This document is organized top-down. The first sections include
informative material, and it can be skipped if you are not interested;
what follows is a generic discussion of networking issues, and you
must ensure you understand this before proceeding to more specific
parts. The ``technology specific'' information is grouped into
three main sections: Ethernet and IP-related information, technologies
pertaining to widespread PC hardware, and seldom-used technologies.
The suggested path through this document is as follows:
Read the generic sections:
These sections apply to almost every technology described in
subsequent sections, and they are very important for you to understand.
I expect many of the readers will be confident with this material.
Consider your network:
You should know how your network is (or will be)
designed, and you should also be familiar with
exactly what hardware and technology types you will be implementing.
If you are directly connected to a LAN or the Internet,
please refer to the ``Ethernet and IP'' section:
This section describes basic Ethernet configurations, and it describes
the various features that Linux offers for IP networking (ie: firewalling,
advanced routing, etc).
If you are interested in low-cost local
networks or dial-up connections, please refer to the next section
This section describes the widespread technologies used on personal
workstations (ie: PLIP, PPP, SLIP, and ISDN).
Please refer to the technology-specific sections
that are related to your requirements:
Your needs may differ from IP and/or other common
hardware This final section covers details specific to both
non-IP protocols and to peculiar communication hardware.
Do the configuration work:
You should actually try to
configure your network. Take careful note of
any existing problems
Look for further help:
If you experience problems that this document does not
help you to resolve, then you should refer to the sections
related to "Help" and "Where to report bugs".