The Location Of My Server...

[Mini-Me]

OK, about to make available my new server to the home network.
I have not quite finished, but need some pointers.

Using the Linux system as the server, it requests that I give the server an IP address, but that I stick to some specific network addresses so that the contents of the server are not visable on the Internet.

They suggest 192.168.x.x or 10.1.x.x ranges.

Is it safe to use any of these?

I plan to use 192.168.x.x range...

[Variable]

:)

Yes. These are called Private addresses. Internet routers won't route for those specific ranges. You only should use those ranges. You have three range choices and which of these are (or should be) chosen is based on the number of hosts or machines in your internal network (LAN).

The private Class C range of 192.168.0.0 with a mask of 255.255.0.0 Allows you to have more than 65 thousand hosts on your network and that number should suffice for all but some of your larger mormon families.

This number is a range -
So you could pick 192.168.1-255.1-255

Your subnet mask dictates the size of your network. So for instance, if you gave your routers LAN side an IP of 192.168.1.1 AND you made the subnet mask 255.255.0.0 - you are telling your routers LAN side to accept and route packets from ANY host between 192.168.1-255.1.255.

What most home users use is one network with a class C default mask of 255.255.255.0
What this means is, if you assigned your routers LAN IP 192.168.1.1 with a mask of 255.255.255.0. Your router would only accept and route packets on the LAN side for the range of 192.168.1.1-255. This is where your Default Gateway comes in. Any IP you send a packet to that does NOT fall within your network and subnet mask range will be sent to the Default Gateway. Your Default Gateway is your "route" out of the local network and the local Network is defined by your IP and Subnet mask.
"Private" IP ranges were settled on a long time ago to allow Internal networks to have ranges that do not conflict and do not overlap real "Public" IP's. IP addresses are jsut that, they are Addresses. So imagine you decided to give everyone your home address as 111 North Bumfuzzel, Alaska. You should not be surprised if you never receive any mail in your mail box. It is all going to North Bumfuzzel. So that is why there are Private and Public addresses. You could say one for LAN's and one for WANS.

[Mini-Me]

Excellent information - thanks Variable.
:)

With the gateway, which can be anywhere in these ranges but normally 192.168.1.1 or 10.1.1.1, this is just the LOCATION of the door out into the Internet, right? In other words, consider the network to be a house with several rooms, and every room has a door. The internal doors represent the machines on the local network, and the GATEWAY is the front-door or back-door to the outside world - outside the house - the Internet.

The fact that the gateway is another IP address within this non-routable range means it is hard for hackers to get into your network as the IP address range is a non-routable one?

I still have problems getting my head around IP addresses, so bear with me...

[Variable]

The internal doors represent the machines on the local network, and the GATEWAY is the front-door or back-door to the outside world - outside the house - the Internet.

Yes, this is accurate. I would use the analogy of a office building for a network to explain it better below.

The fact that the gateway is another IP address within this non-routable range means it is hard for hackers to get into your network as the IP address range is a non-routable one?

Your bumping in to the idea but the reasoning is a bit off. Drop the thinking about the hacker out of it, protection of your network happens because of your router, which is doing NAT. If your trying to understand the idea of private and public addressing I would leave security out of it because this alone is not what makes your network secure.

Lets try to explain it.

Think of your network as office building. Your default gateway is the door out of the building. This door has a front desk clerk, all traffic must go through the front desk. Now imagine that your surfing the internet are "packages" that you send from your office to another office in another city. Now assume you send a package to another business. The packing slip has your office address as the sender and the recipients address as the destination. All nice and simple.

Now you drop off the package at the front desk of the building and ask that it get delivered. The front desk clerk erases YOUR real address from the packing slip - replaces it with a different address in your same range. He then adds a note that has the office buildings address as the "In care of" return address and sends the package out with a delivery man. You see, no one can deliver a package directly to you on the third floor. All deliveries must come through the front desk. He then writes down that the package went out at 3:00PM, your REAL address on the third floor and the FAKE address he wrote on the packing slip he gave to the delivery man.

Now you see where security comes in. It is not simply the fact that you have an internal address, but that the delivery man or the recipient of the package doesn't even know what the REAL address of the sender is! They only know for a fact the address of your office building. Your real address is only known to the desk clerk, who upon receiving a return package then translates the fake address on the package with the real address he wrote down and then sends it up to you on the third floor. That is what is known as NAT or Network Address Translation.

[Mini-Me]

More good info - thanks Variable. Sorry it took a couple of days to reply - busy.
I think I understand a little better now - I will let you know how I get on, but still a week or so away from finished building the new server...