ipcop uses 3 primary partition and I need another 2

[remyvrs]

I've instaled the ipcop distribution of linux and it uses 3 primary partition to run but I would need another 2 partition to instal a Windows os and to make an logical partition (that need an extended one that is also primary).
Does anybody have an idea for my objective wich is:
run both ipcop and win on same hdd and also have an logical volume to use Ghost or acronis secure zone.
I'm a newbie in linux but i thought about this: is it posible to make linux run on only 2 primary partitions.
Any hint or idea could help...

It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
Thanks for your attitude!

 

[Chacalinc]

I don't know IPCOP but linux.. you can use only 2 partitions:

/
swap

the rest for windows.

Chacal, Inc.

 

[pansophic]

Why would you be trying to run a firewall application in a dual boot mode? IPCop is a dedicated firewall application that is built on a linux OS.

You really want to run a Workstation class linux distro, not IPCop. Look at SuSE, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu or KNOPPIX (for a live-CD) to run as a linux distro. A workstation or server linux distro can install on 1 or more partitions (most people who use linux in a production environment will use 3 or more partitions) and these partitions can be primary or extended (yes, linux will boot from an extended partition, unlike Windows).


pansophic

 

[remyvrs]

Why would you be trying to run a firewall application in a dual boot mode?::
Beacouse there are programs (like remote controlers) that run on Windows and need to use an "visible" IP over the internet and second of all the "server" firewall that i use is a laptop wich i use to other "field-work". But i've managed with the help of a friend to set the second and third partition as being logical (that i knew how to do it) and make linux work on them (that he did it) and now i have 2 available primary partitions that i'm using beside the fact that i already had made the extended partition in wich i can make anotther logical fat32 partitions... Thanks for your support!

It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
Thanks for your attitude!

 

[pansophic]

Are you actually running IPCop as your linux distro? It is an extremely crippled version of linux. You are missing out on 90+% of the linux functionality.


pansophic

 

[remyvrs]

as i have said i'm a newbie in linux but i'm tring to learn an d in the mean time i want to use is as a firewall for my computers ... by the way: what is a distro? ... it also seams to be better then the other popular distributions by having an very unsual partition geometry.
so i'm tring to get the 90% for me (tring to grab) but it will take time...

It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
Thanks for your attitude!

 

[pansophic]

As a firewall, you need to have at least 2 NICs in your computer. One for the Red network (the Internet) and one for the Green network (the computers that you are trying to protect). With IPCop you can dedicate a older, slower computer to doing nothing but being the firewall. It runs in console mode, so there is no graphical interface. This requires very little memory compared with running X windows (and a desktop like KDE or Gnome).

If you are simply trying to learn linux, IPCop is not a good place to start. Because it is a firewall, they have removed things like the windowing environment and many of the common tools used for managing, developing and producing because of the potential vulnerabilities that these types of applications introduce. They also use a very old kernel (although it is a hardened kernel). That means that things like USB devices will be difficult to use. If you want an application that can only be downloaded as source, you have to have another linux computer with a compiler on it so that you can compile the source and then move the binary onto the IPCop machine. And you generally have to compile the application as a statically linked binary, because it is likely that the libraries that the application uses don't exist on the firewall (they don't include anything that isn't necessary to operate the firewall because of potential security vulnerabilities).

Distro is short for distribution. If you are just trying to learn linux, the live-CDs like KNOPPIX, SuSE and Ubuntu are all great places to start. They run on nearly any computer that will boot from the CD/DVD and they will automatically identify most hardware. They also have bundled applications that are compiled and configured to work and there is no install. Installation is generally one of the most daunting tasks that keeps people away from running linux in the first place.


pansophic

 

[remyvrs]

i have to say that it wasn't hard at all to install linux but i've forgot to mention that i'm a analyst programer so when i said that i want to learn about linux i was refering to get to the same performance that i had obtained in understanding windows.
actually i have instaled red hat 9, fedora core 4, suse 9.2..., mandrake ... an dit doesn't seem hard.
i aslo have to say that ipcop doesn't have an old kernel and if you mentioned about USB ,... imagine:my laptop doesn't have to network cards (i haven't heard of any to have) and the red interface is on cable modem which works on the USB and that was very easy "viewed" by ipcop. so you are right: ipcop does only firewall but it is good at what it does with low resources and for learning linux i use vmware on my other computer (which is far more powerfull than the laptop). maybe you are curious why i use my laptop as firewall, here is why: is a Pentium III 400 Mhz 128 RAM so i can't do much with it, consumes minimal power, makes little heat, occupies little space and if i would sell it i won't get much money... it is very satisfying for me what i do with it and of course is mobile when i need it for little tasks (evenso it works great with win2k)...


It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
Thanks for your attitude!

 

[pansophic]

IPCop has a 2.4 kernel. Most distros are supporting a 2.6 kernel, so it is old, but not so old that it is unsupported.

And yes, IPCop does support a USB NIC, but no other devices that I know of.

I am curious how you were able to get it to install without destroying your existing partitioning. I've installed it several times, but never worried about customizing the installation since I use it exclusively as a firewall. I don't recall the typical partitioning options during the IPCop install.

Or did you just install and then image the partitions, repartition and write the images back to the new partitions?


pansophic

 

[remyvrs]

actually i have redimensioned the partitions (after i strted this thread), which are primary partition and as i wrote above:
" But i've managed with the help of a friend to set the second and third partition as being logical (that i knew how to do it) and make linux work on them (that he did it) and now i have 2 available primary partitions that i'm using beside the fact that i already had made the extended partition in wich i can make anotther logical fat32 partitions... " after that, by redimensioning them i have a lot of free space to use for win 2k and a extended partition on which i have already imaged, as you said, both win 2k and linux ipcop. so you have imagened the soluton that i used... i didn't say that it is a costumized instal that allows me not to erase the existing partition.

P.S: i use for selecting os's the powerquest bootmagic beacouse i did not know how to reinstal grub so that it sees both ipcop an win2k

It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
Thanks for your attitude!

 

[pansophic]

I've never tried to repartition the drive after the OSs were installed. I've known people to do it using the Linux fdisk and were able to preserve the OS as long as the start and end sectors were the same, but I've never tried it myself.

Bravo!


pansophic