sharing internet between network interfaces

Question

I have a laptop with lubuntu 11 with two network interfaces, wireless and wired. Wireless interface connects to the router with DHCP and provides access to the internet. The wired interface has a staic ip address from a different range for internal LAN. I would like to allow computers on the LAN get access to internet using laptop's wireless connection. What are my options here? Do I need a bridge, NAT, firewall?

Solution

Lubuntu comes with Network-manager, which makes this very easy. Click on the network icon in your panel, and select Edit connections.

In the dialog that appears, select the wired interface and click Edit. In the IPv4-settings pane in the new dialog, you can select Method: "Shared with other computers".

Any internet connection will now be shared on your wired connection, complete with DHCP.

Comments

[Seppo Erviälä]

help.ubuntu.com/community/Internet/ConnectionSharing

[Ma99uS]

Thant did not seam to work right away. Do I need change any other settings of the interface, like ip or mask, or do I need to have some settings done on all other LAN clients?

[Ma99uS]

what does setting this "Shared with other computers" in the gui tool actually does? Can I make the same change by editing some config file manually?

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

You may need to restart the host. (The computer that shares the connection). I'm not sure. The clients doesn't need to do anything other than use DHCP.

[rubo77]

Would this work even if "The wired interface has a staic ip address from a different range"? Wouldn't that make some problems?

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

@rubo77: I don't think that should be a problem. It uses a router and a dhcp server, pretty much like your wireless router at home.