On 2011-09-11 21.45, Mark Wickens wrote: Guys, Looking to tap into your collective knowledge. I'd like to set up a 3G dongle for the DEC Legacy event. The plan will be to add my machine as an area router then other participants machines into that area. Steve Davidson has pointed out that there are decnet numbers allocated for experimental purposes. I think I understand how to setup my 3G dongle to connect to the internet via an ubuntu machine. I am happy setting up a DHCP and DNS server on the same machine. The bit I don't understand is how I would fit the hecnet bridge into this network. Normally on my DSL router I have a port redirection rule setup on port 4711 to point to a Debian based box on my LAN. How would I achieve the same effect on a linux box? If I run the bridge on the same box, does this negate the need for a rule? If all this works, is there a restriction of one decnet area per lan segment? Can I run two areas on my side of the bridge? Thanks for the help, Mark In general, if/when you have a setup like that, it's the same as if you connect your computer directly to the internet. So, your Linux box is at the same location your DSL router is. So, there are no rules to setup to pass a packet through the router. The reason for the rule is that your DSL router acts as a firewall (and possibly NAT), which is what you need to circumvent for the bridge. No firewall/NAT box in between means no need to punch a hole through it. So you should be able to run the bridge directly on that box, and it should work. All however, also depends on what your mobile operator might be doing... Area number for experimental is probably not going to help you, though. You already have an area. Adding more nodes to it is hardly any different than having a new area setup, except that if you setup a new area, you will need an area router for it. I don't really see much point in the "experimental" area we have reserved, but since we have plenty of areas anyway, there is no harm in it. Anyone using that area can expect things to not work though, as someone else might also be using the same area, and conflict/confusion might follow. As for having several different areas on the same lan, no problem. Johnny