Newbie

[David Vincent]

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Chris wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:40:11 -0800
> Rich Rudnick <rich at aphroneo.net> wrote:
> 
>> 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.
>>
> 
> I agree here, if you have a low-end box, install smoothwall. Use the
> new Lappy for YOUR install of Ubu (or what ever *nix you wish to play
> with).

one thing about smoothwall which is starting to bother me is the lack of
security on the login page - no https thus an attacker can sniff the
admin password off the wire and then gain access to the firewall.
that's bad.

endian firewall is more secure and also takes more effort to setup - it
is an offshoot of smoothwall.  check it out.

http://www.endian.com/en/community/

there's also ipcop and a host of others out there.  if you really want
to turn that box into an awesome firewall and small network server then
have a look at SMEServer.

http://www.contribs.org

it does almost everything you'd ever need right out of the box and tries
VERY HARD to not let you expose your admin passwords.

how much RAM do you have in there?

- -d
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