Chapter 2 Understanding the installation environment 25Installing the BayStack Instant Internet Management Software Version 7.11Understanding gateways and DNS proxiesWhen you access Internet Web sites through the Instant Internet unit, the unitfunctions as both a gateway to the Internet and a DNS proxy:• Gateway – A gateway is a system that links different networks and enablesthem to communicate with each other. Instant Internet is the gateway thatlinks your company’s network to the Internet. Depending on yourconfiguration, you may need to configure your workstations to use the InstantInternet unit as their gateway to the Internet.• DNS Proxy – A DNS (Domain Name Service) proxy translateshuman-readable domain names into computer-readable IP addresses. Forexample, the domain name www.nortelnetworks.com for the Nortel NetworksWeb site might translate to the IP address 134.177.3.28. After Instant Internettranslates a domain name into an IP address, the workstations on yournetwork can communicate with the Web site associated with that IP address.Depending on your configuration, you may need to configure each of yourworkstations to use Instant Internet as their DNS proxy.Understanding static IP addressesIf you are already using static IP addresses for your network workstations, youhave two options. You can:• Change from static IP addresses to dynamic IP addresses by setting up theInstant Internet unit as a DHCP server. This is the recommendedconfiguration. If you do this, you must configure each of your workstationsto allow the Instant Internet unit to assign their IP addresses.• Continue to use static IP addresses. If you do this, you must also assign astatic IP address to the Instant Internet unit and configure each of yourworkstations to use the Instant Internet unit as the gateway to the Internet andas the Internet DNS proxy. Refer to “Preparing a TCP/IP network with staticIP addresses (no BootP or DHCP server)” on page 82.
