setting up a hardware firewall ipcop? 1

[pechenegs]

hi, I want to set up a hardware firewall using an old compaq pentuim 133 mhz. As far as I know, I need to install ipcop on the old box, with the modem and a nic card? However, I am using NTL's cable modem 300kb and the software reports that the processor needs to be at least 166mhz. is there any way around this? The compaq also has a 1gb hard drive and 64 ram.

My main machine is running xpsp2, 40gb hd, 256 ram and 850mhz amd duron

thx in advance khaz

 

[bswip]

To answer your question:

I would go to the IPCop Support web page at

http://www.ipcops.net/index.php

Now if I understand you correctly, you will need the following:

2 nic cards on your IPCop machine (a red zone and a green zone) The red zone will be hooked up to your cable modem and you will have to let IPcop know how to communicte with your ISP.

I don't know how many systems you want to connect ot the green zone, but if it is only 1, then connect that system to the NIC designated as the Green zone. Otherwise, you will need a switch where the green zone and all other systems are connected.

If you have a the need for a wireless connection (the Blue zone), then you will need to connect yor WAP to another NIC (the Blue Nic) on IPCop.

If you want to have a web server, then you will need another NIC designated as the Orange zone.

It may sound confusing, but by referencing the link above and the official IPCop web site, your questions will be answered.

Running IPcop 1.4 with Red-Green-Blue-Orange zones

 

[pechenegs]

ok, cheers bswip

 

[feshangi]

Is this a good firewall? I am actually looking for one!

 

[bswip]

This is a very good firewall. It's original base was smoothwall, but they decided to make two versions, one free the other commerical. So, needless to say, there was disagreement in the spirit of Open Source and thus IPCop was formed. IPCop has all the features of Smoothwall plus some additional features.

I have been using it since the original 1.3 release without a problem.

Where I work, we are considering using IPCop's blue zone to protect our wireless infrastructure.

By all means give it a ride and you will be pleasantly surprised. Their address is

http://www.ipcop.org

 

[Eddiefdz]

If you are interested in a great linux based firewall, please take a look at

http://m0n0.ch/wall.

By the way those are zerp's in m0n0. This is by far the best linux based firewall i have ever used. I have tried ipcop, smoothwall, and many others. Since i found m0n0wall it has been the best, i have been running it a my place of business for over a year. I have 60 users on my network and it runs flawless. Let me know if I can be of help.



Eddie Fernandez
CCNA, Network+, A+, MCP

 

[marsd]

Learn iptables first and then used canned products.
My .02 cents.

 

[bswip]

Well said. I used an IPTable based firewall that I had to learn and build the rules. This was a trial by learning. I eventually was able to get it working and moved over to firewall.rc. I ran this for about a year and learned a lot. I finally siwtched to IPCop about 18 months ago.

I must say that learning IPTables certainly helped a lot. This is not to say that you should not jump into a another firewall distribution, but it would certainly help having knowledge of IPTables.