Linux firewall distro question

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Digital-Vortex

Gawd
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Messages
961
Hey all,

Im thinking of setting up a software firewall on my network. After doing a bit of reading it seems that Smoothwall is a popular choice. I'm wondering if Smoothwall can be configured to act as a bridge instead of a gateway? i want the router to receive the IP given by my ISP.

Is this possible?
 
I've not run across this as a senario yet... I've been a pretty heavy user of smoothwall for few years now. I'd do a search in their community forums. They've got a pretty active homebrew crew too. If theres nothing obvious, then make a post. People over there are much more cordial than on most forums.

You might be able to do that out of the box with m0n0wall though. It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of looking at it though.
 
don't get me wrong, its kind of late....
but uh isn't smoothwall a hardware firewall? it does the routing itself, eliminating the need for your router. smoothwall will pull the IP from your ISP and route your internet and keep your computers safer (when configured properly, blah blah)

I didn't really get your question, so if thats all ass backwards, sorry
:(
 
Possible he just wants the extra features available to the Linux Distros that his router doesn't do.

Either way....
bridge-utils
"A Linux bridge is more powerful than a pure hardware bridge because it can also filter and shape traffic."
http://bridge.sourceforge.net

And...
Bridge + Firewall + DSL mini-HOWTO
http://www.linux.com/howtos/Bridge+Firewall+DSL.shtml

So even if one of the firewall distros doesn't do it directly, you should be able to follow the many howtos available to get it up and running.
 
Smoothwall is a router, with smoothwall there is no need for the router at all.

It will do all the port forwarding and everything your router can.. :)
 
Well, Smoothwall is what I just installed and I think its considered a [H]ardware firewall.

Works great!
 
The reason i would rather have a bridge is because i have a router already, and when ur running 2 routers passing along to servers just gets complicated! So i want the bridge to pass the ISP assigned IP address to the main Router.
 
Digital-Vortex said:
The reason i would rather have a bridge is because i have a router already, and when ur running 2 routers passing along to servers just gets complicated! So i want the bridge to pass the ISP assigned IP address to the main Router.
Click to expand...

What kind of router do you have? Chances are the smoothwall will act as a much better router, unless you have a really highend enterprise class router. But if what you have is a linksys, dlink, etc. Smoothwall, Astaro, Monowall, etc will be far better. No need for the linksys router.
 
Its a linksys WRT54G, I am trying Smoothwall, but im looking for easy of routing. If its a webserver for example i need to set it up on 2 places.
 
m1abram said:
What kind of router do you have? Chances are the smoothwall will act as a much better router, unless you have a really highend enterprise class router. But if what you have is a linksys, dlink, etc. Smoothwall, Astaro, Monowall, etc will be far better. No need for the linksys router.
Click to expand...

My thoughts precisely. After building my smoothwall box I sold my router on ebay. Never again will I use a soho router..
 
Digital-Vortex said:
Its a linksys WRT54G, I am trying Smoothwall, but im looking for easy of routing. If its a webserver for example i need to set it up on 2 places.
Click to expand...


it doesn't get much easier than smoothwall. It is almost similar to your current router. all you are doing is forwarding ports. end of story. and smoothwall is way cooler
:cool:
 
Here's what you do. Go into the configuration of your current router and DISABLE DHCP. then configure the wireless aspect of it the way you want. Plug Network port #1 ( NOT THE INTERNET/WAN Port) into your network. This way the Router will act like an access point instead.

Then use the Smoothie as your router. The best of both worlds. The smoothie has an easier/more robust configuration as well.
 
picking a linux firewall distro is like picking a normal linux distro. you really cant since they're ALL so good....you might as well throw a dart at a posterboard of names.


monowall, smoothwall, ipcop, clarkconnect, etc...

smoothwall hasnt been updated since 2003 by the way.
monowall is 6mb, so it might lack some functionality.
ipcop is a fork of something else


but afaik, they're all great, so its rather hard to just PICK ONE.
 
omega-x said:
picking a linux firewall distro is like picking a normal linux distro. you really cant since they're ALL so good....you might as well throw a dart at a posterboard of names.


monowall, smoothwall, ipcop, clarkconnect, etc...

smoothwall hasnt been updated since 2003 by the way.
monowall is 6mb, so it might lack some functionality.
ipcop is a fork of something else


but afaik, they're all great, so its rather hard to just PICK ONE.
Click to expand...

Smoothwall was last updated on 1/6/05
MOnOwall isn't a linux, FreeBSD. I know close but there is a difference.
IPCop is a fork of Smoothwall.
ClarkConnect... IMO I can't see combining systems. A firewall should just be a firewall.
 
thanks for the update on smoothwall..i swear last time i looked at the site it said updated in dec 03'.

hmm.

still gotta figure out which one of the lot is the best though.
 
The site might not be updated much but I just had to update a smoothie and the last patch was on that date.

IMO I would look at at either IPCop or mOnOwall. Too many legal issues going on with Smoothwall Limited for my taste.
 
functionality > legal issues until fuctionality gets gimped due to said legal issues. then you move on to something else :-p
 
Curious if i want to build my own home bult firewall linux distro, i'm looking for a good base system to start from, currently my primary candidate is gentoo, but mainly because i'm the most familar with that distribution.

anyway how does freeBSD and openBSD compare in the security department to an fully hardened gentoo distro?
 
I've been using smoothwall for about a year now (Previous was a year at my work) and this worked very well. I now use it at home on an old P166MMX with 128MB RAm and it's fine protecting my 512k ADSL broadband (Ethernet modems are the way to go as USB's tend to disconnect... well, my old speedtouch 330 did).

You can setup so much stuff on smoothwall, i've got it set so i can connect to it from outside, login and then modded it in such a way i can turn on PC's (Via WOL) all from the web front end... So much easier than havig to phone up if i'm away to get my PC turned on...

The community over there is GREAT and usually they will be able to figure out any problems you have with it (If any). Oh, and when i started using it, i had NO IDEA how to use Linux.

IT'S GREAT!!!

neo out
 
omega-x said:
smoothwall hasnt been updated since 2003 by the way.
monowall is 6mb, so it might lack some functionality.
Click to expand...

It was actually updated like last week.

I'm not sure why everyone is so up on monowall. It's a BSD built mainly for integrated devices, not actual PCs even though you can.
 
Monowall is closer to some comercial firewalls then any other soft firewall I ever used. On top of that Monowall is updated every couple weeks, they are constantly adding new features.
 
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