[NTLUG:Discuss] DSL Recommendations/Experiences

[Matt Midboe]

quikdraw at metronet.com wrote:
> I would appreciate any info on good and bad experiences you may have
> had trying to setup a similar connection. Eventually I would like to
> setup
> my own mail server, as well as Apache to run from this LAN as well.

I run all my stuff off of FreeBSD but Linux would work the same. I have a cable
modem connection coming into my FreeBSD box, and a second ethernet with all my
home machines. One slightly upsetting thing is the fact that I have to dhcp my
IP address, but so far I seem to always get the same one. I run CMU's Cyrus IMAP
server which has worked awesome. I have Apache with JServ, PHP and mod_roaming.
I also have OpenLDAP's slapd server running. 

With this configuration I can use Netscape on my home computers and at work and
get the exact same settings in both places using Netscape's roaming features and
mod_roaming. In my dhclient connection script once it knows my IP address it
updates the .forward file in my home directory at my ISP so that it points my
mail to my machine at home (for example 'matt@[127.0.0.1]'). I don't know how I
ever lived without this configuration. It is awesome having the same mail
folders, the same address book, the same bookmarks on whatever machine I happen
to be using. If I need to do anything on my box at home (Like read news with
slrn) I just ssh in.

One thing I'll throw in is that before I moved to Dallas I had an ADSL
connection with BellSouth and it worked really well with the same configuration.
After I moved here I ended up with a cable modem connection and it works really
well. So I really can't see that there is an advantage with either technology.
Just take whichever one you can get because it sure beats dialup. The only
problem that I really need to work is getting a real DNS name to get magically
updated with my DHCP lease. I believe the ISC dhcp client is supposed to get
dynamic DNS support built in but then I still have to find a DNS server where I
can do dynamic DNS updates. So the whole DNS name thing is a bit of a caveat to
the xDSL/Cable Modem connection.

Matt
matt at snsnet.net