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Linux Networking Series, Part 5: iptables and Netfilter in Practice
2006-10-09
If ipchains was a meaningful step, iptables with netfilter architecture was the real modernization event for Linux firewalling and packet policy.
This stack is now mature enough for serious production and broad enough to scare teams that treat firewalling as an occasional script tweak. It demands better mental models, better runbooks, and better discipline around change management. ... continue
From Mailboxes to Everything Internet, Part 1: The Gateway Years
2006-03-14
By the time people started saying “everything is online now,” many of us had already lived through two different worlds that barely spoke the same language.
The first world was mailbox culture: dial-up nodes, message bases, Crosspoint setups, nightly rituals, packet exchanges, and local sysops who could fix a broken feed with a modem command and a pot of coffee. The second world was internet service culture: DNS, MX records, SMTP relays, POP boxes, always-on links, and users asking why the web was “slow today” as if bandwidth was weather. ... continue
Linux Networking Series, Part 4: iproute2 and the Migration from ifconfig/route
2004-06-09
Linux admins in 2004 usually have muscle memory for:
Those tools build competent operators. They are not “bad.” They are simply limited for the routing complexity we run now. ... continue
Home Router in 2003: Debian Woody, iptables and the Stuff Which Runs
2003-03-02
Now the router is in a phase where I trust it.
This is a good feeling. It is not the first excitement feeling from the early SuSE days, and it is also not the hack-pride feeling from the D-channel/syslog trick. It is something else. The machine is simply there. It routes. It resolves. It gives leases. It proxies web. It zaps ads. It survives reboot. It is part of the flat now like the switch or the shelf. ... continue
Debian Potato on a 486 Before the Real Router Swap
2001-09-08
Now the DSL line is finally really there.
The modem LED is not blinking anymore. It is stable. This alone already changes the whole feeling in the room. For years that modem was almost decoration with hope inside. Now it is actually the uplink. ... continue