SEARCH CXO Cloud Big Data Security Innovation More

NETWORKING

Router Configuration 101:

Connecting the router to the
Internet
This three-part series reviews the basics of setting up a Cisco
router. Part 1 discussed <a
href='http://www.techrepublic.com/5100-10586-5589161.html'
target='_blank'>how to boot up your new Cisco router</a>, and
part 2 explained <a href='http://www.techrepublic.com/5100-
10586-5596832.html' target='_blank'>how to apply IP addresses
to interfaces</a> and enable them for use. Now, learn how to
connect the router to the Internet using Network Address
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 Translation (NAT).
By David Davis CCIE | March 17, 2005, 12:00 AM PST

EDITOR'S PICKS
Want to learn more about router and switch
management? Automatically sign up for our free
Cisco Routers and Switches newsletter, delivered
each Friday!

To answer a recent question from a member, I IBM Watson: The Rise of the million-
inside story dollar smartphone
decided to address the basics of Cisco router
configuration in a three-part series. In part 1 of this
series, "Router Configuration 101: Setting up the
router," I walked you through the process of
connecting a new Cisco router, configuring it
through the console, and familiarizing yourself with
The world's smartest The undercover war
the different IOS administrative modes the router cities on your internet
offers. In part 2, "Router Configuration 101: secrets

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 Configuring and securing the router," we secured
the router with passwords, applied IP addresses to
FREE NEWSLETTERS, IN YOUR INBOX
interfaces, and enabled those interfaces for use.
Tech News You Can Use
We'll wrap up this series by connecting the router
We deliver the top business tech news stories
to the Internet. This process is comparable to about the companies, the people, and the
connecting a home network to the Internet with a products revolutionizing the planet.
Linksys, Netgear, or D-Link router. These routers Delivered Daily
use Network Address Translation (NAT), which
SUBSCRIBE
allows you to use a single IP address for several
computers. We'll do the same thing with the Cisco
router. Best of the Week
Our editors highlight the TechRepublic articles,
Before we get started, take a look at Figure A, galleries, and videos that you absolutely
which you'll recognize from our last article. This cannot miss to stay current on the latest IT
offers an illustration of what our example network news, innovations, and tips.

looks like. Delivered Fridays

SUBSCRIBE
Figure A

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 If you're wondering why using NAT is necessary,
it's because we choose the IP address scheme for
the LAN from the blocks of RFC 1918 private IP
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 addresses. Because these IP addresses aren't
usable on the Internet, we must translate these IP
addresses into a real Internet IP address, such as
one provided by an ISP.

Depending on how you want to use your network,

a number of ways are available to accomplish this.
However, for the purposes of this article, we just
want to connect the router to the Internet. (To learn
more about NAT and related topics, check out
these articles: "Set up NAT using the Cisco IOS"
and "Set up Port Address Translation (PAT) in the
Cisco IOS.")

So, we'll use NAT to provide the IP address

translation from our LAN to our WAN. While most
consumer-based routers refer to NAT as a
ubiquitous term, there are a few different kinds of
NAT, including static NAT, pooled NAT, and NAT
overload (also called port address translation, or
PAT).

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 Consumer-based routers typically use NAT
overload, which is what we'll use for this example.
NAT overload involves using a single Internet IP
address and multiple inside IP addresses.

Let's look at the step-by-step process for

configuring NAT overload. The router needs to be
in Global Configuration Mode, and the prompt
should look like this: Internet-Router(config)#.

Create a pool of Internet IP addresses

For this example, we're going to overload a single
Internet IP address. Since this is the only IP
address we have, we'll create a pool with only one
IP address in it. Listing A shows an example.

Create an access list

Next, we must determine who the router allows to
use NAT to access the Internet using our NAT pool,
which we can accomplish by creating an access list.
For this example, we'll allow the entire internal
network to use NAT to access the Internet. Listing
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 network to use NAT to access the Internet. Listing
B shows an example.

Create the NAT source list

Now, we must connect the pool and the list of
users. We can accomplish this by telling the router
that we want to use NAT from the inside (using the
access list to define our possible source IP
addresses) and go to the outside using the pool
that contains our single Internet IP address. In
addition, we want to overload this single Internet IP
address using PAT. Listing C shows an example.

Define the inside and the outside NAT

interfaces
Next, we need to tell the router which interface is
the inside and which is the outside. Here's an
example:

Internet-Router(config)# interface ethernet 0/0

Internet-Router(config-if)# ip nat inside
Internet-Router(config-if)# exit
Internet-Router(config)#
Internet-Router(config)# interface serial 0/0
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 Internet-Router(config)# interface serial 0/0
Internet-Router(config-if)# ip nat outside
Internet-Router(config-if)# exit
Internet-Router(config)#

Figure B offers a graphic representation of this

process.

Figure B

Configure a default route

Last time, we configured IP addresses on the
router's two interfaces, letting it know which two
networks it connects to. However, it doesn't know
what to do with traffic that isn't on these two
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 networks—such as the Web-browsing traffic you'll
forward to it.

So, we need to tell the router to send any traffic it

doesn't know what to do with to the ISP (i.e., the
Internet). In other words, we need to configure a
default route to the ISP. Here's an example:

Internet-Router(config)# ip route 0.0.0.0

0.0.0.0 1.1.1.2

Configure a static IP address, subnet mask,

and more
Since we haven't configured Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on the router, we
must statically configure the PC's IP address,
subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS servers.
Of course, the IP address should be in the
192.168.1.2 to 254 range, and the subnet mask
should be 255.255.255.0. The default gateway
should match the router's LAN IP address—in this
case, 192.168.1.1. You can get the DNS server IP

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 addresses from your ISP.

After you've configured this on your PC, you should

be able to browse the Internet using the router.
Listing D shows a sample router's configuration.

Don't forget that this series details the basics of

router configuration and takes a rather simplistic
view of the process. Using a Cisco router to
connect a LAN to the Internet can be quite
complex and easily become frustrating, but
hopefully this article will help you start off on the
right foot.

David Davis has worked in the IT industry for 12

years and holds several certifications, including
CCIE, MCSE+I, CISSP, CCNA, CCDA, and CCNP. He
currently manages a group of systems/network
administrators for a privately owned retail
company and performs networking/systems
consulting on a part-time basis.

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 Add your Comment Powered by Livefyre

LATEST FROM TECH PRO SERVICES EXPLORE

RESEARCH
About Us Blogs
IT consultant code of
conduct Membership Downloads

Quick glossary: Project Newsletters TechRepublic Forums

management RSS Feeds Meet the Team

Interview questions: Site Map Tech Pro Research

Business information
Site Help & Feedback Resource Library
analyst
FAQ Photos
Job description:
Business information Advertise Videos
analyst Reprint Policy

© 2016 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Cookies | Ad Choice | Terms of
Use | Mobile User Agreement

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com
 A ZDNet site | Visit other CBS Interactive sites: Select Site

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com