Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [241]
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[*] Notice that despite the similarity in names, zip on the one hand and gzip and bzip2 on the other hand do not have much in common. zip is both a packaging and compression tool, whereas gzip/bzip2 are for compression only—they typically rely on tar for the actual packaging. Their formats are incompatible; you need to use the correct program for unpacking a certain package.
[*] Some (older) implementations of Unix (e.g., Sinix and Solaris) do just that.
Chapter 13. Networking
So, you've staked out your homestead on the Linux frontier, and installed and configured your system. What's next? Eventually you'll want to communicate with other systems—Linux and otherwise—and the Pony Express isn't going to suffice.
Fortunately, Linux supports a number of methods for data communication and networking. This mostly means TCP/IP these days, but other techniques such as serial communications and even communication via radio links are available. In this chapter, we discuss how to configure your system to communicate with the world.
The Linux Network Administrator's Guide (O'Reilly), also available from the Linux Documentation Project, is a wide-ranging guide to configuring TCP/IP and other networking protocols under Linux. For a detailed account of the information presented here, we refer you to that book.
Networking with TCP/IP
Linux supports a full implementation of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking protocols. TCP/IP has become the most successful mechanism for networking computers worldwide. With Linux and an Ethernet card, you can network your machine to a local area network (LAN) or (with the proper network connections) to the Internet—the worldwide TCP/IP network.
Hooking up a small LAN of Unix machines is easy. It simply requires an Ethernet controller in each machine and the appropriate Ethernet cables and other hardware. Or if your business or university provides access to the Internet, you can easily add your Linux machine to this network.
Linux also supports Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP ) and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP ). SLIP and PPP allow you to have dial-up Internet access using a modem. If your business or university provides SLIP or PPP access, you can dial in to the SLIP or PPP server and put your machine on the Internet over the phone line. Alternatively, if your Linux machine also has Ethernet access to the Internet, you can configure it as a SLIP or PPP server.
In the following sections, we won't mention SLIP anymore because nowadays most people use PPP.
Besides the Linux Network Administrator's Guide, the various HOWTOs at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/networking.html contain lots of information about how to set up particular aspects of networking, including how to deal with unruly hardware like some modems. For example, Linux Ethernet HOWTO at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html is a document that describes configuration of various Ethernet card drivers for Linux.
Also of interest is TCP/IP Network Administration (O'Reilly). It contains complete information on using and configuring TCP/IP on Unix systems. If you plan to set up a network of Linux machines or do any serious TCP/IP hacking, you should have the background in network administration presented by that book.
If you really want to get serious about setting up and operating networks, you will probably also want to read DNS and BIND (O'Reilly). This book tells you all there is to know about nameservers in a refreshingly funny manner.
TCP/IP Concepts
In order to fully appreciate (and utilize) the power of TCP/IP, you should be familiar with its underlying