10/19 Home Gateway recommendations wanted. I am thinking of getting
a NetGear RP114. I use Pacbell DSL (dhcp not static ip). Any
pros/cons to using this model? Is there a better one within
the same price range? (approx $120). thanks.
\_ I use a Linksys for around $98. It has firewall, IPSEC
support, 10/100 support. No "parental control" though.
\_ i recommend this too. who wants to futz with old, loud, bulky
power-drawing pc's that you need a hub for anyway and are a pain
to maintain and don't have instructions? i guess if you're too
poor for 100 bucks or want to practice sysadminning use a pc.
\_ i recommend this too. who wants to futz with old, loud,
bulky power-drawing pc's that you need a hub for anyway and
with routers based on a general purpose computers if you
know what you're doing.
are a pain to maintain and don't have instructions? i guess
if you're too poor for 100 bucks or want to practice
sysadminning use a pc.
\_ Granted, the $100 broadband gateways also have many
\_ true enough. the firewalls in the cheap routers are pretty
limited. don't block outgoing traffic for one thing.
\_ the decision is really between how much time you're willing
to invest for the features you need. FreeBSD/Linux router
is more configurable and probably cheaper. Off-the-shelf
router is easier to configure (well, they're pre-configured)
but won't be as configurable.
limitations. You can do lots of advanced and cool stuff
with routers based on general purpose computers if you
know what you're doing. The disadvantages of using a PC
as a gateway, on the other hand, are the heat, noise, and
maitenance costs as you mention it.
\_ true enough. the firewalls in the cheap routers are
pretty limited. don't block outgoing traffic for one
thing.
\_ the decision is really between how much time you're
willing to invest for the features you need. FreeBSD
or Linux router is more configurable and probably cheaper.
Off-the-shelf router is easier to configure (well, they
are pre-configured) but won't be as configurable.
\_ My openbsd box is also dns host for my domains, dhcp, nat,
ssh server, packet filter, email, www server, etc, etc.
Built from hw people give away free with a free OS you
can't beat the price. Power and heat and noise? I don't
sleep next to it. It just sits there humming. You don't
have to overclock it. A p5 system is quieter than anything
you'll buy today, doesn't use much more power than your
linksys and does more. It's your choice.
\_ Or try an old 386 with *BSD on it.
\_ running a p100 with linux 2.4 on it.
\_ I run a Sparc20 with OpenBSD--it's a bit loud, but works great.
I run ipfilter/ipnat, and draw dhcp on the outside, and serve
private dhcp out of four interfaces; also ntp forwarder, dns
forwarder out the internal interface (very cool if you have more
than one machine and want dns even if your link dies.) This is
the best and most flexible (and cheapest) option if you are willing
to put a little time into setting it up. -John
\_ does one have to be a net guru, or are there
instructions (web/book) easily available? thx.
\_ ipfilter is pretty well documented at
<DEAD>coombs.anu.edu/au/ipfilter<DEAD> NTP is at
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp , a good dhcp
implementation is at http://www.isc.org FreeBSD
is at http://www.freebsd.org and google is your
friend. And you can always ask nicely when the docs
don't float your boat 8) -John
\_ The openbsd FAQ at http://openbsd.org is pretty useful
too.
\_ I agree, a SS20 + OpenBSD is makes a nice home gateway.
\_ ok thanks!
\_ I agree, a SS20 + OpenBSD is makes a nice home gateway. I use
mine to do ipfilter/ipnat, dhcp for my nat'ed systems, mail
(postfix + imap) for my domain, web caching and http. I'm
planning to set it up to handle mail to news for some email
lists I read and I'll probably put my internal cvs repository
on it as well.
I figured most of it out from the FAQ on http://www.openbsd.org If
you want a printed book I'd recommend Building Linux and OpenBSD
firewalls by Sonnenreich and Yates. ----ranga
\_ wow, someone else who bought that book. Anyway yeah the
book is pretty good, but alas only covers ipchains. ipchains
and ipfw suck because they are stateless, they can't tell
one connection from another by the packets... which make
you just a little bit more vulnerable. Anyway, if you care
enough you might want to go with ipf or iptables to get
that extra check. And then run snort or lids. One
annoying thing about the book, is that it is rather redhat
based for the linux side, and who the hell uses redhat for
a firewall in their right mind?
\_ uh, what's wrong with redhat as a firewall?
\_ it has all the security features that make win98
under OpenBSD.
a desireable firewall platform.
\_ The book covers ipfilter and state-full firewalling
under OpenBSD. I can't comment on the linux bits,
as I don't really care about linux. |