John Floren wrote: On 3/30/08, Bob Armstrong <bob at jfcl.com> wrote: Would it also solve his Firewall problem, if he's the one initiating I don't think so - he'll still have to configure his router to accept incoming UDP packets on port 700 and forward them to his VAX. Bob It could be more complicated than that... here's my setup, tell me what you think: [Internet]----[router]~~~wireless~~~[laptop]-----[Alpha and VAX] There's a wireless router downstairs connected to the Internet. My laptop has a wireless card and is configured to act as a gateway for the wired LAN in my room, to which the laptop, the Alpha, and the VAX are all connected. I don't see any problems with that. In fact, what is beyond your laptop is rather irrelevant. As long as your laptop acts like a router, it isolates your local network from whatever might be used outside. All that is needed is for packets from the Internet to be able to reach your laptop, which means that either your laptop must have an IP address which is public, or your router must do NAT, and be able to forward packets addressed to a specific UDP port on towards your laptop. This is for bridges outside to be able to send packets to you. Of course, you will also send packets to them, but most firewalls and routers don't have a problem with allowing and handling outgoing traffic by default. Johnny