Re: Linux firewall vs Windows and Hardware based firewalls
On Thursday 31 July 2003 08:11, Andre Volmensky wrote:
> What are the advantages of a linux firewall over something like
> Windows with WinRoute on it, or even a hardware based firewall. What
> are the disadvantages etc. I know I am asking on a linux users
> mailing list, but I would also like reply's not to be too bias.
I have no experience with neither Windows routers or hardware routers,
but I have a great router running Linux from a floppy.
It's an old box I was given, and it has a 133 MHz Pentium CPU. That's
certainly overkill for my purpose, but that is what I got.... It would
probably be appropriate for your purpose. I ripped the harddrive out,
it boots from a floppy.
The floppy is from the Coyote Linux project: http://www.coyotelinux.com/
but you could try floppyfw too http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/
I couldn't get it to work with my DSL provider, which is strange since
I'm using the same provider as the author.
Anyway, I figured it will be so extremely seldom I have to change
anything in there, I disabled any access method beyond going to the box
and pop the floppy out. No telnetd, no sshd. I figured, if there is
some vulnerability in the firewall code, it is not even going to be a
daemon listening on the inside, ready to give the attacker a shell.
Also, the RAMDisk isn't big, and when there is no harddrive, even if the
attacker gets into the firewall box, it's a complete wasteland when it
comes to tools.
Now, do _that_ on windows! :-)
Cheers,
Kjetil
--
Kjetil Kjernsmo
Astrophysicist/IT Consultant/Skeptic/Ski-orienteer/Orienteer/Mountaineer
kjetil@kjernsmo.net webmaster@skepsis.no editor@learn-orienteering.org
Homepage: http://www.kjetil.kjernsmo.net/ OpenPGP KeyID: 6A6A0BBC
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