Understanding Gateways And Dns Servers; Understanding How The Baystack 820 Isdn Router Works With Your Existing Dhcp Server - Nortel BayStack 820 Installation And Reference Manual

Understanding Gateways and DNS Servers

When you access a remote LAN or Internet Web site through the router, it
functions as the gateway to other networks.
• Gateway – A gateway is a system that links two networks and enables them
to communicate with each other. When you use the router, the router is the
gateway that links your company's network to another network or to the
Internet. Depending on your configuration, you may need to inform the
workstations that the router is the gateway to remote networks.
• DNS Server – A Domain Name Service (DNS) server translates
human-readable domain names into computer-readable IP addresses. For
example, the domain name www.nortelnetworks.com for the Nortel Networks
Web site might translate to the IP address 134.177.3.28. After a domain name
is translated into an IP address, the workstations on your network can
communicate with the Web site. As a DHCP server, the BayStack 820 ISDN
Router automatically assigns DNS addresses to the workstations.
Understanding How the BayStack 820 ISDN Router Works with Your
Existing DHCP Server
You can have only one IP address server on the network—either an existing
DHCP server or the BayStack 820 ISDN Router. If you already have a DHCP
server or do not want to use the router as a DHCP server, you must assign a static
IP address to the router and then let all of your workstations know that the router
is the gateway to remote networks.
After you assign a static IP address to the router, you must do two things on your
DHCP server. You must:
• Exclude the static IP address that you reserved for the router from the range
(or scope) of IP addresses on the DHCP server.
• Inform the DHCP server that the router is the gateway and DNS proxy so that
the DHCP server can inform the workstations.
206901-A
Introduction
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