Re: BB choice & multiple static IP addresses

[Ant <ant@xxxxxxx>]

On Thursday 08 May 2003 11:34, Nick Towers wrote:

> Am figuring out which BB ISP to use - my dilemma is whether I need to
> sign up for multiple static IP addresses.

I would. You never know when they might come in handy!

> I'll almost certainly buy a Draytek 2600we (unless I get better
> recommendation) which I assume will need an IP address of its own - I
> assume I'd be able to access LAN based devices via port forwarding -
> is this the case?

If you go the fully routed option, then 3 IP addresses of your allocated
range
are used before you even start - one for the router, one for the network
address, and one for the network broadcast address.

With the NAT/single IP address model, you could indeed port forward
individual
ports on your single IP address to private subnet addresses on a 1 to 1
basis.

> So - for my immediate needs would I be ok with just a single static
> address - and for what other uses in the future would I definitely
> need further IP addresses?

Further IP addresses would be handy if you want to run multiple webservers,
multiple mail servers etc etc. Also there are some protocols that just
aren't
happy in a NAT/PAT scenario. If you want to do any sort of VPN stuff,
multiple IP addresses will make this significantly easier.

(Having said that, you can often overcome this by using the "DMZ"
mode that
most cheapo routers now support).

> PS I'm looking at F2S, Eclipse & Zen as possible suppliers

Uncanny! I signed up with Zen yesterday. They've got a free install offer
on
at the moment. I'm considering the Draytek too.

cheers

ant
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