I have a three machine home network with an NT server 4.0, a Windows 2000 pro and a Linux Red Hat 7.2
I'm looking to get ahold of another machine to use solely as a firewall. I already have a shared internet connection through the Win 2000 machine, but I'd like to move that task to a more secure Linux box.
So my question is:
How EXACTLY should I configure that new Linux machine in order to totally (or as close to totally as possible) secure my network from unauthorized outside manipulation.
I assume I will need to configure ipchains somehow but I'm not real familiar with it.
A complete and thorough explanation will recieve a generous points allotment.
Thanks in advance.
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three reasons I was thinking of doing it:
1. Experience. I'm just getting back into Linux and want to learn as much as I can.
2. My mom is getting ready to upgrade her old P100 and I figured I could get some use out of it.
3. Currently I don't have any broadband capability, and I figured the easiest way to share the modem connection would be to set up a modem on the cheap linux box.
Check out www.freesco.org . Freesco is a dedicated Linux distribution and it works very well for me as a router (ADSL connection, 2 NIC:s). It should handle modem connections as well. Runs on anything from 486 up and fits on a floppy.
Regards
/RID
another one to check out is www.smoothwall.org
Linux based distro that is exactly what you need. It makes a PC (486 up) and turns it into a router/firewall. The installation is easy and assumes you know nothing about firewalls.
I'll check those out...
Any advice / links on using a regular Red Hat 7.1 distrib for the same purpose? I won't be doing this for at least a month and want to explore all options. Would it be harder to administer a "full" distribution? What would I need to do?
I do want to learn as much as possible about firewalls, so I'd like to get my hands dirty, but not if it means that I'd be opening unnecessary security holes.
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by: netmagePosted on 2001-12-31 at 19:44:41ID: 6703422
Have you considered the idea of using a router instead of spending the money on a linux box?
Generally, If sharing via NAT it will secure your internal non routeable IP addresses and give you hardware reliablilty thats easy to configure. There are even content filtering units that dynamically update.
However, if you have special network reason to need a Linux box could you post these here.
ie: internet ip address subnet routing via a modem.