Author Topic: Dear Skuzzy .... (Read 625 times)

Roscoroo · « **on:** September 18, 2003, 05:49:35 PM »

this may of gotten your attention

.. i hope . Im setting up a new gateway type pc at home for a firewall on a dsl connect .
I have a spare socket 3 486 amd with 32 mbs of simm ram . along with a small harddrive ,and floppy. and 2 eithernet cards.

should i use something like Floppyfw with this or what would you recommend ...

Try to keep it simple for me ..as for im not an expert at this stuff...

or give me a link to go study at for this ... thanks

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** September 19, 2003, 07:41:31 AM »

Well,..quandry. I never had to look for any information on setting up a computer as a router. I just know how to do it.

I used Slackware for mine, as it already has some of the stuff setup in the init files for being a router. This is something I'll have to do from home.

It's not really hard, but if you have never done it before it might sound intimidating. You know how to use a text editor in Linux (vi would be best for this)?

I prefer the full blown Linux install as I use my router for file sharing on the LAN (Samba), name service (DNS), email (POP/SMTP), and a couple of other sundry things.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #2 on:** September 19, 2003, 10:21:09 AM »

i'm not very familiar with linux, and our pc at work was set up by my friend that works at Fluke mfg ....(He's otta town working in vegas for the rest of the year) so im off to figure this out on my own .

First is there a free/shareware verson of Linux ? (i remember there used to be and ill search )

as for setting up the settings I know how to do that .

well i guess i should explain the setup im doing

from the gateway pc (the small socket3 486) im installing a linksey 5 port switch,
then 3 pc's for normal internet use,(all win 98se OS)
and on the 4th port i was planning to connect my duel cpu 486 server to use for a website host (It will mostly be used for graphic sites/my personal webite w/ ah terrains for dl /and email group/message board hosting)it has 12 gig in scsi drives. (ive always used win 98se os on this pc also)

Should i use the above method or should I install a 3rd eithernet/lan card in the gateway pc and hook the server pc to that ?

how much hd am i gonna need for linex and slackware ? Im working with an old 500mb drive.

Or the other option should i just set up the server as the gateway pc ?? ( thats how i used to have it ) and since im not very familier with linux , could i use 98 safely ??? and will slackware work with it ??

I still think you need to write a book

Roscoroo · « **Reply #3 on:** September 19, 2003, 10:47:20 AM »

What about smoothwall ???? are you familier with that ??

Skuzzy · « **Reply #4 on:** September 19, 2003, 12:54:21 PM »

Connect all the computers to the one switch/hub. Set the ones you want behind the gateway PC to use a private IP address (10.x.x.x for instance).
Set the gateway IP address to a 10.x.x.x and use that IP as the IP of the 486 box ethernet card connected to the switch/hub.

The WEB server will have to have a public IP address, so set it to either a real static IP address or however they are doled out by your ISP/company.

Never heard of smoothwall.

I have all manner of operating systems at home running through my Linux router. The OS's don't care how the packets get handled, as long as they get handled.

Been doing this so long, it is sort of second nature for me. I would be lousy at trying to explain it in a book.

lucull · « **Reply #5 on:** September 19, 2003, 01:40:47 PM »

I can suggest you Coyote Linux and more sophisticated fli4l . Both are one disk floppy routers. Coyote is very simple and fli4l is more complicated but has a huge amount of opt-packages for nearly everything.

If you need additional help, just ask. I used both.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #6 on:** September 19, 2003, 03:00:00 PM »

Thanks guys ... I have a million more ???'s

what about using the Sygate Personal Firewall on the gateway pc
with a more familiar OS ..such as 98 in my case.?

i may change the gateway pc to a 1ghz amd that ive got laying around ... that is another option . and use a bigger hd 2-6gig .
Would this be better then using the extreame dinosuar socket 3 486 ? (its really a p.o.s.) would this be better as the gateway ???

as for the server pc I dont want to mask its ip then .. correct ?
And will i have to get it its own ip addy ?
can i do this without perchasing one ??

the 3 user pc's I want totally hidden .

still reading up on this... any and all suggestions, links, ect are welcome

lucull · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2003, 07:20:28 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
Thanks guys ... I have a million more ???'s

what about using the Sygate Personal Firewall on the gateway pc
with a more familiar OS ..such as 98 in my case.?

I wouldn't use Win98 with a personal firewall for a PC that is always connected for security issues. Secondly you have no routing features like linux or server OS provide.

