set up a linux firewall at home

Hi,

A 386 will work, but is not recommended. Most guys suggest at least a 486. RAM is more of an issue than processing speed.

To get this going quick and easy look at one of the free single Linux Diskette solutions that have been derived from the Linux Router project (www.linux-router.org).

A good starting place will be Coyote Linux. They can be found at http://www.coyotelinux.com/coyote.html

Version 1.20 now support PPPoE (PPP over ethernet). You will need this for xDSL.

Another option would be FrazierWall. Can be found at http://home.kscable.com/wecoyote/FrazierWall.html .

These are just two examples. Plenty more avaiable. Search freshmeat.net for xDSL and see what you get.

Cheers
Schalk

A book I liked was Building Linux and OpenBSD Firewalls. If you're interested in books it might be worth checking.

http://www1.fatbrain.com/asp/bookinfo/bookinfo.asp?theisbn=0471353663

If you really want a Linux Firewall use answers above. If you just want a firewall, try http://www.zonelabs.com/ ZoneAlarm. I put it on my Win NT 4.0 system when I got a cable modem as I wasn't comfortable with the issues. Might also try the ShieldsUp! from http://grc.com/ ('hacks' into your system to show you where there are pathes into your system). I think both are Freeware at present. lo

The best way is to set-up a firewall on linux is to use ipchains.
With ipchains you can define your own rules, who's allowed to enter you computer and who's not. If you want a sample script send me an e-mail and I'll e-mail it to you. It's very simple and very efective, and most of al is safe.

Using Redhat 6.2 installed out of the box and IPChains (already compiled into kernel), setup is easy.

My setup: P120 w/96mb - you might need a bigger box than a 386 eventually, but you can start with this.

Install two NICs in your machine and get all the drivers loaded. All settings on the outside NIC are the same as given to you by your provider. Use the reserved block for the inside (such as 192.168.0.x). Manually set the IP of your internal machine to be on the same subnet and hook 'em together. Set your PC's gateway to the IP of the firewall's inside NIC and use your ISP's DNS servers.

Once you have all of this up and running, add the lines between the dashed delimiters to the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file (lines are separatedby CR due to crappy reply utility here)... I chose to use the reserved 192.168.0.x network inside, but use whatever you wish - change script as necessary. Note that eth0 is the OUTSIDE. Swap all eth0 and eth1 references below if you did the reverse. The insmod lines inject handling for the higher ports (above 1024) so they are transparently handled from inside machines to the outside. Using this configuration, I have had absolutely NO issues using any application originating from the inside. Good luck!

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# force IP forwarding on

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

# now start chain creation

/sbin/ipchains -N mymasq

/sbin/ipchains -A mymasq -s 0/0 -d 0/0 -j MASQ

/sbin/ipchains -A forward -s 192.168.0.0/24 -d 0/0 -i eth0 -j mymasq

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_cuseeme

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_irc

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_raudio

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_vdolive

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_ftp

/sbin/insmod ip_masq_quake

# end ipchains firewalling setup

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