[X4U] Mac mini as an Internet Gateway.

[Philip J Robar]

On Dec 14, 2005, at 8:21 AM, Craig A. Finseth wrote:

> 	...
>> Is it feasible to so this on a Mac mini with a single ethernet port?
>> I'm wondering if I can use ifconfig to 'alias' the external IP  
>> address
>> to the same ethernet port that has our internal address. I know it
>> would be better to have two network cards but I don't have a G5 or
>> XServe spare to do this with.
> 	...
>    I'm not sure what you're trying to do here...
> 	...
>    If you want to use the Mac Mini as a (NAT) router then it won't  
> work. I
>    looked into this fairly extensively - admittedly under Linux rather
>    than Mac OS X, but it shouldn't make any difference - trying to  
> route
>    through a single physical interface causes packet collisions and
>    slowdowns & all manner of Bad Things. It might work _extremely  
> slowly_
> 	...
>
> It really depends on the load and various network speeds involved.
>
> If you've got a DSL line that tops out at a megabit and the Mini is
> hooked up at 100 Mbps, I don't see a problem.
>
> It also depends on the application load.
>
> The best thing is to be much more clear and detailed in your question.

I'm with Stoller on this. Other than for its educational value why  
bother trying to make this work when you can get a USB ethernet  
adaptor for a few dollars?

Here's someone who has looked into this extensively: http:// 
www.sustworks.com/site/news_usb_ethernet.html


Phil