Quote

i may change the gateway pc to a 1ghz amd that ive got laying around ... that is another option . and use a bigger hd 2-6gig .
Would this be better then using the extreame dinosuar socket 3 486 ? (its really a p.o.s.) would this be better as the gateway ???

If you just want a router for firewalling and NAT a 486 33MHz is enough if you use Coyote with DSL. For Fli4l you need atleast 66MHz. A basic router PC needs FDD, 16MB RAM, graphics card. You don't need HDD, CD-ROM, etc.
If you want to use Fli4l you need a bit more power as I said enough, but also you a huge amount of OPT packages you can use and you can use the HDD, but a router/firewall should only do this, nothing else.

Quote

as for the server pc I dont want to mask its ip then .. correct ?
And will i have to get it its own ip addy ?
can i do this without perchasing one ??
the 3 user pc's I want totally hidden .

You don't need a to buy a fixed IP, more you can't because this PC would have to dial in itself. I bet skuzzy knows this better. Using the router, you would simply make NAT and forward the port (80 for http server) to the internal IP of your http server.
If you don't forward any port to an internal IP, they are not accessible from outside.

Quote

still reading up on this... any and all suggestions, links, ect are welcome

I suggest you to try Coyote Linux (link in posting above). RUn the windows installer and try if it works for you (it should be). If you want to play around, I suggest you try after it Fli4l, but you will need to read some stuff and study howto's, but then you can make nearly anything you need and never need.

Start from small and simply and get then to more detailed and difficult stuff.

fullback · « **Reply #8 on:** September 20, 2003, 09:31:26 AM »

"I wouldn't use Win98 with a personal firewall for a PC that is always connected for security issues."

If you have a chance, can you explain why you said this? I'm curious because I still use 98SE and have never had a problem in 3 years of continuous high-speed connection.

What am I doing wrong?

lucull · « **Reply #9 on:** September 20, 2003, 11:32:32 AM »

Well, I already said it. An always on PC running Win98 with just a personal firewall and always connected to the internet is something not very secure IMO. You can't be sure that there is not a service running you don't know or you can't stop no matter if you need it or not.
I would definetly not have anything of interest (personal data) on this PC.

Secondly, Win98 as gateway is not very practicable as you will have to reboot the PC every couple of days/weeks. Depends on how stable it runs, but you will have to reboot it or it reboots itself (I've read an article about it sometime ago).

A router for me, is an old machine standing somewhere and does it's work without any care you have to take. Longest uptime of my coyote linux router was 9 month and I rebooted because of an upgrade.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #10 on:** September 20, 2003, 11:56:08 AM »

i really appreciate the info ...
I was chosing win98 for the gateway pc just as a first attempt to configure this ... as for i know it really well ...thats why i thought about going the win98 w/ sygate installed on it...the sygate program has routing features with it.

I need to set up linux on a spare pc and get to know it (sleep with it for awhile ) My experience with Linux ...involves watching my pc tech friend ... fly thru it (ive got to quit buying him expresso's ...LOL )

"I suggest you to try Coyote Linux (link in posting above). RUn the windows installer and try if it works for you (it should be). If you want to play around, I suggest you try after it Fli4l, but you will need to read some stuff and study howto's, but then you can make nearly anything you need and never need.
Start from small and simply and get then to more detailed and difficult stuff"

I notice with the Fli4l that it says it can be integrated into win98 ...
is this true ? and can it be done fairly simple ?
or have i missread this, and its just explaining tcp/ip config for use of windows ???

lucull · « **Reply #11 on:** September 20, 2003, 12:05:31 PM »

Fli4l is a linux "distribution". Definetly not integrateable into Win98.

My knowledge of linux is not very big. I would more say, it's very small. When I installed Coyote Linux I didn't know anything and just followed the windows installer to create linux router disk.

Dingbat · « **Reply #12 on:** September 20, 2003, 05:41:07 PM »

Ummm, Why don't you just get a DLINK or some other hardware solution unless you really want to learn Linux???

Roscoroo · « **Reply #13 on:** September 20, 2003, 06:32:12 PM »

i'm gonna learn linux ... even if it takes me 6 months

1, because it sets up a better gateway . most router/ firewall boxes have a 32mhz processer or less in them . im using a 166mhz one. (along w/the fact i already have a spare 486 machine) and a duel cpu 486 machine with scsi drives for the server.

2, because the Mrs Roo is finnally going host a server for Her web sites/grafics stuff /tutorials/message board/email exchange ect .
(she has wanted to do this for years)

3,I enjoy learning new stuff and tinkering (mid life crisis thing )

my next question .... would redhat 9 be better for all this then 6 ??? pro's and cons please . it will probely go on the server also.