On 5/16/07, Frank Cox <theatre@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am setting up a customized application server for a business in the USA and
> am at my wits end with Qwest Communications.
>
> My client called them to obtain a static IP address and they gave him the IP
> address, subnet and primary and secondary DNS server. And that's it. No
> gateway address. (They told him that the gateway is 192.168.0.1, believe it
> or not.) He told me that they refuse to give him the gateway address unless he
> wants a block of IP addresses. They won't give it out if he just wants one
> address.
>
> I said that's ridiculous; a static IP address can't work without specifying a
> gateway address. He gave me his "case number" and all of that rigamarole and I
> phoned Quest tech support myself.
>
> Sure enough. I told the guy who answered the phone what I want and he said
> that they won't give out the gateway address unless he gets a block of IP
> addresses. I said that as far am I am aware it is impossible for the customer
> to actually use his static IP address without a gateway, but that made no
> difference. No gateway.
>
> Qwest gave him some kind of a magical installation CD that set up his Windows
> XP computer to go online. And it is online, he can plug his Windows computer
> into that modem and browse the web and so on with no problem.
>
> Dandy. We can get the magic numbers off of this Windows machine.
>
> So I told him to run "ipconfig" and tell me what it says.
>
> IP Address is what he was assigned by Qwest, good.
> Subnet 255.255.255.0, good.
> Gateway 192.168.0.1 ---- ?!?!?!...
Actually, what Qwest said is fairly standard. For an IP network you
need a block of at least four and typically eight addresses that
constitute a subnet that get delegated to you. Of the block, three
addresses are not assignable: the network number or the "bottom"
address, the gateway (usually network number + 1) and the broadcast
address. In theory you can have a block of four addresses but most
places only deal in blocks of eight.
That your client's Windoze host also shows 192.168.0.1 as the gateway
also makes sense. It sees the internal address of the gateway. The WAN
address of the gateway should be transparent to him. The gateway NATs
the 192.168.0.0/24 or /16 addresses (depends on the router) to the WAN
address. What you want is the address of the router/gateway.
You'll probably do better talking to someone in Qwest's small business
unit. Their consumer folks assume everybody just hangs some kind of
router off of their DSL line that handles everything and you don't need
to know anything else.
Cheers,
Dave
P.S. As a long time Qwest customer I came up with QWEST stands for
Quintessentially Worst Example of a Stupid Telco.
--
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce
