This isn't quite a Samba question, rather an intergrating Linux and
Windowns question, but I can't think of a better place to ask it.
The basic question is whether anyone has thought about writing free
client code for Microsoft's WinSock Proxy service. I am interested in
information about projects already begun, or in tips on how to go about
writing it myself.
Background infromation:
Microsoft has a "WinSock Proxy Service" that works much like IP Masq
on
Linux, allowing machines on a LAN to access the internet without real IP
addresses (and without modifying applications). Unfortunately, as you
guessed, it requires client support that is only available for Microsoft
platforms. The good news is that the client support seems to be minimal:
the client has to exchange information with the proxy via a "control
channel" when initiating a connection and a few other times, but other
than that the masquerading is transparent.
Microsoft implements this as a replacement DLL on the client that
overrides a few WinSock functions, mainly those that create connections.
So it seems to me that a Unix client could be done similarly, without
modifying the low-level networking stuff. I'd be really happy if I could
do this on a Linux computer at work.
I'm a beginner in this area, so I may have misexplained some things.
I'd
be happy to forward a copy of Microsoft's technical documentation to
anyone interested.
Thanks,
Andrew
