If you are using an external DSL or cable modem, chances are that a single connection from your
Linux machine to that equipment requires only:
An Ethernet port on your computer
A LAN cable (often provided with the ISP equipment)
The DSL router/bridge or cable modem (often provided by ISP)
Figure 5-2 illustrates a Linux computer connected to a broadband cable modem.
Broadband equipment often supplies a service called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).
DHCP provides the Internet addresses and other information that a client computer needs to connect
to the network. With the cable/DSL modem acting as a DHCP server, you can literally start
using the Internet without doing any special configuration in Linux. Just plug in, boot Linux, and
start browsing the Web.
The DSL or cable modem often acts as a router between the ISP and your computer.
Usually that device will also include a firewall configured to do network address translation.
Alternatively, some broadband equipment operates in a ???bridging mode,??? in which it doesn??™t
do routing, but simply passes data through as though your computer were on the same LAN as that
of the ISP. In this setup, the public IP address is assigned to your computer instead of the DSL or
cable modem.
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