IP forwarding for the dummies

How many times I am configuring a box and I don't have access to Internet.
Here is a simple and effective way to transform your laptop as an IP forwarder.

Suppose that you are configuring the alix3d3 and you don't have access to Internet, but your laptop does. We want to connect a wire between the alix3d3 and the laptop. Here is what to do:

-> On your laptop:

ifconfig eth0 192.168.2.2 # set a static ip address to eth0
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward # set forwarding
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ${IFACE_NET} -j MASQUERADE

Note that ${IFACE_NET} is the interface from where you get your internet access. Usually, if it is by wifi, it is ath0 or wlan0.

-> On the other box:

ifconfig eth0 192.168.2.3
route add -net default gw 192.168.2.2

Make sure your /etc/resolv.conf is not empty. You can still use a public dns server.

That's all, now you are able to get internet from your box, using the laptop.