WatchGuard Technologies WatchGuard SOHO and SOHO | tc - Manual (Page 24)

Configuring your public network
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The configuration instructions in this chapter assume that you are using
Windows 95/98/ME. If this is not the case, see your operating system
help or user guide to locate the equivalent options and commands.
Configuring your public network
When you configure the public network, you establish how the
SOHO communicates with your Internet service provider (ISP).
This configuration is very much dependent on how your ISP
distributes network addresses–using DHCP or PPPoE.
Network addressing
Each networked computer in the entire world must have an IP
address to identify itself to other computers. The most common
method to distribute IP addresses is to use Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP). When you connect your computer
to the network, a DHCP server at your ISP automatically assigns it
a network IP address. This eliminates the ISP from having to
manually assign and manage IP addresses.
IP address assignments can be either dynamic or static. With
dynamic, your ISP assigns your computer a new address every
time you connect. When you power down, you release the address,
and it is reassigned. An IP address that is static, on the other hand,
belongs to your computer at all times whether or not you are
currently using it. No other computer anywhere on the network
shares the same address.
A third way of assigning addresses is called PPPoE (Point-to-Point
Protocol over Ethernet). PPPoE combines some of the advantages