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. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
