I'm in the process of setting up a MacOS X Server box at the office, which will serve as a router/firewall/VPN/etc. I hit a roadblock yesterday when trying to configure NAT (Network Address Translation) for our ADSL connection. It turns out that Apple's Server Admin tool does not allow you to share a PPPoE (DSL) internet connection. Utter stupidity!
To top things off, while the knowledge base article explains this limitation, it fails to explain why this is the case:
You cannot configure network address translation (NAT) in Mac OS X Server when the primary Internet connection uses PPPoE, because the PPPoE network interface will not appear in the “External network interface” pop-up menu in Server Admin (located at Computers & Services > NAT > Settings).
Real helpful. ("Captain Obvious to the rescue!")
This is the recommended solution:
To work around this issue, you need a DSL modem that negotiates the PPPoE authentication itself, rather than configuring the server to do so.
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The ability of a modem to operate in this manner is sometimes known as "half-bridge mode" or "DHCP spoofing."
Although MacOS X (and Server) supports PPPoE connections, we can't share them because the configuration software doesn't support it, and as a result we should go out and spend more money on hardware. Right…
Thankfully, some smart cookies have figured out that you can just override the settings.
Apple: Rather than shifting the blame and putting the onus on the administrator, why don't you fix the Server Admin tool to support what is already supported by the underlying software?
