ipcop vs smoothwall

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dx2

Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
545
I'm putting together a box to use as a router/firewall because I've gotten sick of my linksys befsr41v3 taking a dump everytime I let one big torrent, let alone a couple, get goin good.

I've installed and used ipcop along with a few of its mods like url filter, it seems to support more nics than smoothwall which didn't even find the nics when I tried to install it on my same test machine.

So would anyone recommend one over the other? and once I do get either of two up and running If i switch both of my linksys over to being just hubs they wont bomb out on the torrents anymore, right?

dx2
 
The whole IPCop/SmoothWall/m0n0wall debate is usually a lot of preference. If one of them doesn't work, then you can't use it. I prefer IPCop because of the addons that you can get for it. CopFilter, URLFilter and Advanced Proxy are some of the best addons you can get.

If you disable all the DHCP stuff from your Linksys and use it only as a switch, you should be fine. I've used a Netgear in this manner. It would bomb out when routing, but just switching was fine.
 
a about 1 - 2 months ago I went to all the linux router places I could. Ipcop, smoothwall, clarkconnect, and a couple others and felt ipcop suited my needs the best. It had the most complete package and did not have "upgrades" like some did. Smoothwall would require purchasing a license for the options I needed for my house.

All I wanted was basic routing, proxy caching (really like this feature on the IPcop, does it in the background), site to site VPN, and regular VPN. I ran it for about 2 weeks and did not see a difference in speed over my 4 year old Netgear and had a problem or two here and there. Afterwards I decided it wasn't for me and went back to my solid Netgear and have been happy since.

I know ipcop would have worked great for me after a couple more tweaks, hell it worked just fine minus the no autoconnecting back up with my DSL modem properly... so the internets would go away in the middle of the day at work, and I couldn't connect back in...... but I just am happy with my simple Netgear.

All that said, I would look at ipcop first.
 
never used IPCOP , but I use Smoothwall Express 2.0 on my home box and on 6 or so boxes at work to govern over various networks and sub networks ..

I used Advanced web proxy mod with urlfitler for awhile (mainly for the urlfilter part to keep out most ad sites and other nasties via urlblacklist.com's bigblacklist) .. that mod worked great , but I found that the Dansguardian w/Clamav mod did what the urlfilter mod does plus content filtering, setting up multiple groups with different rules ..and virus protection to boot ...

I run my home smoothie with red , green , and blue (for my wireless device) ..you can run up to 4 interfaces (red,gree,orand,blue).. and I have only run into one instance of smoothie not picking up a nic card (was an old kingston something 10/100 card i think) with DG doing its thing just fine on the green and blue .. easy rule setting to allow green to access blue or not and vice versa

I use the Full Firewall Control mod to easily setup other rules , port forwarding ..blah blah

vaious logging enhancement type mods

snort 2.4 with mod called oinkmaster that auto updates my snort rules on a regular basis .. and with that I run Guardian reactive firewall mod so if something trips snort in a certain way so many times , then my smoothie automatically shuts the door on whoever/whatever it is that's hammering me

I run an auto update mod on spyware defs in DG to keep up on that on my work smoothies

I run the Super Kernel mod to run the Blocklist Manager mod that blocks known bad ip's that are used for malicious activities

..and for installing there is a fixes 1-8 iso so you dont have to go thru 8 reboots to get your smoothie box patched up to current fixes release

on my work smoothie over a computer lab I run for kids I also run the redud (red up/down) mod so I can brign the red inteface down completely with a click of button

some of the mods I run are kind of redundant I know .. but I kind of view it like running ad-aware and spybot search & destroy .. what one dont get , the other one does type of thing..

there are other mods that I use .. some additions to the firewall script to drop certain types of packets and whatnot and other behind the scenes enhancements

I didnt know spit about linux before I started messing with smoothwall .. so If I can set one up, anybody that knows how to read and follow directions can set one up as well

go here to find mods to do what you need/want to do with your smoothwall box should you decide to go the smoothwall route

 
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