[geeks] Further info on Sol8 networking problem

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Fri, Mar 22, 2002 at 09:35:37AM -0500, Kurt Mosiejczuk wrote:

> I'll go with Pete on this one...  I'm thinking the firewall is set up
> poorly.  Is this a masquerading firewall?  If not, dropping ICMP packets
> is pretty brain damaged.

It is...  Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).  So, it is very brain 
damaged.  But, short of spending a significant amount of money that I don't
have, there isn't anything I can do about this at this time.  It's either buy
a new (and also brain damaged) NAT for windows 9x, or buy a hardware NAT, or
buy a new machine altogether.  My parents (who both use the internet 
extensively for business) nixed the NetBSD/sparc firewall plan on the grounds
that they wouldn't have any idea what to do with it if it broke when I wasn't
available.  They would accept a pentium running linux provided it was a dual
boot machine with windows installed so that if things broke (linux or more 
likely the DSL) they could boot back to windows and call tech support.  But,
they don't want to invest in such a machine, and I'm trying to stay focussed
on getting a new monitor then an O2.  Buying additional computers doesn't help
with the staying focussed (even though I have done it).

Anyway, back to the topic.  I don't know that ICS is the one who is dropping 
the ICMP packets.  I should have posted the results of the ping tests.  So
far ICS has JustWorked, albeit with no configuration options whatever ever
other than turning dhcp on or off.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd