "00-00-0C" indicates Cisco.

> Second, in your discussion about DHCP I gathered that when a 
> w/s makes a
> DHCP request, the DHCP server may not actually be on that 
> LAN, correct? We
> have a Novell NetWare 5.1 LAN and I see that the DHCP server NLM isn't
> loaded on the server. Thus the cable modem routes the request 
> to the cable
> company's DHCP server, yes?

Urm. Not sure about this! AFAIK for DHCP to work the DHCP server _must_ be
on the same network (LAN) as the workstation requesting the IP address. Do
not confuse this with what happens when you connect to the internet via an
ISP.

The machines in your LAN have one set of IP addresses, but to the internet
you will have a different address.

For example. In my BAN (Bedroom Area Network) my PCs and printer server have
static IP addresses in the range 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.20, but when I connect
to my dial-up ISP the machine CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET will have an
address in the 212.69.201.xxx series.

I'm not a Novell person. Sorry.
>