Newbie

[Rich Rudnick]

Donald wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> I'm a Windows sysadmin who is new to Ubuntu. My son has been busting my
> chops to give it a look and I recently acquired a Dell 2650 that I would
> like to configure as a firewall for my network.
> 
> Knowing next to nothing about the OS I was hoping someone could point me
> in the right direction where I might find some literature and how-to
> information that would assist me in this endeavor. My son simply gushes
> over Ubuntu and having seen the workstation version on his PC, I must
> admit that it appears very user-friendly. 
> 
> At $1000.00+ for an entry-level SonicWall firewall (that my secadmins
> insist is not a "real" firewall) and upwards of $5000.00 for a
> CheckPoint solution, not to mention license fees, a Linux-like
> implementation simply makes good sense. A security consultant friend of
> mine swears that a rock-solid implementation is possible; I just need a
> little guidance. 
> 

You could install a full fledged linux OS and configure it as a
firewall, but you might find http://smoothwall.org/ more useful as a
dedicated installation.