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System requirements for Linux Firewall/gateway

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EuphonicTrash

Technical User
Nov 10, 2000
13
US
I'm currently running a small network of 4 computers:
a redhat 6.2 file/print/web/FTP/telnet server (P100-32ram)
a win95 workstation (p90-16ram)
a win98 workstation (Pii350-64ram)
a linux/win dualboot workstation(AMDK6,475mhz-128ram).

I use the win98 workstation & aol for internet access cause I'm too cheap to buy a real modem.

I'm getting DSL soon and I've got one more port open on the hub (and the uplink port). I want to put the network on the internet. I'm thinking of using an additional P100 with 32 megs of RAM as a RH 6.2 firewall/internet gateway.
Will this be sufficient to support traffic from two simultaneous users and a web/FTP/telnet server? (extremely light traffic on the server)

I've heard of linux firewalls/gateways that run off of floppies with no hard drive at all, does anyone know where I can find more info on these? Given my hardware setup, would they be worth looking into?

Thanks,
Jonathan

 
Try Coyote Linux ( It is a lightweight Linux specifically developed for sharing internet connections.

A Pentium 90 with 32 megs RAM is more than sufficient to firewall even a mid-sized network. When I had a Pentium 90 as my home network gateway with FreeBSD, I rarely saw more than 1 or 2% processor usage.

If you want really good security, I recommend you try FreeBSD or OpenBSD. (It will be a bit more work, though)
 
Thanks for the info. Actually, I was thinking that when I get the DSL connection up and running I'd download BeOS, though FreeBSD does have a nicer logo, nice T-shirts too.

I'll definately check out coyote linux.

Thanks





 
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