routers, gateways, firewalls, dns etc...

[arson smith]

I have used linux ipchains/ipmasq for my firewalls and
gateways at home for dial up and at our temporary office here
over the dsl line.  I haven't messed with anything bigger
than that.  I am wondering now about routers mostly.  what
exactly does a router do that my ipmasq linux box doesn't
I don't really want a complete lesson on this just a quick
overview of what it is for.  basicly I am setting up a net
work for a t1 line.  from the t1 it goes into a router, from
there it goes into my linux firewall with ipmasq being used
as the gateway to the internet.  then going to a 192.168.x.x
network in our lan.  I have a dhcp/samba/dns server running
inside the firewall for the lan also.

now for the real questions. Is this what I should be
doing? and could I get a basic explination of networking
from the lan to the internet?

These questions almost seem trivial to what I feel I should
know but don't.  It just seems my knowladge is really full
of holes. also is there any good reading I could pick
up for explaining this kind of stuff that is 900+ pages?

Bill Warner
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