# Basic Network Info, ISP wrangling



## a59303 (Aug 24, 2016)

Hi, 

I have a Raspberry Pi, that I am running to serve html pages from.  I feel as though I have never properly set it up.  Now that I am trying to do this I come to the problem, when I call the ISP they will not really give me the information I need.

They use DHCP to answer every question.

I am paying for a static IP.

Unfortunately I do not know the topic well enough to get through there squirming.

SO,
firstly; is the subnet mask on their end or mine, that is they have that configured, right? 

second; the ip address of the default gateway is also configured on their end, right?

third; the domain name is my host or computer I think.

forth; the IP address of the networks DNS servers is also on their end, correct?


This has caused me a great deal of distress, thanks in advance.

a5'


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## SirDice (Aug 24, 2016)

a59303 said:


> They use DHCP to answer every question.
> 
> I am paying for a static IP.


Doesn't matter, they can configure their DHCP server to always provide you with the same address. Having a 'static' IP address simply means it doesn't change.



> firstly; is the subnet mask on their end or mine, that is they have that configured, right?


Both actually. Both sides need to be in the same network and therefor need to have the same subnet mask.



> second; the ip address of the default gateway is also configured on their end, right?


Both. They need to have a router configured and you need to configure routing on your end. 



> third; the domain name is my host or computer I think.


The domain name is only part of it. For example, myhost is the hostname, example.com the domain and the FQDN (_Fully Qualified Domain Name_) is myhost.example.com.


> forth; the IP address of the networks DNS servers is also on their end, correct?


They need to set up DNS servers you can use, yes. But you need to configure your host to use those servers.

DHCP simply takes care of all this automatically and there's no need for any manual configuration.


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## Snurg (Aug 24, 2016)

As you have DHCP returning a private address, I guess you got a (DSL, cable, 4G or satellite) modem/router from your ISP.
If you want to serve to the public internet, you will probably have to configure the router to either do PAT or route all things transparently to your host.


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## a59303 (Aug 24, 2016)

SirDice, Thanks for the quick and clear response.

In reading this through I think that I should be able to get the info from the running Pi right now and just write it down.  Maybe that is an incorrect assumtion.



SirDice said:


> Doesn't matter, they can configure their DHCP server to always provide you with the same address. Having a 'static' IP address simply means it doesn't change.



That is kinda what I thought, but I have to enter this in the configuration for FreeBSD like to set the IP for the ethernet card using `ifconfig` for example?  I am pretty confident that is how I eventually did it last time.  From what I gather, I have to have the server _listen _for or on the IP that has my website.  Is that correct?




SirDice said:


> Both actually. Both sides need to be in the same network and therefor need to have the same subnet mask.



So the network I am in (my ISP ) is a subnet of the greater internet, while my personal network is a subnet of that?  I think one of the confusing issues is that I have a surfboard modem provided by the ISP (which I cannot replace) and that is providing the local DHCP (my network) configuration information.  Which leads me to your next answer.



SirDice said:


> Both. They need to have a router configured and you need to configure routing on your end.



So, it seems that they configure the surfboard remotely.  But that means that I have to know the IP Gateway of that device (surfboard modem) here, I think... because the remote IP gateway is irrelevant.



SirDice said:


> The domain name is only part of it. For example, myhost is the hostname, example.com the domain and the FQDN (_Fully Qualified Domain Name_) is myhost.example.com.



This is also confusing to me.  snaokwrx.com is the URL for the site.  So this is the hostname then 
	
	



```
http://snaokwrx.com
```
 but is the FQDN something like
	
	



```
http://snaokwrx.ptd.net
```
? 
	
	



```
ptd.net
```
 is the ISP.



SirDice said:


> They need to set up DNS servers you can use, yes. But you need to configure your host to use those servers.



So they should just give this information.



SirDice said:


> DHCP simply takes care of all this automatically and there's no need for any manual configuration.



Basically, that is what I have seen so far.  I just find a way to get it to work and it seems to work.  I think the crucial part seems to be the IP in `ifconfig` although I go around with this so many times I have a hard time remembering what worked.  I have had no trouble finding the site from outside, but I am trying to set this up properly with less frustration and less time hopefully.


Thanks,

a5'


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## a59303 (Aug 24, 2016)

Snurg said:


> As you have DHCP returning a private address, I guess you got a (DSL, cable, 4G or satellite) modem/router from your ISP.
> If you want to serve to the public internet, you will probably have to configure the router to either do PAT or route all things transparently to your host.



That is kind of the thing.  I have a router/modem in this building which I have gotten from the ISP.  I cannot change this device apparently.  I think they configure it using the MAC address or something.  What I am trying to figure out is what is what really.  The setup has worked so far but that is after much trial and error.  I will try to read about PAT a bit.

Thanks,
a5'


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## Snurg (Aug 24, 2016)

It's easy, however a bit less easy to find out.
Some time ago had a surfboard for years myself.
The surfboard's web interface is usually on 192.168.100.1. The default admin password is usually "admin" or "admin0000".
Just go through the web interface. I think you'll get the idea when seeing. Also read the help info it offers.

Edit: You may have to make sure you explicitly enter http://192.168.100.1 in your browser as some browsers are set up to refuse connections that are not secure (https).


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## a59303 (Aug 24, 2016)

Snurg said:


> It's easy, however a bit less easy to find out.
> Some time ago had a surfboard for years myself.
> The surfboard's web interface is usually on 192.168.100.1. The default admin password is usually "admin" or "admin0000".
> Just go through the web interface. I think you'll get the idea when seeing. Also read the help info it offers.
> ...



Yeah, I have looked at that interface, although there is nowhere to enter a password, I think its a basic model.  I guess (thinking aloud) I could `ping` the MAC address on the modem, maybe?

a5'


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## a59303 (Aug 24, 2016)

OK, 
Thanks to both of you.  I will be out till this evening (now 10:43am).  So about 7hrs or so I will be delayed in responding.

a5'


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## a59303 (Aug 25, 2016)

Well, the ISP did give me the info so I can move forward.

Thanks,

a5'


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