Summary (TCP/IP Network Administration, 3rd Edition)

4.7. Summary

Planning is the first step in configuring TCP/IP. We began this chapter by deciding whether our network will connect to the Internet and exploring how that decision impacts the rest of our planning. We also looked at the basic information needed to configure a physical network: an IP address, a subnet mask, and a hostname. We discussed how to plan routing, which is essential for communicating between TCP/IP networks. We outlined the basic network services, starting with DNS, and discussed file, print, and email servers. Finally, we looked at the different ways that this planning information is communicated from the network administrator to the system administrators and users.

In the chapters that follow, we put these plans into action, starting with the configuration of the network interface in Chapter 6, "Configuring the Interface ". First, however, we will go inside the Unix kernel to see how TCP/IP is built into the operating system.