Re: minimal firewall computer
On Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 12:34:21PM +0200, Ivan Glushkov wrote:
>
> I have a 2 MBit DSL connection at home and I have more or less classical
> scheme ISP <-> DSL Modem <-> Router <-> home desktop & laptops. Since
> recently somebody hacked into my windowz computer I started thinking of
> adding a firewall. Since connecting my desktop between the router and
> the modem is not an option (it must run windowz due to other members of
> my family), I am thinking of buying the cheapest possible second hand
> computer which still has two free PCI slots on which to install minimal
> Debian (no graphics, only firewall), plug two 10/100 Ethernet cards and
> add it in my scheme like this:
>
> ISP <-> DSL Modem <-> Firewall <-> Router <-> home desktop & laptops
>
> The question is actually what is the minimal CPU/RAM/HDD requirement for
> this PC? And do you think this is the optimal solution for an intrusion
> protection of a small home LAN?
>
2 MB/s ethernet can be handled by an ISA bus if you can get somewhat
decent NICs. I've used a 486DX4-100 with 32 MB ram as a file server and
as a firewall (at various times).
Debian's base install keeps getting bigger but you need less than 1GB of
drive space (my PII X terminal has 850 MB) and 32MB ram (48 MB if you
actually want the debian installer to run). Install base (don't select
any packages), then get shorwall (put shorewall-doc on your desktop),
rsync, and ssh-server.
Also, what does your router do? If you're building a firewall, it could
also serve as router (unless you'd then have to go out and buy an
ethernet switch).
Good luck.
Doug.
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